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Mission Bathtub 2016

zozo

zozo

Member
Joined
16 Apr 2015
Messages
8,657
Location
Netherlands
Finaly the weather is doing great to start anything pond like above ground level. So this years bathtub project it started..
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This year going to try something new, never tried Akadama before in the pond as plant substrate.. Since it does realy well in the tank, so why not in the tub outside. Still had a bag of akadama/pumice mix standing..
Only the plant containers will be filled with it and some roottabs added..

This is the container for the lily, the rest is just pond substrate, rocks and gravel. Once the lily is planted it will be topped of with the heavier substrate.

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Same goes for the emersed plants at the other end
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STill have some plants left, pond weeds and ranunculus a. which survived last winter.. :)
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And a part of the plants bought today. Still got to get them all out of the dirt.
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Not all is going into the tub, hoping to find the time this weekend to pick up the cut in half wine barrel.. Which will be on the lawn behind the wall these pots stand now.. In there i will try a new lily Burgundi Princess (which i btw also planted in the tank inside :) ) a Nelumbo Nucifera, which seed is still in the tanks sump germinating and the eichornia azurea... The barrel will be integrated and connected with the tub. Also will try soe tropicals from the tank in the barrel.. The barrel will have full sun all day long :woot:.. The tub is half shaded and only has morning sun till noon.

So whish me luck... :nailbiting: I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for watching.. :)
 
It certainly will...lovely choice of plants, the irises are a firm favourite of mine.
And awesome bath tube...it'd cost a fortune from a salvage yard here in the UK.
 
Just a thought, has anyone considered using Plasterers baths. You can get them pretty cheap at builders merchants, handy size and they are proper tough. I use them for temporary housing of amphibian larvae and during pond cleaning etc.
 
THanks guys.. :) he fun is, it all goes rather fast, it aint much work.. :thumbup: So far the tub is done filled and now just wait for it to grow..
Lily and pondweeds ar hidden beneath the slightly murky water now, but this will clear up soon.
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Tried some minor scaping skills whit what ever rock i still could find in the garden. And still got some rock in the goldfish tub, which are still down in the dungeon under the house..
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The Lobelia, gets huge, had it before and it goes in the already 15 year old swamp bucket.. As well as some parts of the other plants i bought.. I'm not sure yet how it will work out with the half wine barrel and its height.. If possible i want to intergrate both to the bath tub.. Pump the water into the bucket, overflow it to the wine barrel and over flow that one back to the tub. We'll see.. Next year i replace this old bucket with a complete wooden wine barrel and a half barrel next to it..
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:) I might try to figure out something realy stupid, with rocks and black construction foam and create a waterfall over the wall.. :cool::rolleyes: Dunno yet but it runs trough my head, depends if i get bored i'll might do it... :D

Troi said:
And awesome bath tube...it'd cost a fortune from a salvage yard here in the UK.
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Do you think so?? Actualy i bought this one about a 8 years ago from some farmer.. Wasn't that expensive, had to do some minor repairs..
I guess in the UK there will be farmers having these things standing around. But haven't looked for a while, vintage is in, could be in the wrong hands costing a lot.

What also would look cool is the old cast iron enamel ones, if possible with the lion feet.. :woot: Then try to find one with demaged enamel. Impossible to repair and worthless for home use as bathtub.. Perfect for in the garden like this.. :)
 
77 Likes!

every old bathtub deserves to come back as a pond or planted garden :D
 
parotet said:
Absolutely awesome... wow, how I wish to have such a pond!

Jordi
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Thank you Jordi, well just be patient and keep your eyes open.. You might run into a second hand bargain you can use. I guess in spain in the country side there must still be awsome things laying around just waiting for a new purpose. I know there are many indoor designers traveling to the spain country side searching for old Finca's and ship back what ever they find to use and redesign homes with.

Actualy in my house all doors inside the house downstairs and upstairs are antique spanish finca doors found in spain and shipped back to the Netherlands.
Like this door next to the tank is a genuine spanish finca door.. :) Sorry for the mess, still working on it, ran out of paint to finish the wall. (or should i paint a smoking chimney? :lol:)
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I guess there still must be a lot to find in the Spanish country side and for locals like you are can't be that hard to get some adresses. Or is it completely plundered already?

Alex J said:
looking really good Marcel :) When i saw the title to this i thought you might be scaping the bath in your house :lol:
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Thank you Alex.. :) :lol: Actualy the tank above was initialy planed for the bathroom, but i liked the scape so much in moved it to the dining room. There still is a bathroom tank in brainstorm stage.. That's mission bathroom for the future.. Steaming in the tub looking at a planted tank. :cool:
 
Hi Marcel

Yup, the Spanish countryside is still plenty of little treasures. People is more and more interested but I would say there is much more stuff available than in other countries. But a bath tub will be impossible to fit in my flat! Actually I have a mini pond in the terrace but it has just 70 liters...

Jordi
 
The Poopers went in today, finaly sunshine again for them.. And as every year they love their tub, exploring, playing catch me if you can and bading in the sun.


Submersed growth so far is Elodea, Potamogeton perfoliatus, potamogeton natans (semi sub), ranunculus (semi sub). I'll also get some Utricularia Stellaris soon, i want to try in here.. And when the temps get higher later on i'm going to put some rotala's in there and try some java ferns as well have enough of that. I would love to put Fontanilis in it, but the poopers like to eat that. Actualy would need an under water camera.. It's hard to shoot picture and vid through a mirroring water surface. Well just let them poop and everything grow in for now. I see if i can get such a submersable plastic bag for a smartphone.. :) Would be fun shoot some submersed vids in the tub. :)
 
Thanks Roy, they surely will, you got to have a few to notice how social and curious they are and they are real family bonded by now. They are realy very lovely fish and they are so well used to me over the years i do not even need a net to catch them. They trust me and let me pick them up without much strugle.. :) And they love tunnels, so i created a tunnel for them with some flat rocks, they are very aware of what's around them and love to play. :)

Some close up shots from the wabi kusa style shallow part.. :)

Did put some Fontanilis A. at the shallow, hope they do not eat it all.. Ranunculus already flowering.. The little black rock with the moss developed over the winter in the swamp bucket.. There are some tiny plants in the moss of what i do not know what it is. So that's going to be a surprice for later. But they are with red color.
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That little tuf of moss on top of the grey rock i actualy noticed when cleaning the terrace, it was in between the pavement.. I noticed some prothallium in the moss, yet do not know what it is, but i got some different kind of ferns growing around.. So it most likely is a fern prothallium.. Anyway, saved it and did put it on top of the rock. I hope it survives and grows on what ever it is a kind of moss or a fern.. :)
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:nailbiting::woot:
 
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Next stage, wine barrel.. :) It arrived.. But only filled with water now, need to let it soak and settle for a while to get watertight again.. :)
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In the end it will hold a Lily (Burgundy Princess) and a Sacret Indian Lotus (Purplle Fire) and some other aquatics.. And of course a supply of fresh live food.. :)
This is the idea. the bucket already is connected to the barrel i freed a piece of the bucket which will be filled with small riverstones, at the back will be the tubs filter outlet go via the bucket to the barrel. Not with a filtering idea, but it's to keep the bucket wet.. It used to dry out sometimes in the summer with me forgetting to fill it. SO this problem is solved now.
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And here... Oops sorry.. :rolleyes::rage:
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I try me to find some matching and fitting rocks to create some kind of overflow waterfall to the tub.. Just stack the rocks in a balance act create a gutter and fill the gaps with black construction foam to seal it so it doesn't spill water.. (Larger river pebbles and or smaller boulders or something)
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On to stage 3.. :)
 
Thanks Neil en Gill :) Yup stage 3, find rocks and stack an overflow for the wine barrel into the tub.. Could take a pipe, but some cascading water of a rock scape is a nice challange to build and gives mosses a chance. And dress it all up a bit of course with plants.. Already bought some ferns and a Carex buchananii to plant next to the barrel and bucket a Passiflora gracilis to climb against the fens. :) That sort of things.
 
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