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I just started a mini pond. I have two 17 gallon HDX tough bins from Home Depot in my kitchen. I got two to hopefully prevent bowing.

I’m in Seattle so it’s been in the high 50s - mid-30s and rainy. I currently have cull neo shrimp, hitchhiker snails (ramshorn, bladder), and six medaka from the Co-op. I didn’t wanna shock them by putting them outside.

I keep my house pretty cool but I leave the lid on overnight (just on top, not snapped on) to keep the heat in and prevent evaporation. I’m picking up some acrylic soon to use that instead of the lid. That way I can keep warmth in but let light through. I’ll keep a little crack of open space though to ensure some air flow.

My plan is to bring the pond out on my porch when the air temp reaches at least 70 degrees high and 55 degrees low. I know the water volume isn’t that much but I’m hoping that the acrylic will help keep the heat from the sunshine in.

Then from that point on, I’m hoping I can permanently leave the pond outside. It’s a Southern facing porch so lots of sunshine. I know medaka can survive pretty cold temps but I’m wondering if using a cold frame (like for gardening) on my porch would be helpful in the fall/winter. I have a raised porch (10 steps up if that matters) so it wouldn’t benefit from thermal heat from the ground. But I’m wondering if it would make a difference by helping to hold warmth from the sunshine and additional protection from the frost and occasional snow. The water in my tub is only 10 inches deep; the length is 27” and width is 18” so I’m not sure if that’s enough to prevent the ice from getting down to the fish.

I saw that Ryo Watanabe recently posted a video showing one of his medaka ponds with an ice layer and it doesn’t look very deep but the fish were still moving. But I’m not sure how much below freezing the air temp was.

8F2B24D3-4674-4CDA-9706-5D5104FF7270.jpeg

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Just now, Daniel said:

My medaka outdoors in an in-ground pool just made it through a very cold February with air temperatures in the teens and highs barely reaching freezing for a week. Didn't seem to bother them at all.

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I wish I could do in-ground but I’m renting 😞 Glad yours are doing well though!

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do you have an outlet on your porch? I'm in a similar situation.

I have an 18 gallon muck bucket that I'm planning on leaving outdoors on my 6th floor balcony year round. I'm in the PNW as well (Vancouver BC). My medaka are currently inside but I'm planning on moving them outside once the weather is consistently above freezing at night. Plus I'm still prepping the pond.

I'm planning on monitoring them as the weather gets colder and may add a heater to keep the "pond" above freezing in the winter. I have an outlet on my balcony so it's easy to run the sponge filter etc. And a very deep overhang so no direct rain, I'll be doing top offs.

I'll have a lid for the fall/winter to help keep the heat in.

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I've seen someone somewhere on the internets say they use a stock tank heater (like for keeping water from freezing for horses/cows) for their medaka tub. 

I haven't had the opportunity to try it, but I just setup a 110 gal stock tank here in southeastern PA I'm going to put medaka in, and may try this over the winter.

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I built an aboveground pond maybe thirty years ago now and have used a greenhouse cover on it every winter. The coldest water temp I've ever recorded in it was 45 degrees and I live in South Jersey where winter temps are often in the single digits. (It could have been coder at some point, but that's the lowest I've ever measured and I've never seen any ice on it at all.) The old, original cover was made in a sectional fashion with solid, insulated ends and back with a double layer of storm windows facing south. The last two winters I've gone with a hoop style cover made using 1/2" PVC pipe. The pond is made of pressure treated 2X4s and 3/4" pressure treated plywood. It's pretty much built like the walls of your house with 2X4's as the studs. The plywood forms the floor and inside walls. I used joist hangers on the studs to help make them even stronger. Here's a photo of it taken this morning.  (Ignore the weeds.) 

 

IMG_20210421_102146924_HDR.jpg

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1 hour ago, dublicious said:

I've seen someone somewhere on the internets say they use a stock tank heater (like for keeping water from freezing for horses/cows) for their medaka tub. 

I haven't had the opportunity to try it, but I just setup a 110 gal stock tank here in southeastern PA I'm going to put medaka in, and may try this over the winter.

A stock tank heater is probably w-a-y too big for a 17 gallon tub. I suspect that people are using those in large ponds of over 100 gallons. For example, this one ↓ ↓ ↓ is rated for up to 300 gallons. 

61fOPf2QQOL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

@ererer has a better suggestion. You can also find bucket-/birdbath-sized heaters that are outdoor-safe. 

711zQmWe-2L._AC_SL1500_.jpg

A cold frame might work. But like @WhitecloudDynasty mentioned, I think it will be hard to collect and store enough solar energy in such a small volume of water. Cold frames work on the principle of using water as a thermal storage source. The larger the volume of water, the better the thermal storage. With small volumes, there just isn't enough water to hold in the heat. If that makes sense? 

 

Edited by Anita
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2 hours ago, gardenman said:

I built an aboveground pond maybe thirty years ago now and have used a greenhouse cover on it every winter. The coldest water temp I've ever recorded in it was 45 degrees and I live in South Jersey where winter temps are often in the single digits. (It could have been coder at some point, but that's the lowest I've ever measured and I've never seen any ice on it at all.) The old, original cover was made in a sectional fashion with solid, insulated ends and back with a double layer of storm windows facing south. The last two winters I've gone with a hoop style cover made using 1/2" PVC pipe. The pond is made of pressure treated 2X4s and 3/4" pressure treated plywood. It's pretty much built like the walls of your house with 2X4's as the studs. The plywood forms the floor and inside walls. I used joist hangers on the studs to help make them even stronger. Here's a photo of it taken this morning.  (Ignore the weeds.) 

 

IMG_20210421_102146924_HDR.jpg

@gardenman did you use a pond liner over the plywood, or is plywood the last layer on the inside of the pond?

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3 hours ago, Celly Rasbora said:

Nice homemade greenhouse! My uncle used to call his his greenhovel. 😄

It's a bit the worse for wear after a long winter. If winter was just starting I'd take some time to tidy it up, but the greenhouse plastic will be coming off in about four weeks, so I'm not overly worried about it now.

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On 4/21/2021 at 12:00 PM, Anita said:

A stock tank heater is probably w-a-y too big for a 17 gallon tub. I suspect that people are using those in large ponds of over 100 gallons. For example, this one ↓ ↓ ↓ is rated for up to 300 gallons. 

Yep, that one is rated for up to 300 gallons 🙂 Stock tanks and heaters for them come in lots of sizes.

Just trying to help. If something else works better, that's what matters.

Edited by dublicious
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