Coolers For Wintering Fish
#1 Guest_Subrosa_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 05:08 PM
#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 05:30 PM
#3 Guest_gunner48_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 05:46 PM
#4 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 05:53 PM
Oh I didn't even consider not putting a heater in it.I tried it and the results were poor. I live in Southern Ohio. The problem is the insulation only slows heat loss and being above ground and the top being off allowed the water to get just has cold has the outside temps.
I still think it'd need a heater of some kind. Our 5x5x5 pond was in the ground and the fish didn't always survive overwinter. If the waterfall flow decreased and stopped breaking up the surface it froze over in no time.If you wanted to go that route I would think you would need to bury a tub so that the warmth of the Earth can keep the temps up.
I moved to North Carolina last year and the climate here is drastically different than what I was used to in Ohio. My heating bill was like <$200 for the whole winter. Possibly <$100 but I don't want to overestimate. It just doesn't get as cold here as what I'm used to, and if it does dip below freezing it's for 1-3 days and then it dips back up again. The problem here would be keeping fish alive in the summer. It gets really hot.
Edited by EricaWieser, 19 July 2012 - 05:58 PM.
#5 Guest_Skipjack_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 06:03 PM
#6 Guest_Subrosa_*
Posted 19 July 2012 - 06:44 PM
Edited by Subrosa, 19 July 2012 - 06:46 PM.
#7
Posted 19 July 2012 - 07:06 PM
The problem here would be keeping fish alive in the summer. It gets really hot.
Its not that big of an issue... week or so over 100F here in Georgia... and I didn't loose fish... except in the tank that I had a lot of circulation in... it got hot from top to bottom and killed some... but in the other tanks, the water at the bottom stayed cool and the fish were fine... Cyprinella shiners in one, top minnows in another... 100 gallon stock tanks sitting on the ground with afternoon shade and water lillies...
#8 Guest_exasperatus2002_*
Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:28 AM
#9 Guest_Subrosa_*
Posted 20 July 2012 - 12:59 PM
#10 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 20 July 2012 - 01:23 PM
That's counter-intuitive for most of us, and I just wanted to make sure folks didn't miss it.
The thermal stratification you get in a pond or tub without aeration is critical for providing a cool refuge.
Make sure there's not too much decaying leaves and dead algae and crap on the bottom that will consume all the oxygen.
... week or so over 100F here in Georgia... and I didn't loose fish... except in the tank that I had a lot of circulation in... it got hot from top to bottom and killed some... but in the other tanks, the water at the bottom stayed cool and the fish were fine... Cyprinella shiners in one, top minnows in another... 100 gallon stock tanks sitting on the ground with afternoon shade and water lillies...
#11
Posted 20 July 2012 - 01:47 PM
I was trying to provide some current and a container of stones for a pond of yellowfin shiners (hoping to get some breeding or at least coloring up). So it was the only pond that had current. Back when it got up to 107 here several days in a row, I went out and saw three dead fish. I thought it odd as I had shiners in ponds for the last several years with no aeration or current and never lost any (certainly not three adults dead and floating in one day). Well I scooped them out and noticed the water was hot. Made me think, I wonder how cool it is on the bottom (knowing that it had always in the past been a refuge from the Georgia sun)... it was hot down there too. Scared me to think how hot it was. So I went to the tank right beside it with no pump or aeration and reached to the bottom... cool and refreshing (still hot on top)... and the shiners in that tank zipped around just fine, and still are. So that's my experience, and my conclusion is... here in the hot of Georgia, at lower stocking densities, plant shade and thermal stratification is my friend.
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