Indoor Pond

[Fighterfish]

Thats a great tool thanks. I never knew about that. Ok it looks as if i can get it to around £300 a year which is fine as i will pay my parents that anyhow.

 

[three-fingers]

The only problem is at 16 i can't really afford an RTG however much i would love one. I only can just afford greenhouse etc.

You poor soul . My parents wont even let me have a tank bigger than my 190 litre corner tank, I just had to turn down an offer for a really nice looking 200gallon tank with cabinet in great condition for only £115! Because my mum said it would make my room look too cramped (trust me, it wouldn't) . I don't really mind though .

Seriously though, good luck with all this.

One thing I would certainly recommend is you invest in is a UV steriliser...with all the light in a greenhouse, you aren't going to be able to see anything further than maybe 2ft away from the viewing window due to the free floating algae, especially with all the algae food coming from those big fish! I guess you could use anti-algae media in the filtration, but you would need to replace this regularly and this also adds to the cost. Probably much cheaper than the high-wattage UV tubes that would be required for such a large pond however, but it also means you wont be able to grow any plants as well if you wanted them, as plants use the nutrients algse uses too.

Another thing is you are going to want something in there that will eat duckweed and other extremely fast growing floating plants like amazon frogbit and azolla, methinks the silver dollars will do this very well, but if you get them you wont be able to have any really nice floating plants and you can get some really nice looking flowering lilies water ect for ponds.
I don't think an asian arowana (if you get one) would bother water lillies, but the p bass might, and if this is the case you may as well get silver dollars for weed control as lillies would be out of the question.

If you don't mind not being able to view your fish from above, then I would leave out any fish that would eat plants. Get loads of cheap pond-sized packs of fast growing weeds like elodea (usually sold as oxygenators for ponds), and dump in lots of duckweed and water lettuce, ect. The floating plants should block out the sun decreasing the chance of algae, and the other weeds will use up any nutrients before the algae does.
To actually be able to view the fish, you could spot lihts underneath the water on the sides of the tank.
This will keep the water relatively clear and save you lots in running costs of replacing the anti-algae media or running UV, but will probably require a lower stocking for the plants to be able to use enough of the nutrients to out compete algae.

Another thing is water changes, I'm curious to know how you are going to do them? As any plants plants will need the water to be changed over in order for them to get all the elements they needs.

Hope this becomes a reality, good luck! .

 

[Fighterfish]

Thanks 3 fingers.
The glass for the greenhouse is going to let light in yes. However, on both sides i am planning to have large tree ferns and other tropical plants as the main aim of this greenhouse is to be a kind of mini jungle like the hothouses you find in zoos etc. So these palnts will shield most light.

Plant wise i wasn't really planning on having duckweed or eldoea due to there extremely fast growthrates. However, i have been looking at dwarf lilys and large amazon swords. I am goign to have a vegetable filter at tthe top of the waterfall with either watercress or water hyacinth to take out any excess nutrients. I have been looking at uvs but to be honest with the shading from plants and the veg filter i don't thtink i will need one.

For stocking, i need to do a lot more research on the fish i want as i know that silver dollars are quite fond of plants so i might have to rule them out. Also with p bass i need to do more research on them with plants etc.
Aro wise yeah they should be fine with plants but it is finding one that is a good quality fish for a good price.
Water changes are the same as a tank. Big pipe out of greenhouse and hose in to fill up then add dechlorinator.

Also i got a quot for the big tank form windsor aquatics -£1880. So i am rethinking my sizes and shopping around.

Thanks,
Luke

 

[Fighterfish]

Does anyone know how much red fin gouramis are and if one could go in the tank?

 

[Fighterfish]

I have done some research and found i can have one in the tank. I might have it instead of arowana. Now all i need to know is cost?
Thanks,
Luke

 

[CFC]

The high quote is because of the 36" height, drop the height to 30" or under and the price will come down as the glass doesnt need to be as thick.

 

[Fighterfish]

yeah i dropped it to 2.5' and the cost came down by £1100.