Half Barrel Fish Pond

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Anyone have a really small pond in there garden? I'm going to be using one of those whiskey barrels cut in half. My only concern is winter and the whole lot freezing up. I'll only be keeing goldfish in there as well as oxygenating plants and I know fish go to the bottom of the pond in winter where its the warmest.

Was thinking of putting insulation on the inside of the barrel under the liner. Think that may help?
 
The neighbours keep goldfish in a smallish pond (6'x3'x3' ish). They usually keep them indoors during very bad weather overwinter, however they didn't do it this year and their pond iced up deeply and killed them all. :(
 
Why not just use the half barrel as a water feature?
It is not suitable for keeping fish in, way too small.
 
I used to keep daphnia and such in a fishtank in the corner of the garden, with an air line blowing house temperature air into it that usually kept it ice free. I'd stock it with excess weed from the pond.One year it did freeze though. I was rather surprised the following spring to find a goldfish happily swimming around in it that must have got in as a fry the previous year. If using a half barrel it may be best to set it up as a fish tank rather than a pond, ie with an aerating pump and a heater set really low to stop it freezing.
 
Thats another good idea. You can get floating heaters but there about £50.
Quite expensive to run I suspect. Suppose I could spiral some pipe up and use the sun as a heater :D
 
Not suitable for fish. Maybe try a bog garden with native plants?
 
Do you think that would stop the water freezing? I suppose if theres an air filter, they'll be constant movement of water.

Edit: Does it go under the water or above?

Under the water, but they are designed to keep a tropical tank at 26 at room temperature. Some research would be required to work out what wattage you'd need to keep above freezing if it were -15. Let me get back to you on that... How many litres in the half barrel?
 
Under the water, but they are designed to keep a tropical tank at 26 at room temperature.

These are not suitable for outdoor use it would be on full trying to maintain 26C all day! You can get adjustable versions so you could set the temperature lower but your unlikely to get an aquarium model that can be set just above freezing so it will be on a lot of the time also.

You'd be much better off getting a pond heater that is designed for the job...
 
You're probably right :) I thought it might still be worth doing the maths though :smashin: I suspect that the size he would need would probably cost the same as a pool heater anyway....
 
You're probably right :) I thought it might still be worth doing the maths though :smashin: I suspect that the size he would need would probably cost the same as a pool heater anyway....

Doubtful, the pond heater just keeps the water from freezing hence the temperatures will be lower and it shouldn't be on anywhere near as much as an aquarium heater would be.
 
Agreed, I meant as much to buy :D
 
I'd only have the heater on during winter but there designed to be on all the time. Not sure how much water it holds, i'll take measurements now...
 
He's an actual photo of it :p
 

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Sorry, had to laugh... :thumbsup:
 
He's an actual photo of it :p

Assuming that was full to the brim then that's 172 litres, so as aquariums go that's not too bad. As ponds go it's not. So you would have to treat it as an outdoor aquarium with filtering, air stones and as discussed some sort of winter heating. The simple rule of thumb is that for aquariums, to maintain a 10 degree temperature difference you need a heater of the same wattage as your tank capacity. So to keep a tank from freezing you would probably need a 200 watt heater. You would also need to be able to set the thermostat to just above 0 so it only came on when needed and no tank heater can do that. You'd need an additional thermostat for that and costs are mounting up. Kevkbuks pond heater is probably a better option Bermuda 150W Pond Heater BER0110.

I think it's going to be a lot of hard work and a better option is to bring the fish indoors for the winter...
 

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