21 replies to this topic

[Rovik]

Had some time on my hands thanks to the public holiday so I installed my pond.
I plan to house my rather growing and large rainbow fish collection and possibly later on down the road breed Bristlenose (Something to cover the costs)
Here are some pics:










More to come tomorrow:
Darn this Hydroponics clay !!!!!!!

Edited by Rovik, 28 October 2011 - 10:12 PM.

[Riggers]

Nice work!! What's the plan for heating?

Cheers
Riggas

[fishking123]

look in the top pic in the center

[Riggers]

Am I missing something?

[scottyhooton]

There is a heater in the second photo

[Riggers]

Ah sweet as cheers Scotty

How does it go using an aquarium heater in an outdoor pond during winter? I would assume that it would be constantly running the majority of the time to keep up with keeping the pond warm, which could get quite expensive to run. Has anyone come up with cost effective way of heating an outdoor pond??

[Jamil]

These people across the road from me who we helped put there pond in there yard had a gas water heater come with it to heat it, not sure how It would stay a stable temperature though.

Edited by Jamil, 02 November 2011 - 07:48 PM.

[Dr_Pat]

Anything less then straight A's and imma getchu....

[Rovik]

97 average % and continuing....pat (Ill need you next year) ...maybe

The pond will be heated by a JAGER 300W. (Have the longest and most efficient heating coil)
Its only during the summer and with the ambient air temperature (24>).
Otherwise the project will be unviable. (Due to rising power cost)

My planted tank hit 29.5C yesterday and I had some plant floating on the top (pulled out ready for sale) stopping aeration(stagnant water) via a power-head creating flow along the surface and I lost 3 of my puntius denisonii...The rainbows were all gasping when I got home but I threw 3 air-stones in their and turned off the co2 and they where all good.

I will have to move the tank out of my room because it gets way to hot.
Did I mention we DON'T have air-conditioning. !!!!

[Riggers]

Aw no air con!! Sucky bro!! I've had limited success with large blocks of ice to cool a tank down. I say limited coz it's purely a temporary fix... I think I need to build a coolroom!!

[cichlid4lyf]

hey man,
any updates?

phil

[Rovik]

hey man,
any updates?

phil

Yes, the pond has been taken out of the dirt and is now being run above ground, the amount of rubbish, leave and dirty that blew in to the pond was ridiculous.
Cleaned her out today and changed the filter media as the expanded clay kept leaching red dirt that stained the water red.

Made a DIY filter box with the help of my local fish store, but in hindsight, it would have been a similar price to buy a cheap box filter.

Anyways, thanks for posting. You my got my ass into gear, that pond has just been sitting there as i have put it on the back burner.
I will fill her up tomorrow and drill a draining hole at the bottom.

2 large breeder goldfish will also be introduced as "organic" ammonia producers, begin the nitrification process.

[Bowdy]

Cleaned her out today and changed the filter media as the expanded clay kept leaching red dirt that stained the water red.

Strange!! I use expanded clay in my 2080 on my tang display and the water is crystall clear.

[Rovik]

Did I mention that it was in a fluidised (Moving) filter bed.
Its like gravel, stir it up and it makes a mess.

Now its just course pads and bio balls.

Ps: Photos to come.

Edited by Rovik, 22 December 2011 - 11:07 PM.

[Rovik]

Here is a quick update on the pond:
A massive thanks to Oliver at Aquotix for his help and advise. It has been invaluable.

















What fish ?

[sandgroper]

G'day Rovik, did you put a Uv light on the system, other wise the water is going to go green with direct sun light, looking good thou. cheers Steve

[Rovik]

Hey Steve

Green is what a want , All herbivore Cichlids have evolved In a A way and have A complex set of muscles that allows the upper and lower pharyngeal bones to be used as a second set of jaws for processing food e.g. Eat algae of rocks.
Green water will be my friend as it will absorb Excess phosphates and nitrate, Not that it will matter because I water change 50% once a week..And it only gets 2 hours of sun during sunrise. Sun Spectrum and radiation stimulates and promote good colour in the fish and to be honest I don't really care about the clarity of the water, biologically safe water with excellent water parameters is what I want: Look at the Amazon, the water is "dirty" full of leaves and all sorts yet supports a diverse selection of fish, due to having biologically safe water. E.g. no ammonia, 0 Nitrite, <10 ppm Nitrate.

In short, algae is more beneficial in my case but if I had a planted tank or Koi pond...I would kill all the algae.
Did I mention I have a 18W UV on my 3ft....Overkill, but they were going cheap.

Skip to 2:17 to see what a mean:
http://www.youtube.c...feature=related



Added 15, 4cm Electric yellows today, Fascinating the watch them school around and do Laps of the pond.

[sajica]

SOOOO many things you can do with a green pond *rubs hands together*

It's a shame you've got yellows in there. I'd give you a couple of rainbow mops to throw in there. 500L of green water would keep the larvae happy

Nothing wrong with greenwater

[sandgroper]

I guess it's good if you don't want to see your fish

[Riggers]

I guess it's good if you don't want to see your fish

Now now groper some people like there ponds green!!