lol.. so how would i go about this?..

umm..... yeah....

so yeah.....

round' here in minnesota the winter gets down to about 10-25 degrees farenheit..

pond filter
pond heater? ( would i need one if i kept common goldfish, i also my fantail goldfish )
we've also got a small fountain which would cut down on ice..

theres winter for ya..

but other problems we had last time were

animals ( mice, birds etc. ) toppling over and drowning and polluting the pond
animals ( cats, racoons, possums ) eating the fish
leafs always getting in there and polluting it ( and my brother lawn-mowing grass into the pond ( idiot ) )
dirt, and other debris

im worried about

fish jumping out, like comets or common goldfish
filter current, as its a small pond and a pond filter.. yeah
my brother ( idiot again ) being an idiot and putting hose water ( toxic ) into the pond to refill it
and all the other things above..

so yeah, im hoping for some advice as i have no clue what im doing. all i know is im doing it for my goldfish and nobodies gonna stop me, already have parental approval.

alright, for a filter, if you have money, i would go with one with a UV light, to destroy the green water, or, put a shade ofer the pond (artificial, or, natural (I.E trees, vines, etc, or, a metal cover, and some shade cloth.) i personally only use an artificial shade, with shade cloth bought at lowes, or home depot.

secondly, is that 10 through -25, or, 10 through 25? if it gets down past 0, u need a heater, unless it is in the full sun, and, is 5+ feet deep. it gets into the teens here, and I am going to but a heater, just to be on the safe side.

as for animals......i would use a small fence, if you could, ( i use a small fence to keep the friggen frogs out of my pond....) and, i saw some where that you can buy this thing that cherps verry loudly when a bird, or other smaller critter comes by, looking for a snack :) i have cats, so, they usually keep mice,rats, and birds from getting into my pond, but, still, i see them out some times. any way, it is like an alarm system for your pond basicly, OOOO i also saw in this catalog for gardening, a water system that goes off if some thing small comes too close to the sensor, that might work.....

my comets, and gold fish never tried to jump out, too many prey animals to get them before they died....:X i would get a bigger filter, like 1.5 X bigger than the vloume of your pond, thats what i did, and mine is crystal clear.

oh, if you ever find this product called "pond clear" it is powder, and, in a small white package, and, that seems to work great as well.

umm, any more questions i didn't answer?

(if any of my information is incorrect, it is based off of what i am exparmenting on, and, it has yeilded good resulte in the heat, i don't know how it would do in that climate, compared to mine.)

the aquarium dimensions are in topic description, its a really small pond, only 90 gallons, but im thinking of getting a real pond, like a couple hundred gallons, 2 or so feet deep..

anyways im setting up this pond next summer so theres tons of time to get ready
My goldfish is at a school aquarium for the school year, so in 8 more months she's coming home, yes that same goldfish in my *what to name my not-new goldfish* thread is a female.. forgot to mention

yahh...

10-25 degrees usually, might get to the negative single digits a few times at night

so yeah....

Youth, in this area we have dead lakes because they froze out, you will need to make the pond much deeper than you have planned (a foot below the frost line) or get a really good heater, remember that up here it can get to 30 below plus wind chill. In the mid 90's the entire state was shut down for 4 days due to extreem cold and wind chills.

You also want to take into consideration the fact that this will probably be the only open water in your area from mid November till about June and the local wildlife WILL find it. You might just want to do a 3 season pond and take the fish inside for the winter.

yeah.. thats my initial plan, only i dont have a 90 gallon aquarium to match the pond inhabitants for them over winter, and i doubt my family would let me get such a tank..

i know what ill do, 3 season pond, 5 goldfish in there, 55 gallon winter tank.

So you really think it's possible to have a year round pond!?! It usualy doesn't get below... Oh, 15 degrees here in the winter. Got way below zero last year though (freak occurance) so I'd put a heater in no matter what. Uh, I've got a 90g pond and I run the waterfall most of the time. Put it on a timer I guess. Not to much possibility of predators. What about summer heat? Would I have to shade it?

Could this be the answer for my goldfish problem!?!

Looks like it's a go. I can easily make "Skippys" bio-filter and I'll buy a heater. No sweat.

Well, it's a done deal now. Ladies and Gentlemen, the goldfish have left the building. And now they're in the pond. AND LOVIN' IT! Funny thing. When I first put them in they just sat on the bottom and looked at me. :bye: But then it was kinda like I could read their minds and they were saying, "And you threw us in here becuzzzzzz..." LOL Well, I went out to check on them this morning. They were still just sittin' there on the bottom like before but then... (enter the suspense building organ music) the sun broke the horizon and one of them shot across the bottom like a rocket. Very cool ineed. Yeah, I think they like their new home. :)

Oh, here's what I did or rather didn't do so far. Talked to a lot of people who have ponds w/fish and they said that with a waterall, all you need is some plants for shade nd cover. They'll clean the water just fine all by themselves. In the winter, just keep and ice hole (watch your phrase-ology) open for gas exchange and there's nothing else to do. So that's it then. I'm getting some plants this weekend (ummm, water hyacinth, water lettuce, maybe more) and I think I'll still build the DIY filter. If nothing else it will make a really cool waterfall.

:groovy:

sounds like a cool project keep us updated and throw in some pics.:D

And ya know, we just bought a new camera. A HP something. Now if I can just figure out how to use it. :huh?: