150litre unfiltered Patio pond

Hey fellow forumites

So just less than a month ago I saw something really intriguing online and went to GAME and purchased a 150 litre bath drum and started a patio pond. I filled it with tap water then added dechlorinator. I bought and added 2 bags of ceramic noodles and 1 bag of carbon then added bacteria and a few mosquito fish from a mates pond. It ran for a few days with heavy feeding to create some nutrients then I added some umbrella plants, a water hyacinth, salvinia, arum lily, water lettuce, horsetail reed plant and 2 varients of water lily pads. I managed to get small specimens of most then another day or 2 later I picked up some fantail goldfish varients. 8 in total but all tiny to grow into pond and biological filtration

The pond gets about 4 hours of sun per day and rest is in shade. After 1 week I noticed the goldfish blowing bubbles at surface and it seemed the bubbles were encapsulated in a green slime. I rushed off to the petshop and secures myself a little pond fountain pump to agetate water surface and also added an air stone. A day later the film was gone and goldfish was swimming freely and nt at surface all the time. I feed every 2nd day as I believe that they also nibble at some plant roots and algae.

Its now nearly 4 weeks and I haven't lost a single goldfish or mosquito fish. They eat like crazy and seem very happy. The umbrella already sprouted out 2 new shoots and the water lillies have reached surface and some new ones I see from pots and the salvinia is also growing nicely as are all the rest. I see this as a good sign for long term as so quickly this tank has established itself

I am open to any pointers or criticism as I'm new to pond keeping but I'm a seasoned reef and fw keeper so I'm told I have greenfingers but I dnt wana get burned lol so il openly welcome any help

Cheers

Here are some pics of current situation

Pic 1 is complete current look of pond
Pic 2 is feeding time
Pic 3 is when I aquired the goldfish and acclimating container

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Also a short vid to liven those pics above//cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5b5351745a440/VID_120150528_193402_804.mp4//cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5b53518ca5ac8/VID_57480911_001152_183.mp4

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very nice .. what are the temps like ?

 

Thanks

It's cold. Unlike what I'm use to but the fish I sourced were from similar temps and even on coldest day they swim freely and also ready for a good mealtime. I personally didn't use a thermometer but if it really shud become a problem ,which I doubt as currently in Cape Town we experiencing rather icey weather and fish seems happy, I could add a small 150watt heater but for now I doubt it's necessary

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Very nice @jsplayn!!

 

Thanks @MariaS

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Thanks

I guess time will tell I've seen a few guys with exact setups running for years already problem free.. its in the hands of the keeper and in my experiences there is never such a thing as over stocking as u don't keep fish. U keep water quality

Thanks for the tips tho.. il keep a close eye. Early days.. if I encounter any issues I'll address it then

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Nice man.

 

really like this what about under water lighting? would look nice at night

 

Colder temps mean less feeding, more O2 in the water so your stock level can be a bit on the up. If your plants are well established that really helps since this is outside etc.

Do keep an eye out when things go say higher than 20 .. then things can go wrong fast, that said have seen some tropical tubs in asia that are well stocked .... but they also typically have a pleco in the pond to keep the algae under control .. in that case loads of aeration seems to be the trick,

Later Ferdie