Summer Ponds and Tubs

[GEV83]

I see your tubs are in shade and so is the pond with the brick stone things (I forgot what there really called lol) but the one near the trellis with the Ivy growing around it looks like it has no source of shade. Or is there something that provides shade later on in the day?

Oh the tubs ($5.97 here at my the WalMart I work at) are actually smaller then you think for water volume. The ones we use to see at the same size use to say there size and there 18 gallons. If you look for a nursery pot for plants look for one that is a 20 gallon and you'll see the dimensions are nearly identical. I bought 4 of them 1 in use in my room currently as a quarantine. They would be to small for a pair of firemouth's huh? I would think they are but the dimensions seem kinda good.

Do you put different species of fry in each tub or are they for just one tub per species?

 

[GEV83]

Picked up water hyacinth last night at the NJAS meeting. They're all in one tub right now, but will soon be portioned out to all of them.

How do you handle overflows? We get a LOT of rain here, and I'm pretty sure we've lost fry to the tubs overflowing. Short of running out and siphoning some out before each storm, I don't know of much that can be done to stop it. All the things I've come up with will either lose siphon and stop working at some point or clog with plants and stop working.

Why not drill a hole at the level you want and in the hole add a circular sponge? Won't clog as easily allowing water to pass through with every storm you get. You may need to clean the sponge every so often but since it'll be at the water surface level it will be easy to access just a quick squeezing clean place it back in the hole and your set to go. Plus fry wont be able to pass through the sponge either.

 

[OrionGirl]

I've thought about that, but with the amount of floating plants that these get, I suspect it would clog very quickly. Salvinia just mobs the top of the tank! I'm going to see what I can come up with, might try different things on different tanks.

 

[GEV83]

The only way I could see it clogging is if there was just a constant amount of storms going on then yeah cause then it will act like a filter and suck your plants clogging it. Keep in mind its only the bottom of the sponge that would be touching the water and your plants would have to clog the entire sponge. So say you put a 2-3" wide sponge it has all that to try and plug which it would only be able to do little by little. Any pictures of the container you need to setup this up on? Maybe it will give me or someone else a better idea.

 

[platytudes]

What about just a cork? Seems like the simplest way to drain it quickly, you could even have various holes for whatever levels you wanted to keep it at. I would definitely Velcro a piece of window screen to the outside so nothing leaks out that you want to keep in, such as fry or plants. Most of the time it would be loosely attached, just the top keeping it on and it would be draped over the cork, but then when you remove the cork you can attach it to the bottom as well as the top.

 

[Pittbull]

Gabe they are called cinder blocks, that pond your talking about usually gets morning shade and afternoon shade but my liner has a hole and its only holding a couple of inches so i am thinking a turtle pond now til it completely goes then i will fill it up with dirt and just stick with the above ground ponds, i bought 3 more today not sure what the size are i bought them from a closing pet shop and i pick them up this weekend they look like they hold a few hundred gallons but hey my gallon rating system is off a bit LOL..

 

[GEV83]

LOL yea your gallon rating is off just a tad bit bro but its all good. Pic's of the new ones you bought will be nice when you get them. I was also wondering why the water level was a bit low but you answered that before I could even think about asking. Oh and yeah cinder blocks. Dang I couldn't figure out what they were called.

Nicole a cork won't allow water to pass through. A sponge would. Would kinda suck to need to remove a cork in the middle of a storm to let it drain. A sponge would not require this it would allow it to act like and over flow just instead of it flowing into a filter it just flows to the ground outside. Know what I mean Jelly Bean? lol. Haven't used that phrase for ages.

 

[OrionGirl]

A 2-3 inch hole would be difficult to put in without reducing the volume by several gallons, and anything smaller is likely going to clog. We do have weeks where it rains most every day. Or, you know, hurricanes. It's not been a huge issue, just something I'd like to address.

 

[platytudes]

Wow, I guess you get used to it, huh? I like the rainy season here...but I look forward to when it dries Our heavy rains are just a couple of months out of the year, with intermittent showers. Florida has actually been in a state of drought for many years now, so I do welcome the rain, in spite of the inconveniences it sometimes causes.

 

[GEV83]

Oh well can't help you with the hurricane deal. High winds and major rain fall is not something I Would know what to do in. Ummmm build a storm shelter over them lol. Forgive me I'm in Cali and the most we get from a hurricane is the tail end when they pass through Mexico.

Florida in a drought? Don't you get heavy rain pour from hurricanes that pass over you as well?