above ground lily pond (s)

[andi_mn]

hi everyone! leave it to minnesota ...yesterday 95, today presently 102 deg.
it was a long winter. then it was a cold, rainy spring. not many gardening days. hopefully tomorrow and the next few days are going to be cooler and i have a few lilies to plant or move. i have an area just asking for a round, above ground lily pond (you know...one of 'those visions' we all have)  we have a farm supply store in town that carries stock tanks, galvanized ($$) or the black poly-type. wondering if any of you use the black stock tanks for your waterplants? anything that makes one superior to the other? nasty cold freezing winter temps here (do you get the feeling that i'm not really crazy about this state? ) would a black one have to be drained for the winter?  thanks for the input, andi

[SueSTx]

I drain my black one due to the size.  It is a 90 gallon oval.

We had a cold spell in February where the temps were below zero and the wind chills were about -20*.  I have a galvanized tank that is about 3 1/2' diameter or approx 160 gallons.  The pump froze into the ice and the hoses froze in the water. February and ice was about 4" down the sides and about 10" on the top.  The bottom bulged but doesn't leak yet.  I put in my deicer as soon as I could get out there.

My 8' tanks with no filter/pumps froze down 10" also but not so much on the sides except for the side where the wind was blowing.  These tanks are lined with kiddie pools and none of the liners cracked due to the ice.  I swapped out a deicer between the tanks just long enough to melt a hole thru the ice.  I did lose some fish, but nothing like I would have thought under those curcumstances.

My 8' tak with pump/filter didn't have but about 6" of ice on the top.

I've had stocktanks for about 6 or 7 winters and have never had anything like this.