schmike1976

Here's the senario...

Main pond is 5500 Gallons. I've built it with insulation in the walls and the pond will be covered in Polycarbonate sheets. I have a heater in the pipeline but that is only going to be used to auto kick in if the water gets dangerously cold and then hold it at maybe 6-8 degrees.

At present I have quite a high stocking level, but nothing that the filters don't cope with and can feed pretty decent amounts.

I also have a quarrantine/growing on tank of 5000 litres with a further 8 decent fish current in there - from 25cm to 60cm. This tank has no insulation and no heating. I'd also rather not have to buy polycarb as the main pond is going to cost more than enough!!!

So the question is...... (at last!!)

As feeding will drastically reduce through the winter, and I usually turn to Wheatgerm for the cooler months, therefore fish waste and ammonia will be less, Can I get away with adding the other fish in to the main pond to try and give them a bit of a snugger winter???? Come the spring and when the feed rates increase, I'd be splitting the fish up again, so the stocking would go to a bit more normal ratios.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Schmike

muttley

I have often wondered this myself actually...it will be interesting to find out what people think.

Davej

Hiya

Cant see why not, there's gonna be less load Ammonia wise on the filters with minimum feed if any through the winter.

Only things that spring to mind would be to do it sooner rather than later and maybe slightly upping the level of water changes with the greater stock in there.

Dave

muttley

prob best to try and balance temps between q tank and pond first!!!!

schmike1976

Hi Dave,

One thought that you have provoked....... Last winter I hardly changed any water apart from what was lost through the filter cleaning (Oase Biotec Black Box etc). Had no problems at all and EVERY fish made it through winter with out a hitch. This year it's a new pond and much much bigger. Would you recommend regular water changes on top of the Nexus flush waste water? Thought that anymore than that would add too much chilled water to the pond.

Davej

Think you might find that when it gets real cold then the mains water temps are still pretty "warm". Ours rarely drops below 5C. Guess much depends on individual circumstances how deep the mains pipework is etc.

Personally I'd put up with any additional chill from maintaining regular water exchange against reducing changes every day of the week but it's something each keeper has to make their own decisions on.

Dave

schmike1976

Hi Muttley,

both pond and tank are outside in the sun. At present there is only about 1 degree between them. But as the weather has been getting colder and colder at the moment, I don't expect it to stay like that, so will think about moving them soon.

Davej

Yes cover time is not too far away

Dave

muttley

Seems to make sense as you can just be careful next spring (when you are being careful anyway) to ensure your bio is fully up to speed!!!