Cali Kid Corals

Any pond experts?

Mike, get some potted pond lilies and set and forget! Heck, get whatever potted submersed plants you like at your local nursery (whcih has a pond section) and have fun. Don't let it be an effort.
 
I second the UV and the plants(Hyacinth, water lettuce, horwort, Elodea...) Or you can introduce a starter culture of Daphnia and start selling live fish food =)
 
I had 2 bucket ponds (50 gal or so) in Hawaii in full sun. In one, I planted large (4 ft.) variety amazon sword that outgrew my FW tank and floating water cabbage/lettuce (?) , and in the other I grew lily. Both also contained whiteclouds, a small cold water chinese river fish. Very hardy and loves mosquito larvae. They even multiplied in my makeshift ponds. They are often used with koi/goldfish because they are carnivorous while koi/goldfish are mostly herbivorous. Goldfish also produce a lot of waste which can aggravate the green water problem.

The substrate I used was a mix of aquarium rock and pond plant substrate that you can get at HD or any pond center. It is a fired clay gravel.

I never had any green water; ok, maybe initially while the larger plants were getting a foothold, but after that, nothing. I would fill the water with a hose when the water level dropped through evaporation. You could easily adapt your 300 gal water container to work like this. The only thing you would need is a screen so the fish don't end up in the garden. (then again, the Native Americans used fish to fertilize their crops).

Water hyacinth is one of the best floating plants for nutrient absorption. They use it at Disney World in Florida to recycle water. I have also seen how quickly it can rectify a green water problem at my parent's condo. asso. pond. This pond sits in full sun. Perhaps floating plants would be the way to go if you don't want to deal with planting stuff? Good luck! :)
 
Yeah I seem to remember when my dad had the water hyacinths and lettuce they multiplied like crazy and within a year the entire top was covered, which IMO is fine by me. Need to find a place to buy it though, I checked Lowes/HD, and I think they're out of their "pond season" for those plants. Maybe I need to hit up a specialty store.

I don't particularly want to put a substrate in it, would this be a problem at all? (other than lack of surface area for nitrifying bacteria).

Didn't know about goldfish being poop machines though, last thing I want to have to buy is snails and other critters to deal with that :D

All I wanted was to be responsible, reuse the waste water, and not start a massive mosquito colony in the process :D
 
Don't worry about "fine" substrate. It woudn't hurt however, to toss in some big lava rock or old live rock which has been rinsed etc. A single good sized chuck of rock could very well have much more surface area for bacteria than the entire surface area of your enclosure.
 
btw, you can always order pond plants online :) Sometimes it is cheaper than the time you spend searching for them and driving to get them.
 
phishphood said:
. Also would toss in some floating plants. Duckweed, hyacinth, water lettuce etc depending on how much sun it gets.
Click to expand...

Eeeks all those are highly invasive species and are wrecking havoc across California...

Barley hay is about teh best cure I've found.. besides plants :)
 
After re-reading the post and forgetting that you are using this to water the garden-skip the filter and just add plants. you want the water to be nutrient rich if you are watering the plants and you will not have to fertilize. the ro water will be your make up. I used to hook up a little giant to a hose and water the plants that way.
 
I know they're wrecking havoc...that's why I refuse to pay to get them. As long as there's no danger of flooding/spreading them, is it bad to raise them/compost them?
 
phishphood said:
I know they're wrecking havoc...that's why I refuse to pay to get them. As long as there's no danger of flooding/spreading them, is it bad to raise them/compost them?
Click to expand...

Sure is... not all waterways have them and by you growing them you are making it that much easier for them to get infected. It only takes a singe piece of duckweed get the process started and any bird/animal that gets into your pond is a possible carrier of it.

Everyone needs to do their part and by not doing your part you are actively working against everyone else.

It's only a little laundry detergent.... it's just one plastic bag tossed out the window.
 
So I'm guessing the species you mentioned are not sold in California?

Or is one of those things where it's screwing up the ecosystem but f' it as long as the stores can make a buck and sell them?

I mean a ton of species of caulerpa are downright banned, are these not?
 
Yup, all should be readily available.

Tony- gotcha on that. I'll remove it the next time I'm down there.

Any suggestions from anyone else for a good floating plant for surface coverage, but won't grow to plague proportions? (I know, kinda oxymoronic there, but just throwing it out there).
 
Heh, same here Tony. There are 2 lilies going full tilt in the pond, but I was looking for some more water coverage since the majority of the pond is in full sun for 90% of the day (bad planning on my part, but it was my first one :p).
 
umm...phyllanthus fluitans? I'm not sure how well it will do when winter hits though. It used to be a prized floater plant in the FW tank world and then got spread around a fair bit. It can get some lovely shades of red in it and is much larger than duckweed (so easier to physically control.
 
Here is Phyllanthus Fluitans. The very small floater is duckweed and is the usually 2-5 mm across
phyllanthus.jpg
 
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