'Duck Pond' themed tank, newbie.

[suspect bucket]

This is my first stab at a planted tank, so be gentle. I got the whole start up of a 20gal, filter, and light for 27 bucks. So far, only the 5$ light has died, probably for want of a new bulb.

My idea was to just throw in substrate and vegetation from my back-yard. I tossed in a top layer of sand and silt holding down the local hairgrass/duck weed, popped a simple filter with cheap cut-to-fit filter substrate, filled it with some pond water and hose water, then let it cycle for three weeks. Everything tested well, so I threw in two crays from Pet Creations (Jax FL) to nibble on the grass and algae, hopefully getting a bit of nitrogen feeding the grass.

It's a fun little tank, and very low tech. It's got a filter and a temperature sticker. In wintertimes, I will instal a heater, but this is an outdoor tank for now, as I've no room in my personal space for this tank.

The tank is currently thriving, with the addition of decorative/supportive sinkwood, and the crays have been in for a week and not died (yay)

My questions are this. The tank is meant to emulate a 'duck pond' but is there any way to clear it up a bit for beauty shots? Again, it's a silty bottom with hairgrass and natural algae buildup, but I'm hoping after a few more months I might be able to submit to one of the competitions y'all have.

My ultimate goal is to grow and sculpt a lovely but still a little wild-looking tank from extreme locavore source, perhaps one day introducing a juv. bluegill to complete the scene.

I'm located in Jacksonville, and the weather is getting perfect for an outdoor project tank (dont worry, I wont introduce a bluegill to such a small and unstable tank temperature, but the crays dont seem to mind).

Pics if you would care for them. Waiting on some stick-on LED's to replace the hood light.

[whickerda]

Originally Posted by suspect bucket

Pics if you would care for them. Waiting on some stick-on LED's to replace the hood light.

Yes pics please. BTW, in the jax area there is plenty of great plant collecting. You can be a locavore and still have some great stuff. Some of the plants growing in our ditches people pay money for. LOL

[finsNfur]

I would love to see pics! I've had outdoor rubbermaid tubs before, but glass would be a whole lot more interesting.

[suspect bucket]

No pics yet as the lighting is terrible, so no useful camera phone pics, and no decent camera that can set a long exposure.

The crays died and one was skeletonized (exo-skelotionized?) by something in the tank, possibly the later dead compadre committing delicous cannibalisim, but this was over a span of 5 hours between seeing happy hidey crays to dead crays. Might the leeches have something to do with it? I had a terrible dream where I found giant tank worms hiding in there.

The pump has lost a lot of efficiency, probably needs some kind of un-clogging or rinse. Any suggestions?

Either way, the pump needs to be off right now. I added a dozen pond tadpoles to the tank (caught from the actual pond), and they have some floating hairgrass fod to hide in and lots to nibble on. I throw a single pellet of outdoor fish food in every week, they all seem healthy and growing.

[suspect bucket]

Okay, got some crappy pics. I have NO light, this was accomplished with an old cage light in serious need of a new bulb.

hosted on imgur, click to embiggen.

top-down veiw (yes that is a fish bobber)



One of the tadpoles hanging out under the fod


Tank also acts as a CAD, cat amusement device.


Ugh reflections, but you see some of the right side of the tank. And some fantastic patio furniture.


More wood and bobber.


You can just see some tadpoles in there.


from the right looking left

[Seedreemer]

I really like your idea and how it's looking. I love tanks that recreate a piece of nature. I'm not sure if it gets any sun, but when I lived in Florida and had a natural tank (no filter even) the water sparkled once I moved it to a window where it got about 4 hours of afternoon sun each day. No algae, plants thrived, fish thrived, water sparkled. And yes, that was summertime sun.

[Diana]

If you let the tank run for any length of time before adding livestock that, in itself, is not cycling the tank. You need to add ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria to really cycle the tank.
If you did not add ammonia then some things were going on with natural ingredients in the tank such as the garden soil adjusting to being under the water, but this is not growing nitrifying bacteria. Sometimes the soil will release ammonia when it is submerged, and this can trigger the growth of the nitrifying bacteria. But if you say all the readings were testing well, then I assume you mean ammonia and nitrite were 0 ppm and nitrate was low or 0.
If these were the results, then you added the crays to an un-cycled tank.

[suspect bucket]

Originally Posted by Diana

If you let the tank run for any length of time before adding livestock that, in itself, is not cycling the tank. You need to add ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria to really cycle the tank.
If you did not add ammonia then some things were going on with natural ingredients in the tank such as the garden soil adjusting to being under the water, but this is not growing nitrifying bacteria. Sometimes the soil will release ammonia when it is submerged, and this can trigger the growth of the nitrifying bacteria. But if you say all the readings were testing well, then I assume you mean ammonia and nitrite were 0 ppm and nitrate was low or 0.
If these were the results, then you added the crays to an un-cycled tank.

I followed the Fishless Cycling guide here http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php. Nitrites did not spike very high before dropping, but I was stingy with the ammonia, probably too much so x.x

The tank is in a shaded area, because I'm afraid of it getting too hot in direct sunlight. It's in my screened patio, which receives a LOT of sun in non-covered areas. I do want to get more light to the tank, possibly in the form of LEDs.