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?


1 3/4 acre, 1/2 acre, and 1/10 acre ponds in NE Smith County, East Texas.