How long will it take to cycle a pond at 50 degrees?

[FriendlyLoach]

I am just wondering how long it should take.  

[Pakal]

I would recommend putting a heater in the pond to bring the temperature up to at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit so the beneficial bacteria can grow faster. 

[FriendlyLoach]

The thing is the pond is 600 gallons and I am not sure if a heater would do anything. And it is far from my house. 

[FishyThoughts]

You could check into a pool heater if you wanted to heat it. Believe there’s options for natural gas, electric and propane. 

[FriendlyLoach]

Don have the budget for anything like that, how long would it take if I just keep it like it is?

[Andy's Fish Den]

Being that the pond is 600 gallons, as long as you arent putting a ton of fish in there right at the start, I would not worry too much about it. I have put in one of those pre formed ponds before that was around 250 gallons, filled, put the pump and filter in and put a couple goldfish in the next day. No issues. It's all relative to how much water volume you have versus the fish load. If you wanted to be extra safe, get a bottle of the Fritz zyme7 and put in. One thing I would recommend though, if you have the pond running already, and the water is in the 50s, I would just let everything run, and wait to add any fish until the water is up to mid 60s. When the water is in the 50s, they won't eat much if at all.

[gardenman]

Ponds are pretty much self-cycling. Especially if you've got plants in them. I have a 330 gallon pond that has no filtration at all but has the best water of any of my tanks. There is zero ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. I suspect the soil my lilies and lotus are in is serving as a biofilter for the pond. The water in the pond tests better than my tap water. I've joked that I should bring the pond water inside for water changes and put the tank water into the pond. Unless you've got a big bioload in the pond, you can pretty much just let it do its thing.