Galvanized Stock Tanks - Maybe not as safe as I thought for fish.

I've been having myriad problems with my galvanized stock tank ponds, but am in the process of fixing them. Today I noticed there wasn't a single living thing (aside from algae) in a pond that has been sitting with water in it for months - this appears to be a problem.

[@MrJudeWanamaker]

It looked like that Chicken was wearing a blonde wig, towards the end of the video 😂

[@ATXAquatics]

I'm trying to remember which one that was - I think it was one of my Polish chickens - they have a big poof on their heads and generally just act a little silly - endless entertainment.

[@jddmmabbott]

I am painting the inside of my 150 gallon stock tank aquarium with pond shield tonight! I thought galvonized would be fine if livestock drink from it. I was wrong. I have lost probably $400 worth of 1st fancy goldfish and then a group of o angelfish. It was the tank. Beware its deadly to fish people! I have never had a goldfish or any other type of fish live more then a year in this stock tank. I'm an experienced fish keeper and took excellent care of the fish. But NOTHING can live in my tank over a year. The goldfish at room temp could make it a year. Once I heated it my angelfish didn't make it past 6 months. Learn from my mistake and don't use galvonized or seal it with an epoxy if you do. I spent almost 5 years at this before I just realized its the tank. Period!

[@ATXAquatics]

I keep going back and forth on this issue - someone pointed out that my initial issue was probably temp variations. Here in Austin, the summer temps are just too much for an above ground metal tank. I'm running another experiment where I sank the stock tank in the ground and have it under a pergola. I also have a pretty efficient filter on it. After cycling it, I added 8 smallish koi and about 10 goldfish - just shubunkins. The tank is 8' x 2' round - about 550 US gallons I believe - so we'll see how it does. It's hard for me to think that the galvanized steel is leaching something into the water - when I was a kid we used to have goldfish in the stock tanks for 20 years or more. One difference there would be that the water (well water) was cycled through quite often with all the cattle drinking from it - so that might be something I'll add into the mix although that's going to kind of skew the experiment. At any rate, I'll post an update if things seem to be working - or if they fail.

[@meauxjeaux431]

@@ATXAquatics MAYBE STOCK TANKS ARE OK IF THEY ARE "SEASONED" FOR A PERIOD OF TIME ? IT MAY BE THAT GALVANIZE TECHNIQUES ARE DIFFERNT THAN THEY USED TO BE, AND THAT'S WHY IT WORKED FOR YOU IN THE PAST ? OR MAYBE IT COULD BE THAT YOUR OLD TANK WAS ALREADY SEASONED FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU PUT FISH IN IT ? I HAD FISH DIE N MINE THAT WAS ONLY ABOUT 6 WEEKS OLD, AND IT WAS RECENTLY, SO IT WASN'T OVERHEATED AND IN MOSTLY COVERED AREA. I ALSO NEVER SAW MOSQUITO LARVAE, SO I ASSUME THE GALVANIZE IS WHY. I'M JUST GOING TO QUIT FIGHTING IT AND BRUSH ON A LIQUID RUBBER LINING AND BE DONE WITH IT. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR TANK.

[@vvltures]

It's not the temperature it's the zinc from the galvanized tub medium to high concentrations of zinc is toxic to fishes gills even low concentration can make fish stressed and will eventually lead them to die

[@marcusfishtanks7395]

@@meauxjeaux431 what did you end up costing your tank with? I just bought one for an indoor pond so it’s climate controlled but I’m still worried about eventual rust. Haven’t filled it up yet

[@meauxjeaux431]

@@marcusfishtanks7395 I GAVE UP ON COATING IT. ENDED UP USING IT AS A WATER TANK TO WATER MY PLANTS. I REALLY LIKE THE IDEA OF YOU PUTTING IT INSIDE THOUGH. SOUNDS VERY INTERESTING.

[@MissJnet]

I have a pond liner in mine. Hoping this helps. I power washed the tub, then laid some material. Then laid some pond liner but I dunno.

[@ATXAquatics]

That's definitely an option - albeit a little expensive. I continue to run experiments on this and will hopefully have some time to do a video about the results at some point.

[@pachuco42]

I’m looking into going that direction on mine. On the first go it killed my koi

[@grumpyguysoutdoors]

I have heard that when the water gets acidic from the fish it will leach toxic metals from the galvanization or zinc into the water. My fish tanks are Tuff Stuff plastic cattle troughs.

[@ATXAquatics]

Interesting - my water is super acidic just on it's own because I fill those with rain water - so that could be what's happening.

[@grumpyguysoutdoors]

@@ATXAquatics You can try putting some of the softer local limestone rocks in the tank or a paint straining bag full of the crushed oyster shells for chickens to see if it helps.

[@ATXAquatics]

@@grumpyguysoutdoors The oyster shells was on my list to try - I have chickens so have a big bag of those for them - I'm in the process of digging holes for all those ponds now to at least solve the heat problem and then I'll try that once they are going again.

[@jettachamp26]

@@ATXAquatics check out 'birdman sand gravel filters'. i use one of those i built in my aquaponics setup. Also. galvanized tanks are great, but you should coat them with a food safe coating so the chemicals from the galvanizing process doesn't leach into the water. similarly, i would paint the outside with white or some other reflective coating to reduce the heat

[@hollywells8562]

OMG what kind of bird is that singing throughout your video?

[@ATXAquatics]

Hmm, not sure - to be honest those guys are constantly singing around here so I've never really paid attention. It is quite cool now that you point it out! I'll try to figure it out and let you know - although now that it's cold, they are probably elsewhere. Next time I hear it I'll give you a shout out. Thanks

[@ChuckFoxen]

What fittings did you use on the drain hole?

[@ATXAquatics]

The tanks have a threaded fitting built in - I just strewed in some pvc fittings on both sides - about half way in for each. Seems to be holding. There isn't a lot of water pressure on it - so far so good.

[@TheRugghead]

Test your ph?