xenxes's Balcony Planter 24g - "Mud Bucket"

[diwu13]

So no filtration needed for this as of yet?

[pweifan]

xenxes, i really like this a lot!

I'm a bit jealous of your patio. I've had racoons go after the shrimp and fish in my container. Needess to say, they destroyed almost all the plants doing so. I have to keep mine covered now, so no plants growing out of the water for me

What's your other floater besides frogbit? Is that Salvia major or Red Root Floater?

[PaulG]

I want that patio and view so bad!

Nice pond too, it's looking better than my tub of green water

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by pweifan

xenxes, i really like this a lot!

I'm a bit jealous of your patio. I've had racoons go after the shrimp and fish in my container. Needess to say, they destroyed almost all the plants doing so. I have to keep mine covered now, so no plants growing out of the water for me

What's your other floater besides frogbit? Is that Salvia major or Red Root Floater?

Have very few salvinia minima, just don't like how they look. Large is a water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes), also have some dwarf variety, and yes red root floaters they get very red when the roots are exposed to light.

Racoon are evil geniuses, have you seen this? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...oduction/7518/

Maybe stick with nonedible plants?

I had a chicken hawk swoop down on my balcony earlier today, knocked a couple things over, including a tupperware of worms that spilled everywhere :/ Not sure if it made it off with any fish, not that I'd mind losing a few, they breed way too prolifically.

Originally Posted by PaulG

I want that patio and view so bad!

Nice pond too, it's looking better than my tub of green water

TY Add daphnia to eat the green water! Or other filter feeders such as fairy shrimp (but these aren't sustainable). If you have fish you should take them out, or keep the daphnia in an isolated / filtered through container inside.

[Eldachleich]

Gosh... everything you do is so much more charming than mine.
Lol...
Your tub pond looks much better than mine.
Mines square and it bothers me.
Great job!

[xenxes]

Haha not true. What do you mean square? I actually wanted a square planter but it was ~$80-100 @ Home Depot, so I went for the $20 Walmart one.

If you can dig in the ground you can just get a pond liner & some rocks? I still haven't seen a pic of your new pond!

Once I get a house I'm going to do something simple like this:

[Chizpa305]

Hey, I like the view on your balcony a lot. What floor is that? I mean how log does a penny takes to reach the floor. I have a balcony too but the view is not that epic (I am in a 3rd floor) and is not as spacious as yours. I like the miniature pond you got going on too. Makes me want to do something similar.

[xenxes]

35th floor, I'd trade it in for a small yard in a heart beat. My cat is suicidal and has gotten up on the railing multiple times.

[xenxes]

This is for all you non-believers who doubt the power of plants! Check out my API test in this 26g planter (~20g water volume) with no mechanical filtration, no water flow, no water change for 2 months (just top-off), 20 platy fish & feed liberally--JUST PLANTS:









Feeding time:

[diwu13]

How do you get rid of surface scum? Or do you do that manually?

[xenxes]

There is no surface scum, the snails and fish eat it before any accumulate. I usually see a couple small snails skimming and eating from the surface. I think the wind also helps.

I think the alocasia plant on the right might die, we'll see. At least I know anthuriums work with roots in water.

[xenxes]

Thought I'd post some pics of the fish food I've been culturing outside:


Assorted pickle jars and tupperware



A few of the fairy shrimp I started 2 months ago are still alive, almost 2" long



Daphnia moina culture grew insanely fast in 2 old infusoria jars



In the larger fairy shrimp jar I spot a lot of other organisms, think mostly another daphnia sp. (reddish color), and some cyclops


Microworms in pink tupperware (light diffused from led, they're really clear), growing in mashed potatoes + kitten formula + water


I stopped feeding the fairy shrimp and daphnia, they feed on decaying veggie leaves and dead insects that fly in, or the something along the decomposition->bacteria->infusoria chain

[diwu13]

Whoa.. fairy shrimp get to 2" long? Can you take a picture with your finger alongside it for a size comparison for me ?

I'm surprised you don't have any mosquito larva or damselfly larva in there that would feast on ALL your little goodies.

[xenxes]

Maybe I overestimated, more like 1"

[diwu13]

:P. Went from 'amazing' to 'meh' pretty quickly there