Wine barrel pond

[mushrooms]

A few members requested....No pictures of fish though, sorry.

You can find the half wine barrel at some Home Depot stores for around $35. This is not the plastic ones, its the real one that actually still had some remnant of wine in there when I bought it.

Pics are all from last year. 2009 And are out of order, as you can see, I changed around the plants a few times.





This is Azolla. I started out with this in the beginning and it grew so fast that it covered the entire surface in about a week. I took it out but it was impossible to get rid of until the really hot weather killed it off. And just when I wanted to save what I had left I lost it all. Beautiful stuff.


Close up there is Duckweed, Frogbit, Water Salvinia and a loose moss/fern plant (not sure what it is).

[C2C7390]

how do you keep it so clear
is there a filter?

[Neon Shrimp]

Nice pics of the barrel pond. I like all of the different floating plants you have there. None of them are duck weed are they ?

[jnm1978]

This is worthy of the pond section. We need more pictures like this of member's ponds. Looks good.

[Neon Shrimp]

I will move this thread to the Pond forum, thanks for the suggestion Jon.

[mushrooms]

Originally Posted by C2C7390

how do you keep it so clear
is there a filter?

No filter.
I believe the floating plants help keep it clear. When I moved it to full sun, however, the water turned green and remains that way now especially with way less floating plants. I can still see half way down at least.

Originally Posted by Neon Shrimp

Nice pics of the barrel pond. I like all of the different floating plants you have there. None of them are duck weed are they ?

There's duckweed in the last picture.

[Neon Shrimp]

There's duckweed in the last picture.

Eek! Good thing goldfish like to snack on them right...

[Ollie]

...Now I want one of this too ...

[o0ODESO0o]

the plants keep it clear and plays the role of a filter....still water keeps it clear also. cool ponds btw....

[mushrooms]

Thanks. It looks very different this year. I was ashamed to post the pics of it this year because it looked very dingy. Water was crap-green too.

So the water lilies regrew and then I jury-rigged a little whipser internal filter last month and it cleared a lot although not 100% yet. I attached the pump to a coffee creamer container and put in filter floss and gravel. This is like very ghetto but it works. The internal filter hangs on the barrel inside and I put some rocks in it to make a mini waterfall (crappy though lol).

Got like 6 ranchus in there now and I think they're all male judging by the tubercles so they're gunna have a gay ol' time with each other.

Will take pics when i get home on mon or tues...in moreno valley now.

[mushrooms]

Click for video of fish feeding:
http://v3.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=25a2c7p&s=3

Pictures taken today:




Here's the filter, works good for now...until I can afford a real pond filter.


New buds that should be opening up next week. (Water still has a green tint.)

[xmas_one]

Nice!

Lowes has lily bulbs for like 7 bucks right now....

[mushrooms]

Yeah, I have those water lilies from Lowes also, but being of the 'hardy' type, they're only good for big ponds since they need a good amount of space for it to bloom well.

I am using tropicals hybrids here since they can be bonsai'ed pretty well and they also have good blooming habits (almost non-stop in the summer, well, if we didn't have this gloomy weather...). I'm growing it in a Nong Shim noodle bowl.

The tropical water lilies may cost more, like $15-$30 bucks online, but well worth the extra. I got a couple divisions of the one with mostly green leaves so if anyone wants one for postage, send me a PM.

[bayst]

Wow! That's a really nice, tidy barrel pond! I have one that I'm in the process of redesigning, as it is just an aquatic jungle mess at this point! lol... I really like the little filter you made too! Great idea!

[AnthonyV]

Originally Posted by mushrooms

...I'm growing it in a Nong Shim noodle bowl...

I am officially hungry now...

[ghavoc]

Thats really cool. If I had a yard I would add one of those. I love lilies and lotus plants. Only thing I can grow on my patio are succulents. The lighting is always fluctuating.

[Snorkeldepth]

Between admiring your barrel pond and stopping by Lowes today and finding a french oak wine barrel that had a heavenly aroma as I tipped it over to check out the interior . . . . I'm now the proud owner of a wanna be pond. What's next?!