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CL's 100 Gallon Container Pond

30K views 62 replies 24 participants last post by  AGUILAR3 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm finally setting up a container pond for the spring/ summer. I'll be picking up a 100 water trough tomorrow to use. I'm going to have some dwarf lilies/ lotus and a few other floaters such as salvinia oblongata (all of which are coming in the mail this week), and maybe a few stems and an emergent watersprite for good measure. I'll probably just have a bunch of zebra danios in there to eat the mosquito larvae. The container will be in a partially shaded area, so I won't really need to worry about the water getting too low too fast.

I have a couple of questions though. I am not going to filter this pond, mainly because It'll have loads of plants, and few fish. Any recommendations about water movement? Could I just use an air pump and air stone (air pump protected from the elements of course)?

I'm pretty pumped :icon_mrgr
EDIT: moved the pond into the sun, the area was too shaded.
Here are pics (the tub is half buried in the ground. The pump is making that much surface movement, and it is at the bottom of the tub (about 27 inches down!), and the flow is divided between the two heads, so it's not as much of a stream. I'm waiting for the plants in the back to grow up and over the back edge of the tub, it looks a bit ugly right now :icon_neut:
Sorry for the sideways pictures ;)



The plant that will drape over the back, and grow in the gaps of the rock around the tub

Currently the ~25 zebra danios (some long finned, some long finned leopard danios) are doing great. I plan to have about 50 total when I'm done adding them to this pond. I also might add a couple of BN plecos when the algae starts growing well (as it will)
Currently I'm waiting on the plants in the pot to grow up to the surface. I also have a wad of flame moss in there somewhere in case the danios breed, and the fry can hide in it. Also, I plan on adding a bunch of cherry shrimp, and the baby shrimp can hide in the moss as well, and others will supplement the danios diet of mosquito larva.
I hope that's enough rambling typing for now ;)
 
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#31 ·
man looks good! you should throw in a handful of cherry shrimp or something just for fun. there is a guy down here in ft. lauderdale who sells pond plants and koi and he threw some cherries into a lotus pond for fun and now he's got 1000's of them all over the place in there. The only way he even noticed them was a customer asked what the little red critters were climbing on the stems of some of the plants! Here is a pic of his pond where they live:

He has told me the pH is 5.5ish and they still breed very heavily.


Anyway, i thought you might be interested in trying that. :)
 
#34 ·

I put some watersprite in the pond a couple of days ago, and it hasn't gotten burned like it did in the spring.

A bunch of frogs have taken up residence :) No idea where they came from considering it's about five miles to the nearest pond. I guess that's not too far for them to travel?
 
#37 ·
The surface was covered with slavinia until yesterday, when I took about half of it out so I could see the fish :) I only have a powerhead in there for water movement.

Nice!

Have you had any probs with the danios jumping?
Thanks. I haven't noticed any kamikaze danios, but it's not like it would be easy to notice. Normally the water is about an inch and a half lower than it is in the picture, but it rained this morning.
 
#39 ·
Super Cool! I've always wanted a pond/waterfall in my backyard. I didn't think you could put aquarium pets in an outdoor pond. I would think between the rain overflowing the pond and all the other environmental parameters, it would be killer for the fish. I will continue to watch this as I am very interested in doing this myself. Good Work!

Matt
 
#45 ·
Alex, that must be Taedge, the guy I got my RCS from, I recognize the photos. Anyways, if you want more visibility of your fish, have you thought about adding some guppies? I did two ponds in guppies this summer and now I have hundreds. Bringing them inside was a chore that involved getting a dozen or so tanks off craigslist, lol.
 
#46 ·
I have had the same kind of pond for a long time. They hold up well, mines about 7-8 years old. In the summer I grow labrynth fish(no pump, stagnant water). These are also good for any kind of pond plants since theyre already acclimated to stagnant water. Good work on the danios! Im having so much fun with these that I bought 3 of them :). Most of the time they look like yours.
 
#47 ·
A few weeks ago I put this wood in the pond to start it soaking so it may sink when I have time to use it in a couple of years :hihi:

It's sticking out of the water like fingertips ATM. I'll have to get a picture for you guys. I think it looks a lot better with the wood.
 
#49 ·
The plant that will drape over the back, and grow in the gaps of the rock around the tub
Hey do you know what kind of plant this is? i found some at the base of a tree and transplanted it to my pond and it can look really nice when it drapes over rocks. It's very easy to transplant. All I had to do is just put a stem in the moist moss and voila roots a day or two later... The only thing though is that there is a short period of it being nice and big before it gets too hot then lanky looking but I think it's effect is worth the labor of cutting it back when it gets too big and removing it when it gets ugly during the very hot months of the summer.


Here is what that plant looks like on my pond, you can see it draping over the water:

 
#54 ·
Hey CL checkout my post you just need an airstone that's all. All that fancy stuff they're throwing at you is useless unless you're filtering it and want it show quality. I dont filter mine water is crystal clear I threw in a crapload of guppies and a lot of plants moss too and that's it.

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