Kiddie Pool and Stock Tank Ponds
- Thread starter henningc
- Start date
UPDATE
Well today it was 70 degrees, tomorrow it will only hit 45 drgrees, thats Missouri the weather armpit of the universe. I did get off my duff and take a few new fish photos, I think I actually figured it out!!!! Now if I can just post the photos??? I'll Post Endlers in the next post
Here are the stars of this years pool breeding show:
No Photos yet of RREA Swords and still waiting on brood stock for Pineapple and Marigold Swords, Sunset and Red Micky Mouse Platys
Showa & Koi Swordtails
Well today it was 70 degrees, tomorrow it will only hit 45 drgrees, thats Missouri the weather armpit of the universe. I did get off my duff and take a few new fish photos, I think I actually figured it out!!!! Now if I can just post the photos??? I'll Post Endlers in the next post
Here are the stars of this years pool breeding show:
No Photos yet of RREA Swords and still waiting on brood stock for Pineapple and Marigold Swords, Sunset and Red Micky Mouse Platys
Showa & Koi Swordtails
![175[1].JPG](https://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/data/attachments/168/168942-8804b5ebaba7d7ea1892bfcb492bf25d.jpg "175[1].JPG")
UPDATE
Today the pools, two 8"x14" and one 110"x72"x18", went up and got filled. Before I could snap a few photos a typhon hit, so later in the week. After I filled the three pools, I started cleaning out the left for dead P-1 pool from last year. I did remove and added to the new pools a large portion of Oak leaves from last year. The oak leaves speed up the cycle and tend to buffer the water once the cycling is complete. They also provide food and cover for small fish and crayfish. I plan to put a group of corys in each pool 8-12 and the leaves should provide cover and food for fry. With the size of the pools I doubt the corys will find their eggs to eat them. After looking at the P-1 pool from last year it appears messy but usable. I'll set it up when I set up the stock tanks later this week. I also got the temporary air system, airline and valves set up along with the siphons. In a few weeks I will scrap the small air pump for a Pond Master 40 and install the sponge filters. I'll purchase the hard plastic kiddie pools later as they will be for overflow growout only.
I have a 125gal rated sponge filter, for each pool, cycling in an established tank indoors. The sponges have been running for 3 wks now and will not go outside for another 2-3 wks. Once the first sponges go out, another will be cycled indoors for each pool. I'll do water changes for the next 2 1/2 wks followed by adding a box filter loaded with high grade carbon and more water changes. Later next week or early the week after, I'll stock in 8-10, 5" pieces of PVC that have been living at the bottom of my indoor tanks since last fall. These are covered with good bacteria and should give the pools a timely boost. I also have some 6" flower pots same as the PVC. I'll also start adding 5gal buckets full of water change water from inside. I use bare bottom tanks so getting plenty of poop is no problem. In two weeks the rest of the brooder stock comes in. I'll stablize them for a week to ten days inside than move them out as weather premits. I'll be stocking in pond snails in two weeks and Least Killies about the same time weather premitting. The second week of May I'll be adding java moss, duckweed and what ever other floating plant I can get my hands on.
Here we go!
Today the pools, two 8"x14" and one 110"x72"x18", went up and got filled. Before I could snap a few photos a typhon hit, so later in the week. After I filled the three pools, I started cleaning out the left for dead P-1 pool from last year. I did remove and added to the new pools a large portion of Oak leaves from last year. The oak leaves speed up the cycle and tend to buffer the water once the cycling is complete. They also provide food and cover for small fish and crayfish. I plan to put a group of corys in each pool 8-12 and the leaves should provide cover and food for fry. With the size of the pools I doubt the corys will find their eggs to eat them. After looking at the P-1 pool from last year it appears messy but usable. I'll set it up when I set up the stock tanks later this week. I also got the temporary air system, airline and valves set up along with the siphons. In a few weeks I will scrap the small air pump for a Pond Master 40 and install the sponge filters. I'll purchase the hard plastic kiddie pools later as they will be for overflow growout only.
I have a 125gal rated sponge filter, for each pool, cycling in an established tank indoors. The sponges have been running for 3 wks now and will not go outside for another 2-3 wks. Once the first sponges go out, another will be cycled indoors for each pool. I'll do water changes for the next 2 1/2 wks followed by adding a box filter loaded with high grade carbon and more water changes. Later next week or early the week after, I'll stock in 8-10, 5" pieces of PVC that have been living at the bottom of my indoor tanks since last fall. These are covered with good bacteria and should give the pools a timely boost. I also have some 6" flower pots same as the PVC. I'll also start adding 5gal buckets full of water change water from inside. I use bare bottom tanks so getting plenty of poop is no problem. In two weeks the rest of the brooder stock comes in. I'll stablize them for a week to ten days inside than move them out as weather premits. I'll be stocking in pond snails in two weeks and Least Killies about the same time weather premitting. The second week of May I'll be adding java moss, duckweed and what ever other floating plant I can get my hands on.
Here we go!
Well you post is good thanks for sharing your experience with us @henningc. Well I also have a kiddie pool but its about 2 years old, we use that for 1 year but it didn't used from last 1 year. I am thinking to setup a pond in my garden. Can I use that instead of buying a new stock tank pond? It can help me to save money..
Sounds good, I checked the pool and it have no leakage from any side, happy that it is still good.
QUICK UPDATE:
Got through my second water change and first rain storm. The sipons worked perfectly and the levels are stabalizing. I added pond snails to one pool and ramshorns to another. I also added more Oak leaves and upped the air supply. We are looking at storms on Thursday, so my plan is to open the siphons before work and at lunch and let mother nature fill the back up. Water temps are holding in the 60s over noght and high 70s-low 80s during the day. We are getting close!
Got through my second water change and first rain storm. The sipons worked perfectly and the levels are stabalizing. I added pond snails to one pool and ramshorns to another. I also added more Oak leaves and upped the air supply. We are looking at storms on Thursday, so my plan is to open the siphons before work and at lunch and let mother nature fill the back up. Water temps are holding in the 60s over noght and high 70s-low 80s during the day. We are getting close!
UPDATE:
Well the weatherman is now my friend once again. The temps will be high 70s-80s for the next ten days so it is just a matter of 2-3 more days until the stocking begins. The Least Killies, at least the first wave, are in buckets and ready to be free. I'll start conditioning some Endlers tomorrow and they should be ready to roll by Thursday or Friday. A week from tomorrow provided all goes well three types of swords I produced will make their way to freedom in the breeder traps in the pools.
I did some observations today and the P-1 Pool with the ramshorn snails is looking good. The snails are thriving and can eat their fill of algae on the bottom. The P-1 with the pond snails is in great shape as well. They are eating algae as well. All pools have algae growing on the bottom due to the Oak leaves. I'm using a TopFin internal HOB rated for 10gal to keep the water clear. Laugh if you must, but it is doing the job. I tossed in 2 - 4" flower pots in each pool and 1 section of PVC.
Tomorrow, I plan to seed each pool with 3-4 sections of PVC that have been resting in indoor tanks for the winter. They will bring some bacteria with them and provide shelter for fish when they get there. I also plan on changing out the carbon in the box filters once the first fish go in. I plan to change the box filters each time I introduce new fish to keep water quality stable.
Next week we get down to the business of launching a full scale breeding operation. I currently have 20 small Paleatus Corys and will be getting 15 Albino Anues Corys next week. I have all the remaining broode stock livebearers, swords and platys coming next week. I've also picked up 2 rubber lip plecos and have 4-5 brown bristle nose coming in. I figure the plecos will have a feast on the algae as they are small plecos in giant size pools. I also plan to pick up some albino bristle nose later in the summer. I doubt the plecos will get large enough to breed by October, but I'm betting the corys will. To hedge my bet on the corys I'm adding six adults of both varieties to the pool holding their species of smaller corys. Between the leaves, flower pots, netting and PVC any cory eggs and fry should stand a fair chance of survival.
What is left to do, I still have to add the java moss, the little I put out did not do well in the cold so I'll wait a few days. I'll also add a small amount of duck weed. Once the java moss takes off there should be plenty of cover for cory fry. I will also add a few wisteria (spelling) but don't have much. In the larger P-2 Pool, I plan to start out with just Least Killies (LK) and I'll also add about 50 scuds. LKs hang at the surface and don't go to the bottom much. The pool is 18" deep so the scuds should have a few weeks to multiple before any serious threats from fish occur. I've added extra Oak leaves to assist the scuds and allow them to find food without venturing out in the open. Next weekend I plan to introduce the sponge filters to each pool. They will take the line currently connected to air stones. I will also install the Pond Master 40. This will give me a ton of air and I plan to add one more sponge filter and 2-3 air stones to each pool. I also need to set up the last Vat, last years P-1 and two hard plastic kiddie pools one for my grandson and another for Belonasox food production.
I'll get some phoos next week.
Well the weatherman is now my friend once again. The temps will be high 70s-80s for the next ten days so it is just a matter of 2-3 more days until the stocking begins. The Least Killies, at least the first wave, are in buckets and ready to be free. I'll start conditioning some Endlers tomorrow and they should be ready to roll by Thursday or Friday. A week from tomorrow provided all goes well three types of swords I produced will make their way to freedom in the breeder traps in the pools.
I did some observations today and the P-1 Pool with the ramshorn snails is looking good. The snails are thriving and can eat their fill of algae on the bottom. The P-1 with the pond snails is in great shape as well. They are eating algae as well. All pools have algae growing on the bottom due to the Oak leaves. I'm using a TopFin internal HOB rated for 10gal to keep the water clear. Laugh if you must, but it is doing the job. I tossed in 2 - 4" flower pots in each pool and 1 section of PVC.
Tomorrow, I plan to seed each pool with 3-4 sections of PVC that have been resting in indoor tanks for the winter. They will bring some bacteria with them and provide shelter for fish when they get there. I also plan on changing out the carbon in the box filters once the first fish go in. I plan to change the box filters each time I introduce new fish to keep water quality stable.
Next week we get down to the business of launching a full scale breeding operation. I currently have 20 small Paleatus Corys and will be getting 15 Albino Anues Corys next week. I have all the remaining broode stock livebearers, swords and platys coming next week. I've also picked up 2 rubber lip plecos and have 4-5 brown bristle nose coming in. I figure the plecos will have a feast on the algae as they are small plecos in giant size pools. I also plan to pick up some albino bristle nose later in the summer. I doubt the plecos will get large enough to breed by October, but I'm betting the corys will. To hedge my bet on the corys I'm adding six adults of both varieties to the pool holding their species of smaller corys. Between the leaves, flower pots, netting and PVC any cory eggs and fry should stand a fair chance of survival.
What is left to do, I still have to add the java moss, the little I put out did not do well in the cold so I'll wait a few days. I'll also add a small amount of duck weed. Once the java moss takes off there should be plenty of cover for cory fry. I will also add a few wisteria (spelling) but don't have much. In the larger P-2 Pool, I plan to start out with just Least Killies (LK) and I'll also add about 50 scuds. LKs hang at the surface and don't go to the bottom much. The pool is 18" deep so the scuds should have a few weeks to multiple before any serious threats from fish occur. I've added extra Oak leaves to assist the scuds and allow them to find food without venturing out in the open. Next weekend I plan to introduce the sponge filters to each pool. They will take the line currently connected to air stones. I will also install the Pond Master 40. This will give me a ton of air and I plan to add one more sponge filter and 2-3 air stones to each pool. I also need to set up the last Vat, last years P-1 and two hard plastic kiddie pools one for my grandson and another for Belonasox food production.
I'll get some phoos next week.
Update:
Well the weather does it again! It has been in the high 70s and as hot as 91 over the last two weeks and next week will struggle to get out of the 60s for highs. If I said it once, I'll say it a million times, MO is the weather armpit of the world! Worse yet, the day before they changed the forecast, I added my first two test groups of Endlers. So, I either get them out of the pools, good luck with that, or heat the pools next week. I was smart enough, learned from last year, to put in a 2ft x 2ft strip of gravel so if I needed a heater I could just put it in and turn it on. On a positive note, the test groups are doing vey well and are gorged on mosquito larva. I mean they are ready to pop! I did accidently intorduce a marble crayfish to the P-2 pool, due to the size a depth it will not be an issue.
Last week I posted that frogs didn't wait for the fish to reproduce in the pools. I have hundreds of tadpoles and will post photos later. I have a number of people wanting to buy them and I'll start shipping next week. The only other news is that we are experiencing the highest levels of pollen on record and all dry surfaces are yellow and the pools are kind of yellow green. Not attractive, but it doesn't appear to be a problem. I'm running two little HOB filters to slowly get rid of it.
Well the weather does it again! It has been in the high 70s and as hot as 91 over the last two weeks and next week will struggle to get out of the 60s for highs. If I said it once, I'll say it a million times, MO is the weather armpit of the world! Worse yet, the day before they changed the forecast, I added my first two test groups of Endlers. So, I either get them out of the pools, good luck with that, or heat the pools next week. I was smart enough, learned from last year, to put in a 2ft x 2ft strip of gravel so if I needed a heater I could just put it in and turn it on. On a positive note, the test groups are doing vey well and are gorged on mosquito larva. I mean they are ready to pop! I did accidently intorduce a marble crayfish to the P-2 pool, due to the size a depth it will not be an issue.
Last week I posted that frogs didn't wait for the fish to reproduce in the pools. I have hundreds of tadpoles and will post photos later. I have a number of people wanting to buy them and I'll start shipping next week. The only other news is that we are experiencing the highest levels of pollen on record and all dry surfaces are yellow and the pools are kind of yellow green. Not attractive, but it doesn't appear to be a problem. I'm running two little HOB filters to slowly get rid of it.
