Unique (budget) container pond build

[jetajockey]

Plants look amazing!! My pond is in full sun, it gets a little algea on the edges and green water if i shut down the system. Might be the comets or trapdoor snails keeping it in check or under control though. The snails dont seem to bother the plants in there, might be an option to look into.

Id love to add some other natives just havent got around to it. Every year I say next year I'm making it bigger and adding to it.

We also have have a large dog. 120 pound german shepard that chases anything that comes close to the house. I know a lot of people around me have issues with birds. My problem is keeping the dog out of it and destroying plants. Id hate to see your electric bill cause mine is high now

Electric bill is pretty crazy, but switching a lot of stuff over to LED so hopefully it'll come down some.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I thought about doing one like this a while back on the deck. But being in Ohio I'd have to take it down before winter every year.

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[Autumnsky]

Plants are looking very good still! Makes me miss all year round out door climate...a little bit

 

[jetajockey]

Thanks guys. Its getting down into the 50s here at night so ill hopefully be stocking natives soon and just try to ride it out through the winter. No telling how the plants will do yet.

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[jetajockey]

Ludwigia cuba transitioning well. You can see the trademark emersed big green leaves towards the bottoms.

 

[Autumnsky]

Ludwigia cuba transitioning well. You can see the trademark emersed big green leaves towards the bottoms.

You are making me want a pond again! (of course now it is gonna be winter so it will have to wait!)

 

[NatureFish]

Just for the fun of it, you should make another container pond like that but in miniature form! Maybe like 4 cinder blocks altogether and just put liner in. You could get a really cheap filter from the LFS and use the mini pond for fry or hatching eggs!


NatureFish
????

 

[Wy Renegade]

Looks cool, looking forward to seeing what you end up with for natives. I do agree that you will most likely have to separate the fry from the adults, and dragonfly nymphs in the water may also prove to be an issue with the fry and with the adults depending on the size of adults you are stocking.

 

[jetajockey]

Got elbows deep in there today, it was absolutely frigid. Probably in the upper 40 to lower 50s

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[Brookster123]

Got elbows deep in there today, it was absolutely frigid. Probably in the upper 40 to lower 50s

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You're in fla? ?? That's crazyyyyy

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[Autumnsky]

Heater time?

 

[jetajockey]

It really cold last night and catching the jewel cichlids in there is near impossible without draining the entire system. This morning I found them all laying on the bottom on their sides and upside down. So I scooped them out and amazingly enough they were all alive. I brought them inside and added a small bit of room temp water and now im letting them come up to temp on their own. 20 minutes in and they are all recovering.


Im considering building a greenhouse type structure over there whole setup, since heating will be pricey.

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[Brookster123]

What.. you keep cichlids in a planted pond ! What about a solar powered heater?

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[Autumnsky]

Wow, that must have been scary! I hope they all recover for you.

Even if you just plunked in a couple of heaters, they could all congregate in the "warm" corner(s).

I put a submersible heater(s) in my pond and it was a 125G and a 55G trash can filter (obviously not 100% full) and I used 2 heaters in the part of winter when there could be 4 inches of ice on it. Covered the plugs so they wouldn't get wet or damp. Outdoor Christmas light multiplug thing too.

You could just use for the oddly weird weather times. You could also try some rubbery thick black plastic to cover to help solar warm them

Though a nice "Sunroom" sounds more fun You could really take that idea far and have the most amazing winter hangout.

 

[jetajockey]

I'm attempting to keep things kinda cheap, cost wise, since I have so many things going. i've got the greenhouse system running, this pond system, and my fishroom which has around 30 tanks so every little bit helps. I'm glad they pulled through and I got them in time, I'm just going to put natives out there that can deal with the cold.

As far as covering the system, I've been looking into doing a cattle panel style greenhouse shelter, i just need to see if the measurements will work. that's probably the easiest and cheapest route anyway.

 

[azmodan]

Hey jeta, any updates to this? Still planning a structure?


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[jetajockey]

This was yesterday afternoon lol

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