Mission Bathtub 2016

[frederick thompson]

Great project zo zo. Keep up the good work mate. Fred

 

[zozo]

Thanks Fred.. 🙂 Almost like what you have.. I whish... 🙄

 

[frederick thompson]

Zozo I saved for a long time for this build mate. But Iike your vision. In fact I would have liked to have got our to heads together way before my build. And talked a few things out with you. I probably could have saved a lot of money. I think some of your way of doing things are absolutely brilliant. Keep it up mate. A lot of people are learning lots of this post. I know I am. Love the plants by the way. Fred

 

[frederick thompson]

Cheers greenfinger2 you have to put credit where it is due. And as far as I am concerned. He deserves it mate. Great post best fred

 

[zozo]

Thanks for the compliment Fred 🙂 what you are building is at a scale and design i'm not experienced with.. unfortunately i do not have the location nor the budget to have something like that... I have to do with improvisations like this. I can only say, i watch your project in aw and have no doubt that the guys who are building it know what their doing. I do not know if my (advocating Helophytes i think you're pointing to) vision would be mutch cheaper construction whise, actualy looking at you project and location and design i even wouldn't know if i would do it differently. I always dreamed of having something like that but mine never came true.. It just wonderfull to see your dream and pond world comming to life..

And thank you Manu.. 🙂

 

[frederick thompson]

Yeah mate I understand where your coming from. But some of the things you think of.i would not have thought of. So let's say two heads are better then one. So what I mean. Is I would have liked to have bounced a few things to and fro between us. But lts done now. It's just your way of thinking with the simple things. I love it. Your vision with simple things is great so to speak. Keep it coming mate the thread is great. Cheers Manu. He deserves compliments mate.its a great post.

 

[Andy D]

Hey Marcel,

Just catching up with the thread. It looks great so far.

 

[zozo]

Thanks Andy.. 🙂

 

[zozo]

First test run today was succesfull.. 🙂 Found me some rocks and started stacking, also tried some left over pieces of driftwood to decorate it all up a bit.
Actualy in the beginning having this idea i thought it must look awfully silly.. But on the contrary it looks kinda neat.. 🙂



Now i need me to get some black construction foam and seal it all off, used a slab of pondfoil to not foan everything to the stonework and wood of the barrel.. Create a water way to the tub.. Little gaps will be filled with some little rocks or just powder the foam with some dirt and grit to hide it away. Once all is sealed off it will be one clumb holded together by the foam and if running as should i can cut all excess pond foil at the outside edges away.. 🙂



Once it all is softened up a bit with small plants like ferns and mosses it will look awsome..

Also have to create a little nozzle at the barrels overflow, still have a piece of oakwood laying around i can use to chisel and file in shape.


Here a short vis to see iit all run.. 🙂

 

[frederick thompson]

Awesome are you using a pump or is it all gravity feed .looks good mate best fred

 

[zozo]

Thanks Fred, i'm using a powerhead 1100 l/h with 1 meter push connected to a prefilter.. It seems to do just enough.. 🙂
When all is done i stack some more rocks to hide the hose away.

Thank you Manu.. 🙂

 

[frederick thompson]

looking at the video mate it looks perfect not to strong a push. just right. looks brill fred

 

[Nelson]

Excellent .

 

[-Martin-]

zozo, may I suggest that you make a "lip / spout" for your wooden half barrels' "waterfall" perhaps you could try a short piece of a fizzy drinks bottle? The reason is to give the water something to follow and to stop it from "dribbling down the front" behind the liner. Although it will not be much water going behind the liner, given enough time it will empty your feature.

 

[zozo]

Thank you DW and Nelson.. 🙂

zozo, may I suggest that you make a "lip / spout"

Thank you too Martin, exactly what i was thinking.. It's in progress.. Used i piece of oakwood to keep in the same style as the barrel.when its done and modeled in final shape i soak iit a few days in red wine to give it the same color. 🙂

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel, Looking really cool Will you be growing mosses on the DW and rock

 

[zozo]

Hi Roy, thanks.. 🙂 If it all lives long enough i mean as construction as is.. There finaly will be growing mosses by itself. My garden is northside and littered with all kinds of mosses growing everywhere. But i'll try to jumpstart it of course and plants some mosses, ferns and other plants in the cracks betweem the rocks. But i guess it's best to let do nature it's work, if the comming winter is as soft as the last one and i can keep it all running the winter over, i might have a lot going on next year and all kinds of stuff growing in there.

The only problem is, well not realy a problem more a difficutly.. Once the construction is complete i cant take the bath tub from its place anymore.. Everything will fall apart if i do. So i need to do the cleaning next year without moving the tub. That's going to be a lot of mopping, instead of turning it over and hosing it out. 🙂

And this summer i see if i can grow some small tropicals on the slope in the splash zone.. Like HC, MC, Lilaepsis Brasiliensis and some rotala's did good last year outside..

 

[zozo]

The waterfall is ready so far and running.. 🙂 And already a bit planted..



Only about 12 rocks are foamed into place as bone structure the rest is stacked and still can change.. Actualy felt sorry i was out of rocks, i wanted to keep on building.
Anyway it's not easy to predict where water will run when it comes down from something.. It required some thinking and tweaking with the placement of some little rocks to keep the water from going where it shouldn't. Replace or move one little rock and the whole trickle system runs anonther route.. After the first rocks where into place and foamed together it still was leaking a bit.. I had to close it all up with silicone, deluted the kit with white spirit, to make it thin enough to apply with a brush, brushed a few layers over the complete route.. Created so to say a cup of silicone from bottom to side as one complete whole where water stands.. Then threw some black grit over the wet silicone to camouflage all away.. Worked like a treat, no silicone nor pond foil to see anymore.. Now i still found one tiny leak at the back side, just a tiny drop, but i keep it running for a few days like this an see how much it looses.. There are more things leaking, like the old bucket definitely leaks and the barrel still also isn't completely thight.. If it's all acceptable i do not need to water the plants arount it.. Autowatering..

Short vidio impression..


And now the rest of the garden.. 🙂

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel, Fantastic build looks very natural

 

[zozo]

Thanks Roy.. 🙂 It is fun to do, but very time consuming.. Running it, see where the water runs and if it spills, turn it of let it dry think of how to redirect it, run again.. And so on, still do not know if it runs pefectly as said, if on rock moves or when the plants start to grow it redirects the flow.. Water can runs strange ways.. Just for what ever reason it suddenly starts to run the wrong way..

Actualy i should have sprayed it wet before taking the pics 🙂 It looks better on a rainy day, all the colors pop out.. But that's for the next update when everything is floating and flowering i hope.. 🙂