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Journal Mission Bathtub 2017

zozo

Member
Joined
16 Apr 2015
Messages
8,643
Location
Netherlands
Yes!! :woot: Spring time ahoy!! Time to clean out the Tub and start things going.. Last year i integrated a ½ wine barrel with a little idyllic zen waterfall. Eastheticaly it was a treat, practicaly a dissaster and it kept leaking and spilling water. And unintentionaly i discovered last year that running water is a breeding ground for blackfly larvae. Perfect fish food for free..

Now with that in mind, tossed the waterfall idea and this year i want to use the winebarrel as a Daphnia farm.
Still want those blackfly to be happy and my fish with that larvae too, so i went for a set up like this with the tub..

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:lol: I guess once it is planted a bit it will look less rediculous... But it works.. That's te point. Running water over rocks so the fly can breed.. It can't be more simple.. I put creeping jenny in..

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Some moss, amazing how much it grows in the winter..
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Here the splitter, so i can regulate some flow.
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Again some moss
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Yet i do not know if i need some faster water flow down and incline it a bit more.. For now i made it 100% level.
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For a start.. For now, a few more weeks and the fish can go in.. :) Oh, about fish, while cleaning out the tub and it was full of chestnut and grape leaves and grapes as well and had 10 cm ice for a few weeks in the winter.. And all of a sudden is see a black baby goldfish swimming by like nothing is wrong. Probably woke it up and came looking what the fuss is about.. Most have overlooked it last year, i thought i had them all.. I was amazed it survived.. It looked perfectly heathy.. Resiliant little buggers those goldfish. Anyway it's going to get reunited with the rest of the family soon.. :)

:thumbup:
 
Love it zozo. Your ideas are amazing to me mate. And a free goldfish thrown in. What u going to call it lucky

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Love it zozo. Your ideas are amazing to me mate. And a free goldfish thrown in. What u going to call it lucky

Thanks Fred.. haha this one amazed me too, still not used to the looks of it, feels a bit oversized.. But it needs to decorated with green and flower colors.. Maybe.. We'll see.

Love it Marcel :).
Looking forward to watching this develop.

PS,something to go in there sent this morning ;).
Thanks Niel..
:eek: Water poppy?? :woot: Awsome!! Poppies were alwasy my favorite flowers.. And now on the water.. Going to look awsome. Thanks man!! Can't wait.. :)
 
But i think i have to reinforce that gutter.. PVC is a bit flimsy and the screws to short.. Have to improve a little and still be carefull with the weight i put in. :)
But with some creepers hanging in there it's look much better when grown in.. :)

Still not finished a little fish tank will be added on te wall in front of the wooden barrel.. Some i already got on my mind for some time i'm going to test this year. 80x30x25 wood and glas, plywood bottom panel, plywood side panels and front and back glas panel. I'm going to use concrete plywood to safe me some cash and work on applying epoxy.. See how the construction idea works, maybe for future crazy shaped tankbuilds.. :nailbiting:
 
The weather is actualy doing so great, and i saw one nymphaea comming back to life, i decided to take the plants and fish out of their winter habitat (the cellar).. The fish already love their new home again, able to swim some more distances and have some more room to play and places to hide.
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Here is a water poppy, big green leaf still submersed, actualy holding on pretty good.. I had it in the indoor plant propagator for a few days at a rather high temp because of the N. Glandulifera i'm propagating at 26°c to make it grow faster. And poppy didn't seem to like that and was melting rappidly. Now it is in here for a week already and stopped melting. This plant al though it's tropical origine it doesn't realy like high water temps it seems. According reports it can take -2°c and starts to flower at +21°c.. So it seems to be a perfect pond plant. There is another small unedintified Nymphoides next to it also not minding the chilly temps..
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The barrel will be fishless this year, i threw in some live Daphnia from the LFS.. Hopefully it will be producing ample daphnia soon. Found tons of submersed mosses in the barrel surviving and kept growing all winter long.. Even found some Potamogeton Gayi still alive after the winter. That was realy a surprice.
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Now the sun is showing already for about 2 weeks now and clearly see how it goes in nature.. Algae are the pioneers, plants are still in low mode but the algae is thriving and already bubbling oxygene like crazy. But that's what we want for the daphnia anyway.. It wil reduce when the nymphaea and poppy kicks in. Might be start to adding yeast to keep the daphnia alive then. :) Funny is the bathtub containing the fish has nothing of this, the probably eat it.
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Oh and does anybody have an idea what this little 11 fingered plant is?. I didn't plant it, so it likely is something native.. But as is now i kinda like it, never seen it before. :)
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Summer in Europe on the way when Mission Bathtub is back:)
It sertainly is and i'm excited to say.. The weather is doing exeptionaly good.. If it goes on like this it's going to be a prommising summer.
Finger crossed.. Last year was a nutter 70% didn't even want to flower..
 
Almost there :) Tank frame and plumbing is ready so far and the glass i need to pick up this evening..

This is the idea.. Concrete multiplex frame with 2 glass panels.. Water comes from the tub and flows over back to the tub. :)
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4 mm blankfloated, fitted in the slids and sealed.. Still need to seal the board itself with 1 extra layer of epoxy, also to seal the sides. Took this concrete multiples because it already has a factory epexy treatment..
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Not yet sure if i paint the sides black also.. Kinda like it as is.. It might distract to much later.. I'll think i get it all fixed this weekend, than it needs to cure at leas a week regarding the epoxy.. And than, stickle backs and plants..

Think this is best option for an outdoor tank, cost is relatively low, the board +/- € 20 the glass +/- € 10, the kit € 10 for a tube and the plumming duno, still had laying around.. Tho bulkheads a pretty expensive probaly € 10.. Epoxy is still have also from a previous job, but actualy if made from high quality board, not needed.. In my case it has a dent here and there, so i need to, to be sure..So all and all not cheaper than a complete rimless glass tank. But for in the garden i kinda didn't trust a full glass tank to be safe on the long term.

How water tight this will be on the long term remains to be seen.. I guess it depends on my skills applying epoxy and kit.
 
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Great idea, I'm sure it'll remain water tight, looking forward to seeing it all come together. Hope the good weather holds out.

If this works out on the long term, i might build some indoors like this too.. :)
:( Rain is comming tonight, says the weather nerd.. :( But after rain commes sunshine.. :)
 
Something else preparing for the warmer days.. Still had some Nelumbo Nucifera seeds, threw in the little propagator tank. Since this tank houses the Nymphaea glandulifera (seen in the back) which prefers water over 25°c it's perfect for germinating Nelumbo's.. :)

Actualy what trigered my attention today is how hard the seedling is bubbling and photosyntefizzling oxygene.. And this is just a little very low light low tech tank. Never ever seen anything bubbling in there, but this one, how small it is, does.. The power of youht.. :) But it goes into the garden when it gets large and warm enough..
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