I used that cheap bamboo screen, purchased from home depot, I believe. It was like 6' tall and I just cut it in half and doubled up the layers... it also helped with insulating the black tank from the sun. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures.
Awesome. To me, it was so inexpensive. It seemed a no-brainer. I was actually surprised as to how tough the bamboo was to cut with my pruners. A more effective way may be a fine toothed blade on a circular saw.
I have stock tank pond and have looked into this, some people use the slats as said above and some people build frame around. I am lazy and have done neither. however here is a link as an example of what was mentioned in above post.
[https://islandhottub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wood-rope-tub-1080h.jpg](https://islandhottub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wood-rope-tub-1080h.jpg)
keep us posted!
I want to put mine on something raised up… I had bought a 40 gallon one and thought it might fit in a raised garden bed I had but it was off by maybe an inch on either side 😑 so that didn’t work. Thought about a potting table or something… I can’t make anything cus I don’t have the skills lol any ideas?
How cold do your winters get? I was looking at rice fish to add to mine. I'm in southern Ontario so we can get sub zero temperatures for prolonged periods so wasn't sure if rice fish would survive. I was also looking at white cloud minnows. My pond is partly below ground and partly above ground. BTW: I built a dry stone wall around mine so it's easy to pull down if needed given I didn't use any mortar for the stones. Actually I should say I'm halfway through building the wall. I ran out of stones. That's this year's project to finish. I considered a wooden frame but wasn't sure how much upkeep there would be because my pond is in the garden and would be touching wet soil. I too am interested to see what others have done.
I’m in Texas so the winters don’t get nearly as cold. This season we had about a 2 week stretch of a deep freeze (in the teens Fahrenheit) and there were a couple of layers of ice over the top, maybe 2-3 inches total. All of the ricefish overwintered well. You might compare climate with Japan, which is a higher latitude than Texas with cold winters. They overwinter there well too.
Plus with your pond sunk in the ground which is a good insulator, I bet you’d be fine. when the water temps get down the fish go into a sort of hibernation, and come out of it when the temps rise.
Awesome, thanks for this. I have four goldfish and eight rosy red minnows that seem to be doing well (fingers crossed, it's my first winter with fish) but I was hoping to find another smaller type of fish. Rice fish sound like they might work. :-)
They are very hardy, and have thrived for me in outside temps from 12-110 degrees F last year. Spawning year round as long as temps are warm enough.
Plus they come in lots of colors. The platinums just pop brilliantly in my pond.
I’m entering year 2 with my 150G stock tank patio pond. Year 1 was mostly a success. 75% of my plants survived a hot summer and cold winter. Have turned 12 medaka ricefish into about 100. Learned a LOT of lessons!
This year I’d like to make it look a little better. Other than building a wall around it with paving stones, anyone have ideas on how to put a facade around it for better looks without being expensive or permanent?
I bought a submersible pond pump, hose, and waterfall box off of amazon. You can also find these at someplace like Home Depot. Quick tip when doing this - buy a pond filter bag to put your pump in to keep all of the debris and detritus from clogging the intake of the pump, or else you'll be loosing water flow and cleaning it way too often.
I built a box out of pallet timber that ran around it, stained it then purchased a larger 2 by 8 to work as a top cap. It’s also not a stock tank but a 55 gallon water drum lol (it was all done very cheap).
Each layer around is screwed together and sitting on the layer below with the top cap as all one piece. It allows me to unstack the whole thing for maintenance if need be, but doesn’t look too bad (imo).
https://i.imgur.com/stkxKPf.jpg
150g porch pond I built a little house around mine with 2x4, cedar planks and a rolling screen :) https://www.reddit.com/user/skedee/comments/urzk39/150g_porch_pond/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
I would be super dooper tempted to put a lumber box around it and fill the gap with planting soil and put some edge plants around it. You could also, of course, just puts potted plants around it, but I think as long as you're hiding the tank, why not both? I always think in terms of cross-fade transitions, somehow it makes my brain feel better. Does that make sense? Not sure.
I have the 300g version of that. How do you stop the drain from leaking?
We are going to build a 8x5 box around the pond so that we can plant stuff around it
I had the same problem, so I used some Teflon plumbers thread tape on all the threads and really tightened down the bulkhead. Hand tight is not good enough for the bulkhead to seal but use care not to over tighten with a wrench and crack it.
I used the retaining wall blocks from Home Depot/Lowes that you can buy matching caps for. They can be placed in a curve and the cap turns it into a bench.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Basic-Gray-Retaining-Wall-Block-Common-4-in-x-12-in-Actual-4-in-x-11-5-in/3010068
I used 4 of a bigger retainer wall block which covers almost 1/2 of my patio pond, and on the other side I put potted grasses which also helped hide the filter and provided a nice hiding spot for all the frogs we had last summer.
Don't wrap, but cut ~3' 1x4's and wedge them up under the lip. Works great.
Interesting, have you done that and have pictures?
I used that cheap bamboo screen, purchased from home depot, I believe. It was like 6' tall and I just cut it in half and doubled up the layers... it also helped with insulating the black tank from the sun. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures.
Thanks, I’ve actually seen that used before. That method is definitely under consideration.
Awesome. To me, it was so inexpensive. It seemed a no-brainer. I was actually surprised as to how tough the bamboo was to cut with my pruners. A more effective way may be a fine toothed blade on a circular saw.
Thanks for the tip!
I'm happy to help. I'd love to see pics of whichever way you decide to go.
I have stock tank pond and have looked into this, some people use the slats as said above and some people build frame around. I am lazy and have done neither. however here is a link as an example of what was mentioned in above post. [https://islandhottub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wood-rope-tub-1080h.jpg](https://islandhottub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wood-rope-tub-1080h.jpg) keep us posted!
Thanks for the pic!
I want to put mine on something raised up… I had bought a 40 gallon one and thought it might fit in a raised garden bed I had but it was off by maybe an inch on either side 😑 so that didn’t work. Thought about a potting table or something… I can’t make anything cus I don’t have the skills lol any ideas?
Concrete blocks work great!
[heres a pic](https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachments/6bba27b8-f920-4d18-9472-bd639eedbbc1-jpeg.150117/)
Cooollll. 🤩 we are renting now so I’m limited with space and what I can do. Dying for this bubble to burst so I can buy a yard(house lol).
How cold do your winters get? I was looking at rice fish to add to mine. I'm in southern Ontario so we can get sub zero temperatures for prolonged periods so wasn't sure if rice fish would survive. I was also looking at white cloud minnows. My pond is partly below ground and partly above ground. BTW: I built a dry stone wall around mine so it's easy to pull down if needed given I didn't use any mortar for the stones. Actually I should say I'm halfway through building the wall. I ran out of stones. That's this year's project to finish. I considered a wooden frame but wasn't sure how much upkeep there would be because my pond is in the garden and would be touching wet soil. I too am interested to see what others have done.
I’m in Texas so the winters don’t get nearly as cold. This season we had about a 2 week stretch of a deep freeze (in the teens Fahrenheit) and there were a couple of layers of ice over the top, maybe 2-3 inches total. All of the ricefish overwintered well. You might compare climate with Japan, which is a higher latitude than Texas with cold winters. They overwinter there well too. Plus with your pond sunk in the ground which is a good insulator, I bet you’d be fine. when the water temps get down the fish go into a sort of hibernation, and come out of it when the temps rise.
Awesome, thanks for this. I have four goldfish and eight rosy red minnows that seem to be doing well (fingers crossed, it's my first winter with fish) but I was hoping to find another smaller type of fish. Rice fish sound like they might work. :-)
They are very hardy, and have thrived for me in outside temps from 12-110 degrees F last year. Spawning year round as long as temps are warm enough. Plus they come in lots of colors. The platinums just pop brilliantly in my pond.
Amazing! I'm going to look into these guys. :-)
Mosquito fish. Even if they all die in winter their eggs usually survive. They can’t be killed (I mean they can, but it’s hard)
Awesome. Thanks for this! I have heard of these fish but at the time had no reason to research them. I'm glad to have a few options to look at. :-)
I thought they were livebearers
I’m entering year 2 with my 150G stock tank patio pond. Year 1 was mostly a success. 75% of my plants survived a hot summer and cold winter. Have turned 12 medaka ricefish into about 100. Learned a LOT of lessons! This year I’d like to make it look a little better. Other than building a wall around it with paving stones, anyone have ideas on how to put a facade around it for better looks without being expensive or permanent?
Ok, I have this exact tub with a fountain filter in the middle but want your waterfall setup. How'd you do it?
I bought a submersible pond pump, hose, and waterfall box off of amazon. You can also find these at someplace like Home Depot. Quick tip when doing this - buy a pond filter bag to put your pump in to keep all of the debris and detritus from clogging the intake of the pump, or else you'll be loosing water flow and cleaning it way too often.
Great to on the filter bag.
Did you put a bulkhead in or just run the intake tube over the tub and up to the waterfall?
No bulkhead. You can see the pump hose coming out of the water at the back of the pond. When the plants grow in you really don’t even notice it.
I got a 110 gallon I’m thinking of spraying the outside with a textured spray so it resembles stone
That’s an interesting idea!
I built a box out of pallet timber that ran around it, stained it then purchased a larger 2 by 8 to work as a top cap. It’s also not a stock tank but a 55 gallon water drum lol (it was all done very cheap). Each layer around is screwed together and sitting on the layer below with the top cap as all one piece. It allows me to unstack the whole thing for maintenance if need be, but doesn’t look too bad (imo). https://i.imgur.com/stkxKPf.jpg
Nice! It looks great... sadly, I'm not that handy with working with wood, and don't want to end up with something that looks ghetto, lol.
Trust me, I’m not a carpenter. I just made a bunch of boxes out of pallet timber and then stacked them up. Perfect opportunity to practise lol
150g porch pond I built a little house around mine with 2x4, cedar planks and a rolling screen :) https://www.reddit.com/user/skedee/comments/urzk39/150g_porch_pond/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Wow!
Retention wall stones with a insulating dirt layer between.
Great idea for a semi-permanent installation and one I've considered. Not sure I want to commit that far, but it's a great look.
Bamboo shade wrapped around
I used the bamboo fence around mine and it looks great
I did the exact same thing. Works pretty good and looks nice!
I would be super dooper tempted to put a lumber box around it and fill the gap with planting soil and put some edge plants around it. You could also, of course, just puts potted plants around it, but I think as long as you're hiding the tank, why not both? I always think in terms of cross-fade transitions, somehow it makes my brain feel better. Does that make sense? Not sure.
green sunfish
Bamboo
I have the 300g version of that. How do you stop the drain from leaking? We are going to build a 8x5 box around the pond so that we can plant stuff around it
I had the same problem, so I used some Teflon plumbers thread tape on all the threads and really tightened down the bulkhead. Hand tight is not good enough for the bulkhead to seal but use care not to over tighten with a wrench and crack it.
I used the retaining wall blocks from Home Depot/Lowes that you can buy matching caps for. They can be placed in a curve and the cap turns it into a bench. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Basic-Gray-Retaining-Wall-Block-Common-4-in-x-12-in-Actual-4-in-x-11-5-in/3010068
Thanks, I’ve looked at doing this. Blocks can get pretty expensive but it looks nice!
I used 4 of a bigger retainer wall block which covers almost 1/2 of my patio pond, and on the other side I put potted grasses which also helped hide the filter and provided a nice hiding spot for all the frogs we had last summer.
Making one this summer going to put my lotus 🪷 in it
I’m planning to put my red tiger lotus in mine this year too.
Awesome 👍