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Journal Mission Bathtub 2017

Its going no where but .my top pond .another kne coming

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I've got it as well Fred and grow it in my pond. It supposedly needs winter protection from frost (I used to with mine but haven't bothered recently and its still going strong) or at the least shouldn't be allowed to freeze but guessing you don't get ice on the pond. It also takes years to get massive, growing bigger every year. I get leaves a few feet across now.
 
I've got it as well Fred and grow it in my pond. It supposedly needs winter protection from frost (I used to with mine but haven't bothered recently and its still going strong) or at the least shouldn't be allowed to freeze but guessing you don't get ice on the pond. It also takes years to get massive, growing bigger every year. I get leaves a few feet across now.
Nice one mort. How deep in the water have you gone. The top pond looks bare so i thought i would put something that splays a little. My rushes i put in last year and Lilly's are all shooting up nicely. But don t splay and spread enough. you ok mort.good to hear from you mate

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Nice one mort. How deep in the water have you gone. The top pond looks bare so i thought i would put something that splays a little. My rushes i put in last year and Lilly's are all shooting up nicely. But don t splay and spread enough. you ok mort.good to hear from you mate

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I'm good thanks Fred. I was worried a little when I saw your first picture of it mostly submerged but then spotted the second with it on a brick and that looks good. These aren't strictly pond plants, they like wet/moist soil and live in damp areas like other bog plants. They can however do very well if the crown of the plant is kept above the water and only the roots allowed to grow into the water, so your last picture looks perfect. I must admit though it might soon outgrow that pot and grow around it.
 
Marcel, whats the large bent drainpipe in the bathtub for? is it holding up the gutter or there for another purpose? looking forward to seeing how an aquascape does outside.
 
Marcel, whats the large bent drainpipe in the bathtub for?

It only has a fun purpose.. :)
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Actualy, in the winter i keep the fish and frost sensitive plants in the cellar, in 3 separate 120 litre plastic tubs. I use the drainpipes (i have 2 of them) as water bridges between the tubs.
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So the fish have all tubs as one water body, they can and do travel through the pipes from one tub to another and have 360 litres. tub 3 has the pump and pumps to tub 1, so the water flows throught the pipes and circles trough all tubs over one planted filter. The hose and checkvalve on the pipe is to suck it vacuum and keep 'm water filled and can drain them by pulling of the valve. And because the fish know these pipes and used them all winter long i did put it in the tub outside for a while, to give them something familiar, to hide if they want. They still use it, but in this tub probably also a bit confusing to them.. They used to get to a total different inveronment before and now they just back where they started. (?WTF?) :lol: But no longer need it, they have hiding places enough, behind and under the flatish rocks..

This is the bathtubs shallow play ground for the little ones, they can go through a gap under the wood into the plants, the big ones can't follow. Next to providing hiding places i aslo use this to feed the youngsters. :)
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The garden scape slowly is getting allong.. Still have to wait a few days, but i bit of dry scaping is ok. The sand is also dry and in for protection, other substrate i have is still wet can't put it in yet. These are the rocks i think i'll use and still have some wood with java's indoors that'll go in there and other plants. 2 more days and all epoxy is cured enough, then i'll finish it. :)
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I'm good thanks Fred. I was worried a little when I saw your first picture of it mostly submerged but then spotted the second with it on a brick and that looks good. These aren't strictly pond plants, they like wet/moist soil and live in damp areas like other bog plants. They can however do very well if the crown of the plant is kept above the water and only the roots allowed to grow into the water, so your last picture looks perfect. I must admit though it might soon outgrow that pot and grow around it.
Cheers for that info mort. Yeah mate i googled. And exactly mate.crown above water.got my other one in now. Once i know there growing i will put lots more gravel in large baskets. And replant. Cheers mort. Glad your well mate. I was wondering about marceles pipe. You beat me to it.
Lillys 4 lots growing good to
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Short impression of the whole circle :) or is it circus?.. :)

The swamp bucket and the Daphnia farm. These where my previous filters, but the swampbucket rusted some holes over the years. Would need to replace it, but it is full with cobles and sand, i think i'll brake my back trying to get it moved. I just leave there a bit longer as is.
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If it rains the Daphnia farm will overflow to the tank.. So if it spills any critters that way, it'll be food.

Full shot of the complete setup.
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And the tank, decorated with the best i could find laying around in the garden. Still had a few bags of sand and fine gravel. I didn't want to spend to much and go on the hunt for some more decorative substrate. But i kinda didn't like the color of sand only it is way to bright against all the black. So i mixed in a bag of black grit to break that contrast. I sloped up the corners with lily pond soil, which contains 30% blue clay.. This is very sticky stuff, so i pressed fermly into the corners and sloped it up, i guessed, the clays suction effect will hold it in place and topped it off with the sand mix. No rootcloth or such in between. Also between the rock formation i put the lily clay. Seems to work pretty good, the sand covers it pretty tight and the sloping of the clay is so gradualy it doesn't slight off at all. So it's again a one time go experiment, plant it and never touch it again.. If i start pulling and diggin, i'll mess up the complete substrate.. :) But left alone as is, it'll work out fine once all is rooted in.

Planted a Bog Arum, a Schizostylis coccinea at the rightalso some Potamogeton gayi, which proofed to be pretty hard.. Between the rocks a bunch of unidentified Nymphoides, some Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Fontanilis moss. At the left some Bacopa and a Potamogeton natans. I found a huge clump of different kinds of mosses which all propagetd submersed in the cellar tubs during the winter. I plugged it all over in the substrate. That is i guess my best change of getting something like a carpet in there. So it's mosses all over the place of i do not have a clue what it is. Might add some other bog plants, but the pond shop isn't yet fully stocked. I was looking for a Sagittaria sp. Anyway over time all will be covered with floaters and hopefully flowers. :) That pvc inlet i find distracting, this will be changed and go to the back later..
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The tubs swamp side, so no java in the tank, didn't like the wood next to the rocks, so i did put them in the tub next to the emersed wood.. I thought of putting some small gold fish in the tank, have a few very beautifully multicolored. But i can't get it over my haert to split the family up. They seem to have such a bond and play so nicely together i can't determine who is whos best friend. And who wants to split best friends. I don't.. So i wait for the sticklebacks to arrive in the lfs. For now there is some daphnia in the tank..
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For the rest all the planting in the other tubs are all what survived the winter.. For now i have no idea what all comes back or not..

Still have some cyprus grass and butterfly peas in the propagator and when the rest of the garden grows e.g the ferns behind the tanks background etc. For a start my mission is a bit done.. It's wait and see now. :thumbup:
 
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Following along and enjoying immensely!
 
Thanks guys! :)

Changed the inlet turned to the side in the middle and looks already way beter..
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Actualy glued all with Tec7 kit and this stuff realy rocks.. It cures submersed or wet, it is completely non toxic and as long it doesn't all have to hold to much pressure it's good to go straight away. If not satisfied after it's cured, take it apart again with little ferm twist, peal off the dry kit and use the fittings again and again. With vulcanizing pvc glue you would need a heat gun and it's still a mess after its taken apart. Realy amazing stuff. Highly recomendable.. :)
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And look what a little sunshine can do and this is not because of the fresh tap water, this was setup yesterday and all runs over the 200 + litre tub and cascades several times around during the day. This morning none there, but still in the early evening sun, bubbling like mad.

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Even the mosses (or algae on it) bubble happy along.. Look the little Amber snail feasting in it.. It actualy aint an aquatic snail, occasinaly it does, but not for long. Actualy i do not know for how long but this one is already roaming this tank submersed for some hours now feasting on the fontanilis. :) If that aint a good sign, 24 hours old tank and an Amber snail hops in..
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Again some minor changes.. :) Added another gravel toplayer to the substrate..
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And added a Juncus repens, the sagittaria subulata is ordered together with the sticklebacks and the viviparus snails. If all goes well it arrives thursday.

Still not fully satisfied with the substrate, but it is what it is.. I dislike white.. And in a way, it probably is a regional thing, what ever size silica pebble or gravel i see it contains tons of white stones.. The bigger ones are easy to sift out, but for the small gravel it is undoable.. Even if i find it nature around my place, the majority is white. Darn. But it already again looks little beter than the sand with black specks. :)

Fish are loving the sunny weather.. Tho it's still chilly nights, some aquatic plants do not realy like it..
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This project is taking on epic proportions and entering in to the realms of legend...looking great:thumbup:

Haha, thanks you Tim.. :) Funny is, i started the hobby like this as a kid 43 years ago.. Whit a tank in the garden. Then i got an indoor aquarium and totaly forgot about how great this actualy is and never did it again till now.. I guess i'm entering my midlife crisis and going back to my youth again. The only thing different is, now i have to buy the fish and so.. Used to catch them myself about next door back in the days. This is all gone now unfortunately..
 
Zozo is a legend. Great thread mate. Love the tank and the fish. Also the nath tub is a brill idea.

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Thanks Fred.. :) Haha, well legendary wasn't my first thought.. Just scratch together and use what you got and look around for things i can use.. That's my ich since i lak the means to build or buy me something real.. But every year something different and new realy is o lot of fun, got so used to it, i do not want to mis that anymore.
 
Really loving seeing things take shape. I have to have a yearly project to tinker with as well.

Can I ask about the Schizostylis coccinea, from your picture it looks like you have it planted pretty deep. I have one in my wildlife pond that desperately needs splitting and wondered if you had it grown it deep like this before, as mine has its roots submerged with the foliage completely above the water, and I may add it to a deeper part as well if your experience suggests it will be ok?
 
Really loving seeing things take shape. I have to have a yearly project to tinker with as well.

Can I ask about the Schizostylis coccinea, from your picture it looks like you have it planted pretty deep. I have one in my wildlife pond that desperately needs splitting and wondered if you had it grown it deep like this before, as mine has its roots submerged with the foliage completely above the water, and I may add it to a deeper part as well if your experience suggests it will be ok?

Thank you.. :) I actualy never tried that plant this deep.. I just went with what the label says, it staded zone 2 / 0-15 cm plant depht.. And this tank might look bigger than it is. It's 76 x 30 x 23 cm internal.. (80x32x25 external) With about 10 cm substrate sloped up in the corner i'm bellow the maximum of 15 cm as stated on the label. :) It's a trail and error, but i guess it has enough leaf surface emersed and it still can grow 30 cm as fully mature plant.. We shall see. If the sun hours keep comming as they did till now, i'm rather confident it'll be fine.
 
The sun hours are great, but the temperatur still is rather low, especialy for some tropical plant sp. they are a bit in a shock at the moment.. Melting and shedding some older leaves developed earlier indoor at warmer temps. But also show some new growth, so obviously addapting to the somewhat colder invironment.

The tank and the gutter are completely covered by now with a coat of slimey green filamentous algae.
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The 3 spiked sticklebacks are in for over a week now, at first still a bit shy and hiding, but now about 7 days later and few times a day a delicious portion of daphnia starting to feel at home. Started out with 7, 2 males and 5 females.. But after a few days the males started to get fysical with eachoter, fighting and biting.. I thought it might setle, but i was wrong on morning i found one male dead and the other roaming the tank like a king with a harem of 6 females for himself now, lucky basterd. Sorry for the other one, i knew they are kinda territorial. But fighting to the dead i din't know. :( R.I.P sticky, i'll never do it again, putting males together in a to small tank, obviously..

This is the killer male, they have this neon like metalic green band on the back. When the temps rise and if they go into mating, he will become even more colorfull. Actualy rather beautifull, with blue and red..
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Now they feel at home, the fearlesness these fish are known for realy shows. Especialy the male.. This morning i had to clean the glass a bit from algae for the pics. He didn't back off at all and came looking got excited and wanted to intimidate and attack the scratcher.

These are females much less colorfull and a bit more shy and cuatious, but still a beautiful silver brown/black patern
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Actualy this fish are so ugly, you have to find them beautifull and enteresting.. They are remarkably active for the time of year, water is still pretty cold. But they hunt the daphnia restlesly till all are eaten and even see them pick mosquitos from the surface. While the care sheet says they do not feed bellow 15°C. This is definitively not the case with hunting life food.

I also do not mind or worry about the algae, kinda looks very natural for an outdoor tank with sticklebacks.. And they like it, they burry themselfs into it and also the daphnia does, it stimulates their hunting behaivor, all very interesting to see. :) I think the algae is something like Rhizoclonium and is just a natural cycle that will go away. The wooden barrel had it and is clearing by now since the nympha is showing lot of new growth.

Sagittaria didn't arrive lately, so took a Myrophyllum tuberculatum home instead.. Nice experiment to see how this will go with natural sunlight in an outdoor low tech. Despite the low temps it holds very good, no melting in 7 days and actualy already is showing new growth tips at the surface.
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This is the part in the gutter i did put substrate and some planting, bog pimpernell and creeping jenny, both are growing, but see the algae accumulating.
But just let it go, when the plants mature, grow and shade it, it will finaly end up beeing a healthy green manure for the plants. :)
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The tank and gutter is full of this filamentous stuff but the tub with the goldfish is perfectly clean, not a filament to find.. They must eat it..
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The swampy end of the tub also is happily growing and developing some green mass. The java ferns bellow, all are about brown, they can't stand the low temps.. I wonder how and if they come back and will look at the end of the summer..
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:thumbup:
 
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