Cheap deck pond ideas

L

learn2turn

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Sep 6, 2008
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I want to set up a cheap cheap cheap cheap DIY pond. Filtration would be simply a powerhead (already have) with a DIY filter like some polyfluff in a tupperware container. One gold fish or a couple other small fish. One or two plants.

I'm hoping to find a container in the 30-50g range for <$50.

I found black planter at lowes listed for about $20 http://www.lowes.com/pd_93182-1569-PP2615_4294857870_4294937087?productId=3047495&Ns=p_product_price|1&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Pond%2BLiner_4294857870_4294937087_?cm_cr=Fountains%20and%20Ponds%201.2-_-Web%20Activity-_-Fountains%20and%20Ponds%201.2%20A2%20Activity-_-SC_Fountains%20%20Ponds_Area2-_-49116_3#

That's cheap enough that I just might do it but if I could find something one size up for a tad more, that would be cool.

75-100g stock tanks are bigger than what I want. The smaller stock tanks are only 12" deep. I'm hoping for 18-24" deep or at least 15". (Live next to woods and coons look for food on my deck).

Ideas?
 
Home Depot has faux half barrel containers that I've been using as a container pond (with plant only filtration) for three years now. You could give that a shot? Don't know how many gallons it holds though, but I think its more than 20g.
 
davcheng said:
Home Depot has faux half barrel containers that I've been using as a container pond (with plant only filtration) for three years now. You could give that a shot? Don't know how many gallons it holds though, but I think its more than 20g.
Click to expand...

I'm curious to hear more about this. Do you keep any fish in it?
 
Those faux whiskey barrels are around $50 and are still not much more than 20gal. I did a quick calc guessing the average internal dimensions and it came out almost exactly 20gal.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?jspStoreDir=hdus&catalogId=10053&productId=202103755&navFlow=3&keyword=whiskey+barrel&langId=-1&searchRedirect=whiskey+barrel&storeId=10051&endecaDataBean=com.homedepot.sa.el.wc.integration.endeca.EndecaDataBean%4057bbb563&ddkey=Search

Does look nicer than the plain black but for over twice the price, I'd want more volume.

It would be a good idea if I weren't cheat a cheap #$%@. If I saw one on sale or used, I'd snatch it up.

-l2t
 
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I calculate this to be about about 30gal, $15 and more attractive than plain black
http://www.target.com/s/ref=in_se_pagelist_btm_next?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&fromGsearch=true&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchRank=target104545&keywords=outdoor%20planter&searchPage=4&rh=&searchSize=30&searchBinNameList=purchasing_channel%2Csubjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin

It says it's terracotta but some how I doubt it's real clay at that price. More likely some plastic that looks like terracotta. If that's the case, I found my cheapskate deckpond.
 
Those rectangular storage tubs are just a bit too unaesthetic. Also, a rectangular shape will surely bow out.

That planter at Target I think was a red herring. There's another one at the same price in a different color and the dims are in cm and not ". I think that one is a typo and it's linear dims are 2.52 less than they say it is.
 
learn2turn said:
Those rectangular storage tubs are just a bit too unaesthetic. Also, a rectangular shape will surely bow out.

That planter at Target I think was a red herring. There's another one at the same price in a different color and the dims are in cm and not &quot;. I think that one is a typo and it's linear dims are 2.52 less than they say it is.
Click to expand...
The 24&quot; dia(12&quot; radius) would be about 37 gallons if it was a cylinder. The 12&quot; would only be 4.5 gallons.
 
I would at least go 300 gallons at the smallest. You can go to a local farm supply store, rural king, tractor supply, etc. and buy a rubber maid stock tank. They are $114.00 here, I don't know what they are out there. It has a 1" thread drain on the bottom that you can glue or fit a pump too, and connect the pump to a filter that will gravity feed back into the tank.

-Eric
 
The local pond/aquarium store has probably a 1/2 dozen or more of those 300g stock tanks in the parking lot. Bang for the buck that would be a great deal. I just don't have room for it.

Maximum dimensions 36x24"
 
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