Ghostwater Garden

Stock Tank Ponds - Setting up, part two

So, you've gone out and bought a big water container. What's next?

Consider the spot where you want to locate your pond.  Is it level?  If you are placing on a concrete patio, as mine are, it is sure to NOT be level. 

Think about concrete slabs and rainwater.  A properly installed patio, driveway, porch, etc - will drain AWAY from any foundations.  So the slab has a slope.  If you are placing your pond so that the long side is with the slope, and you fill it with water, your tank will look like the water is tilted. The water will rest higher on the low side. 

To fix this on my patio, I just picked up a couple of bags of play sand.  I wasn't terribly concerned about it being perfectly level, so I was able to dump a pile of sand down, move the empty stock tank back and forth over it until it looked 'good' and then started filling the tank. 

If a sloping line of water inside the tank will make your design sense itch, take more time on this step.  Bring out the level and work the sand until the level tells you the setup is square. You will want to watch that the bottom of the tank has even support.  You might get a level reading by simply tucking a paver under the low side, but the force of all that water will stress your tank if the bottom is not supported.   Add the sand.

Electricity:

Now for the stuff that you have to use common sense about.  My hobby ponds are using regular extension cords, and interior rated aquarium equipment.  This is not recommended by any of the manufacturers for good reason.  Most outdoor environments are wet.  Traffic over the cords will cause damage.  Electricity and water Do Not Mix. 

Here is a multi-headed extension cord.  It's currently running two aquarium filters but when I finish the setup it will also have a two-outlet air pump running as well. 

Note that it is located on a brick.  Here in Arizona, I don't have a lot of standing water on my property.  Back in Michigan, where water might stand on my driveway for hours, my plug stand was a 8x8x8 CMU block.  Bricks and blocks, whichever height you determine you need, can be recycle/salvage or purchased at your neighborhood big box store.

The cord should be placed where it won't get in the way of traffic. Slip it behind pots to keep it tight against buildings and off any well traveled pathway. If there is an area where it crosses a path, use a cord cover to protect the cord from wear. You can find these online, or you can order them through an office supply store.

Here we have my low-budget 'lid' for my cord system.  This is a planter that I did not punch the drainage holes on, letting me use it as a roof for the brick and plug assembly.  It's not the most beautiful solution, but it works.  Use your imagination as you shop.  Any pot that doesn't have a drain hole can be used in this way, given that it is large enough to cover the plug comfortably.  You don't want to bend or otherwise force the cords under the cover, it should set down easily and sit stable on the ground.  With a heavier cover, or if I am putting a lot of weight on it, I will shim the four sides so that the cord doesn't get pinched.  

When you are happy with the placement of the cord and cover, you can top it off with a planted pot and give it a decorative function. 

Stock tanks rust.  They are galvanized to prolong their life, but they rust.  One thing I found with my first tank is that plastic will react with the galvanized coating and compromise it.   Clay, however, is inert and doesn't damage the tank.  So if you plant your water plants in plastic pots, be sure to get a clay saucer to put under them.  Your tank will thank you. 

This shot is from a few weeks ago.  I was pleased that my fish in the outdoor tanks overwintered just fine.  The plants are just coming out of dormancy.  I have hardy water lilies in my setups.  For the winter they produce a set of very short leaves that sit an inch or so above the roots.  When spring comes, they start sending out the more typical long-stemmed leaves to float on the water.  You can see both types of leaves in this photo.  The fish are gambusias.   Even a simple minnow fish like this one can add a lot of life to a little pond.

 

Here is the setup in its new location.  Bailey the dog approves.

Yep, still working on the Patio Pond post...

Sorry folks.  I've been wallowing a bit lately.  This last week seems to be a return to something akin to normal.   I'll give writing the second post in the series another go soon.

Part of my hesitation is that my set up is not very 'safe' as far as the legal beagles would consider.  I'm not using exterior rated stuff, and it's rigged to not get wet, but mine is very haphazard.

So I'm a little afraid of just blithely saying 'here do this' when I might hear back from you all later with flaming brands and pitchforks because the rigging managed to electrocute your dog... I think you can see this is a dilemma.

Stock Tank Ponds - Setting Up, part one

This tank is 160 gallons.

And this is 100 gallons (Apologizes for the reuse of the photos - I may update these when I find fresh photos in my files.  Today is about content...)

I'm going to start by talking about the tanks themselves.  These are livestock watering troughs, in zinc-coated steel, available in many shapes and sizes.  My 100 gallon tank is made for sheep and goats, and the taller 160 for horses and cattle. 

If you are lucky enough to live in a rural area, these are available at your local feedstore.  If you don't see them, ask, as they are likely to be stowed out in back somewhere, waiting to be looked for. They take up a lot of 'shelf space.'

A search for 'stock tanks' should get you what you are looking for.*  Here's the posting at Tractor Supply, a store we had around the corner from our place in Michigan.

I know, this isn't the promised pond setup...

But I wanted to add a note to myself regarding my failed attempt to overwinter water hyacinths indoors.

Tip not to be overlooked:  These babies need a LOT of light.  Lots and lots...

...and I now have a Rubbermaid bin full of floating dead vegetative matter with a few fish living somewhere underneath all that.  My work for the weekend...

The Year of the Ugly Ponds...

This is the tale of two ponds.

I bought the second stock tank, the larger one, in January after we had moved to this rental.  It holds 160 gallons.  The smaller (below) holds 100 gallons.

I keep a variety of small fish in these to eat the inevitable mosquito larvae.  In the winter, the northern native rosie minnow does just fine.  In the summer, and in the south, the mosquito fish become gambusias.   If I'm clever, I will get an indoor tank and twice a year swap out the fish as the climate demands.  So far, I've been not so clever.  I'd argue that it's difficult to juggle such fish maintenance and move at the same time - I did have a few of the rosies and one tough little gambusia in a temporary holding tank... ok, a three gallon plastic container that formerly held pretzels... and they almost lasted until the early spring warm up, but not quite. 

I really hate inadvertently killing things. 

The ponds, while they hold fish, are not primarily fish ponds.  They are intended to be oases in a dry landscape, harboring occasional flowers against their lush greenery.  They are home to my water lilies, one plant that I brought to Phoenix with me, and others that were gifted me in those first summer months I was here.   They capture the peaceful moments of water and offer them up in the desert. 

A good garden pond, once set up, requires very little maintenance.  The lilies require the fading leaves and spent flowers to be pinched and composted, the fish are happy to get a little additional food to supplement nature's offerings, the filters need to be lifted and washed every month or so.  The key to achieving this leisurely schedule is to be sure to balance the pond early in the season. 

A balanced pond is one that has more plants than fish.  A LOT more plants than fish.  I did not get this going when I set these up back in January.  I was slack enough in getting the replacement fish before the mosquito spawn started 'riggling.  I did have plenty of plants, the problem was they were all emergent types.  The only partially submerged plant was the parrot feather, and since it does most of its photosynthesis above the water line, I'm not sure it was particularly helpful.

So the ponds got a bit.. green...   in some of the wrong ways.  I had green water.  I had algae blooms all over the place, string algae, microscopic algae, algae, algae, algae... a little algae is a good thing, it gives the fish some salad to graze, it helps even out the waste load.  Algae is not inherently evil. 

But boy, can it be ugly. 

So by the time I got my act together - in JUNE - and purchased bunches and bunches of hornwort to drop into each tank, the algae had a damn good foothold. 

Here you can get a good look at what grew over the submerged parts of the parrot feather. This stuff is sort of olive toned and kind of looks and feels like wet felt.  Blech.  Not pretty at all.

This algae fascinates me.  It's just standard string algae, but it's only growing here where the bubble gives the water extra oxygen, and it stands in the moving current like a sort of green wave.  I've fought with string algae before - it was my main foe in the Michigan patio pots - but here it's behaving in a way I like. 

I'm not fighting with any of this right now, mind you.  Because in spite of all that muck and slime, these are happy ponds.  Healthy ponds.  The influx of hornwort cleared up the green water, and in the space of days I was beginning to see little fish fry all over the place.  Right now I must have hundreds of babies in the two tanks.  I like to feed them crushed goldfish flakes and watch the really little ones swim onto the partially submerged lily leaves to grab food.  SO cute!

And the plants are going gangbusters.  The lily I brought down has been flowering almost weekly - as one bloom fades and drops, the next is poking its way above the water.  The gift lilies have started blooming.

They are white and fresh and lovely. 

This little filler plant, identity unknown,  is sporting teeny little blooms - this flower is about as wide as a pencil eraser.   

A happy and healthy pond, all around. 

And one gardener resolved to get the balance right - next year. 

A Fishy Story: Big Mama and the Boys

Gambusia affinis.

That's what we got to put in the stock tank pond.  Apparently, these have been introduced to natural waterways and are making quite a pest of themselves elsewheres, but for my little bit of desert water?  Perfect solution.

We went down to the Phoenix Tropical Fish store.   It's tucked away in a low-income part of town, so when you see the place, you don't expect much.  It surprises you. Lots of cichlids, tropicals, and  traditional pond fish - goldfish and koi.  Last time I was in they even had killifish, which made me very excited.  Killifish are cool!

I couldn't decide what kind of fish I wanted to use.  I wanted something inexpensive; I was willing to pay up to a couple of bucks a fish, but not any more than that.  I was looking at the giant danios, or maybe just feeder guppies... I went outside to check out the pond plants and large pond fish they had out there.

Out in the side yard they have several deep concrete ponds, rectangles about 42" deep, and maybe 5' x 8' across.  The last one in the row was mostly drained.  There was maybe 10 inches or so of water in it, and it was sitting in the afternoon sun.  A handful of fish swam around in the water, looking perfectly unstressed about the sun and heat in what must have been fairly warm water. 

I asked the guy what they were and he gave me a name.  Turns out they were almost out of the stock inside. The kid I talked to said he thought the tank was empty.  It was on the bottom shelf and in the dark.  I peered into the murky water, saw flashes of movement, and told him I would take whatever he had in there.  Turns out these fish are dimorphic, and the small ones are male.  He started netting fish, and they all looked small to me.  I resigned myself to coming back in a few months to get more fish.  Then the last fish was a big female.  I'm calling her Big Mama. The other guy came in at this point and took a look at the bagged fish - he thinks that a few of the smaller fish may be young females, and that Big Mama is pregnant.  Cool.

They usually price out the males at a higher price - maybe like killifish, the fish don't produce a lot of males - but they gave me my ten for the price of females.  99 cents a head.  Not bad.  So now I see if I have enough green hiding places for the little ones to hide in.  I was looking at the tank after I put the fish in, giving it a critical eye.  I think I'll have a pretty good survival rate.  Maybe in time I'll be selling fish back to them!

At any rate, I am confident that they will do their job and I won't be seeing any more pesky bloodsuckers around the patio.

Eat those squigglers!

The Great Betta Experiment of 2005

Both last year and the year before, I had a whiskey keg with a pond liner on the patio with a fan-tailed goldfish or two... and that satisfied my need for water and for fish, but not my need for flowers. 

So this past November, when I saw a little waterlily in a remainder pot for a buck, I grabbed it.  It spent the winter in the house and has done quite well.

Came the end of spring, and the arrival of sales at the local everything store (Meijer), I found another water lily for 6.99, on sale for half that.  I can't resist a bargain. 

So now I have two water lilies, one of which is sized for the whiskey tub, but I run a pump in the pond, and I've heard that water lilies don't like moving water.  My solution was to pick up a pair of cheap pots at Walmart for $5.00 a piece, and put the lilies in these.

All very well and good, until the mosquitoes come out.  Immediately, I have a problem.  I've known since I picked up the teeny lily that I will have to do something to prevent mosquito larvae from maturing in these stillwater pots - otherwise I am providing perfect habitat for them.  I'd been thinking about the options all winter, and wasn't sure I could put a fish in there with them, and not kill the fish. 

Most of the fish that eat insect larvae - minnows, goldfish, etc. - require lots of oxygen in their water.  Water that is cold holds more oxygen.  Moving water picks up oxygen.  Two ten-gallon dark-colored pots sitting on the concrete driveway have neither cold nor moving water.   I kept running down different fish in my mind, guppies? rosies?  danios?  and in every instance I was pretty sure I'd be signing the fish's death warrant.  Not something I'd do lightly. 

And then somebody mentioned they'd picked up a betta for a pet.  And the gears in my head began to turn.  Bettas are native to Thailand (hence the moniker 'Siamese Fighting Fish.')  They live in warm, still, shallow waters.  They are surface feeders, insects being the main course.   When I noticed eensy teensy mosquito larvae had hatched in the one pot, we bought a pair of bettas.
{PLEASE NOTE: one for each pot. ed:08/0206}

I still wasn't sure they'd be okay.  The temperature differences in their home waters would be minimal, while the temperatures in these patio ponds fluctuate greatly from day to night.  We put them in and I held my breath. 

Two weeks later, they seem to be doing fine.  I've even given them names.  Turk is the sassy one that is always near the top of the water and lets me get some pictures of him.  That's him at the head of the page.  Royale is more retiring, a right royal pain when the camera is near.   You can almost see him at the top of this photo.  That's his dorsal fin, with the blue...

{Update, August 3, 2006 -
I keep getting the same question over and over, so I will state my reply here:

I have two water pots with one betta fish in each pot.  NEVER put Bettas together in a pot or aquarium, they are fiercely territorial and WILL KILL EACH OTHER in short order.   It is not advisable to even keep a male and a female together.

You can add other community fish species, and the betta will largely ignore them.  But NEVER put two bettas in the same home.}

Whiskey Barrel Pond

This year's theme seems to be 'spikey.'  I have a Dwarf Umbrella Palm (Cyperus alternifolius),  a Variegated Sweet flag (Acorus calamus variegatus), a dwarf Acorus in green and yellow (the veariety of which I have temporarily misplaced), and I am filling out the base of these with Red Stem Parrot's Feather (Myriophyllum brasiliensis).

This is Benny, the fantailed occupant of the pond in the summer.  He sure looks happy to me.  The pond sure is better than any stupid old fishbowl. 

Fish in the Sky

Every garden needs a water feature. It took me years of yearning before I finally got mine. It's just a half whiskey barrel with a pond liner that sits on the patio. Elon the fish lives there in the summers; his very own summer cottage, complete with a non-stop fresh food buffet.

Fish are devilish photo subjects. The digital lets me take photo after photo of tailfins slipping out of frame before I manage a potential shot. And the camera is never quite sure where to focus - deep, at the rocks I've placed at the bottom? Or high, where the leaves of the Japanese maple reflect so artistically? No matter, it is a Zen exercise to sit, to wait, and to slowly press the shutter release and to catch that fleeting image.

I still need to figure out how to rig my pump so I can get a water noise. The first pump I used in the 'pond' was from a tabletop fixture, it had a faux bamboo riser and the water exited above the pond's surface to land with a pleasing burble. Unfortunately it wasn't long before the amount of water in the pond exhausted that little pump. At some point I will get creative and fix something up, but for now, my water is silent.

Water, however, is always in motion. From the subtle and barely discernible motion caused by the submersible pump - a concave distortion of the water's surface in the direction of the water's flow - to the rising of the fish and the landing of myriad insects, the pond always draws the eye.

And my little pond proves that it's not the size that counts.

Dragons on the Water

I was out a good part of the day today, doing the kind of onerous garden work that nobody wants to see.

I moved a good bit of salvaged fencewood to the far side of the garage, in an attempt to clear out the back of the garage for the composting bins I eventually hope to construct there. I pulled the clippings from the christmas tree and the junipers off the loose pile where I've been tossing everything and put them in a bin to be shredded. I pulled out all the larger pieces of wood and started a pile for my firebowl. In a year I may have the place cleared and the money for the bins. We'll see.

This little fellow came over to see what I was doing.

Mark came out with Hoggle for a walk and I took a break. I've got a half whiskey barrel with a liner in it sitting on the 'patio.' (The patio is the end of the driveway that I have appropriated for my potted plants and sitting areas.) Every garden needs some water.

Another Dragonfly had decided that our little pond was first rate, and was laying her eggs carefully along the tall stalk of a papyrus. This is pretty cool stuff. Nature, right here in my constructed facsimile of nature.

I had a similar visitor last year, a fact I know solely by the evidence of shed skin the larvae left behind as it moved from water to air.

Dragonflies and Damselflies are garden allies, eating mosquitoes and other pest insects. These predators love mosquitoes at all stages of their development, helping to keep the West Nile virus at bay in my yard.