Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Flow-through tank

One of the springs that feeds my ponds is about 40 feet off my back porch. I've never figured out what to do with it because it's impossible to mow. So it's always overgrown. Reading about growing fish in tanks on this forum got me wondering if there would be a way to run water from that spring through a tank. After some experimenting I think I may have a good start. I dug a hole in the spot where it looks like the water first comes to the surface. I had an old trash can that the bottom had rusted out of. I removed the rest of the bottom and pounded nail holes all through it. Then I sunk it in the hole. I also put a smaller bucket in it to try and keep more sand and debris out and to have something to set the pump on. I've had a little submersible pump running in it for 2 days now. The water has cleared up nicely after all the digging. The water is 65 degrees which is quite a bit warmer than the air and than the ponds. It's producing about a gallon a minute. I also dragged a kiddie wading pool down there just to have something to pump the water into. I'm not planning to use it to raise fish. You can see it in the pics.





Obviously I still need to come up with a way to hold the water, but I wanted to make sure I could get it flowing first. Then I need to figure out what kind of fish to grow.

For the tank to hold water some of my ideas are:
1. A water tank like you can buy at tractor supply. I'm watching craigslist for a cheap one. I don't want to spend a lot.
2. A hole in the ground with a liner to seal it.
3. Railroad ties for walls and then a liner to seal it.

For either of the liner options I'm not sure how to drain it. I would like to be able to drain from the bottom to remove solids. But am a little worried about punching a hole in the liner to connect the drain pipe.

As for what kind of fish, I would really like to be able to overwinter Tilapia in it to have a supply every spring for my bass pond. Filleting a few would be nice too. Would this work? I know they won't grow at 65 degrees, but will they stay alive until spring. What kind of fish grow well at 65 degrees? How many can one gallon a minute support?

Another thing I haven't figured out is how to oxygenate the water. I'm assuming it won't have much oxygen coming out of the ground. And it seems like if I run the water through a sprayer it will oxygenate but it will also cool it if the ambient air is cool. This morning when the air was 40 degrees the water in the trash can was still 65 degrees but by the time it made it to the kiddie pool (through the sprayer) it was 61 degrees.

I'm looking for advice. What have I not thought about? Any ideas for the tank, type of fish, or oxygenation issues?

P.S. I know for a fact that I'm getting a pond boss subscription for Christmas.

Nathan,

Here are some various size stock tanks that are manufactured in your state. Some are on sale.

http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?cat=41

I'd like to give you my two cents on what you are attempting to do later this evening when I have more time.

Look at aquarium supplys. My Saltwater reef tank uses a gravity fed over flow box. Pretty simple to use sure you could set one up on a big tub.

Does a gravity fed overflow box use a siphon? I had thought about that but wasn't sure if it was a long term solution. If people use it for aquariums then it must work. I'm thinking something like this (sorry for the bad drawing):


How could I keep the tube in place at the bottom of the mini pond?

One potential problem with the setup in the drawing is that the bottom of the hole under the liner will fill with water since it's a spring. Or would the weight of the water on top of the liner push that water somewhere else?

Here are some points to ponder:

If your container is not big enough and ambient temps get low enough this winter it will probably drup your water temps in whatever container you come up with too low for tilapia survival. I can't see a gallon a minute being enough to counter a cold snap. On top of that you are spot on that aeration of any kind will help lower the water temp not only via evaporation but contact with ambient air.

However you can always try it with a few fish.

Personally I would go with container but you could siphon drain a lined pond if you have a lower elevation below it. Avoid trying to put in a drain in a lined pit but I've heard it's done in Koi ponds with what they call a "boot" I think. If you go with a container I would go with a hole saw cut and a cheap Uniseal for a drain. I've got a Uniseal in the bottom of a 300 gallon tank and it's holding just fine.

I'll use this thread to keep track of things if that's OK. This morning the air temp was 33. The water at the pump was still 65 and in the kiddie pool was 60.

At this point I'm thinking to go with an in-ground lined mini-pond with a siphon drain like in the diagram above. I'm thinking in-ground (vs tank) would keep it closer to 65 degrees. Plus it's cheaper.

Hopefully I'll get some time to work on it this weekend. What if I put a small aerator inside the trash can and have the lid on the trash can? I want to put a lid on it anyway to keep leaves out. The air inside the trash can should stay close to 65 degrees so I wouldn't be cooling the water but would still be oxygenating it.

Any thoughts on how big to make the mini-pond? I would think bigger doesn't mean more fish since the limiting factor will be the amount of water flowing through removing waste. But if it's too small the fish will be crowded. Bruce Condello used a 150 gallon tank with 30 gallons per hour running through it. If I'm running 60 gallons per hour should I aim for 300 gallons?

If there's a lid on the trash can will you still be supplying enough oxygen?

I don't know enough about it to know the answer to that. My house is sealed enough to keep it warmer inside than out, but it lets enough oxygen in for us to breathe (and burn firewood). I think a trash can lid would be less airtight than my house.