My Monster Pond Project
- Thread starter charles-n-charge
- Start date
charles-n-charge;4865285; said:
Yes. This winter I lost two types of catfish except the channel and all my cichlids. Their skin will turn white and start peeling. It was bad. I have a 2000W heater but didn't install it because it would cost $200 per month to run. Now I only keep cold water tors, bambusa, and barbs outside.
I'm planning on having a small heater running only when temps are lower than 50 for more then 3 days and am doing a lot of oter things to help heat the pond naturally. Such as having a lot of pipe running 5-6' underground to gain some wath from the ground, black liner to collect warmth, and also adding boiling water to the filter very slowly when it gets too cold to let it slowly spread out once it hits the waterfall and hopefully warm the water a little bit. I'm also considering solar power if I can find it cheap'ish
I recommend starting with some fish native to your area instead of getting the fish that you listed before because of your budget. I personally would first cut heating from the list of things to get because it can be added later. The main thing that you should worry about now is your liner; another option that will save you a ton of money is to see if the soil in your area has a high enough clay content to make a clay lined pond. The pond will be much more natural, and you'll save money by not having to get a huge liner. Also, consider adding a bunch of plants to help with filtration and such; they're cheap (sometimes free if you know where to get them) and do a great job.
charles-n-charge;4865332; said:
I like your drive to succeed but that is a very big body of water. I am an Engineer and design for manufacturers of koi filters and UV, cheap does not come in a 24,000 gallon pond. Heating it is out of the question. Check out my thread on pond build. How about down sizing it a little?
charles-n-charge;4865405; said:
I'd say try to maintain the original 5' depth while further decreasing the length and width. The pond will retain more heat with a smaller surface area and greater depth.
Wiggles92;4865371; said:
Well right now the arowana, clown knife, pacu, and tiger shovelnose are a must. They can't stay in my 200 gallon tank forever so they'll need to be added to that pond so that they can actually move
charles-n-charge;4865430; said:
Ah, well that's going to pose a major problem then. Better read up on their minimum pond sizes for when they are fully grown and go from there; you'll have to stay close to the minimum size in order to be able to afford proper heating to avoid any casualties due to colder than average temperatures.
