Setting up outdoor tank/s

[marinetropic]

Hi all,

 

Firstly sorry if this has been asked before. 

I have recently had to move back to my parents house (massive rent increase) and as such I had to consolidate my tanks into one. I'm very lucky that my platies and bristlenoses are happy and are breeding like crazy and I'd love to be able to separate out the babies into grow outs but we are limited to indoor space and don't really have room for more than the one tank. 

Just curious about what extra provisions need to be taken into consideration if I wanted to set up a grow out tank outside. It would be under cover away from sunlight. Where I live gets a pretty big temperature range 0-40 Celsius or 32-104 fahrenheit between summer to winter. 

 

 

 

Any advice/tips/cautions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Inserting proud daddy for attention

[TOtrees]

I don't want to be negative, but I think you're asking for problems. Fish are cold-blooded, so their growth rate will vary a lot with water temp. Cooler temps WILL limit growth rate. Meaning your fry will be fry for much longer outside. There is a short period where the temps get warm enough that you'll see similar or better growth than indoors, but it's very much that dog days of summer time. 

Your other option is supplemental heat. But it'll hit your power bill pretty hard, and there will be times it just can't keep up. A heated greenhouse would work, is that within your means? 

Qualifier: bn plecos are pretty tough, and I know from experience they can be in an unheated outdoor tub down to 50s without too much problem. But that's survival, not growth. Don't know about platies, personally. 

[marinetropic]

I appreciate the straight forward response! That's why I asked, the last thing I would want to do is do the wrong thing for the fish.

I'm currently working with an idea with putting some smaller storage tubs on the bottom of the stand that holds my tank currently. ( Otherwise it will just be survival of the fittest) If my measurements are correct I can fit 2 x  30l tubs on the shelf under my tank and run them on sponge filters from an air pump I have already.