Hello,

I don't know if this is the right place to ask about putting in a new pond
in our patio. If not maybe someone can tell me where i should be posting my
question to. Anyway, here's the question.

We went down to Wickes DIY over the weekend and bought a 50gallon coldwater
tank(the kind you'd use as cold water storage in the house) to use as a fish
pond for our patio. We won't be burying the rectangular black plastic
container into the ground but leaving it in the corner of the patio area.
We've seen similar looking black plastic containers in large garden centres
selling stuff for fish ponds but they were all round, we needed a square or
rectangular shaped container to fit the corner of the patio.

Anyone know if this is Ok to use as a fish pond? will exposure to sunlight &
weather etc degrade the plastic & poison the water & fish? We've filled it
up with water & had it sitting with some weeds & oxygenating plants for over
a week now, should we put some fish in or do we wait longer for the water to
settle? there's a little scummy, bubbly bits on the water surface, don't
really like the looks of it... but me thinks they're the air bubbles that's
come off the insides of the plastic container. I kind shakes it about every
now & then to get them off the sides to the surface. Any advice anyone?

cheers.

pete.

for that size container your fish will stand more chance of survival if you
can have running water of some kind - e.g. a small fountain. You also need
to get something to cover about a third of the surface - either some kind of
floating plants (fairy moss or duck weed would do - they spread very quickly
but you should find it easy enough to scrape off the extra in a tank that
size) or a miniature (not "small" but "miniature") water lily. The "scum"
sounds like algae which may disappear once your pond achieves a "balance".
Covering part of the surface will help as the algae will not have enough
light to grow as much then. Also when the oxygenators grow a bit they will
take more food out of the water so will starve off the algae. You also need
somewhere for the fish to hide from the sun. I'd leave it a bit longer -
more like a month.
Hayley

"pete wrote in message .

We went down to Wickes DIY over the weekend and bought a 50gallon
coldwater
tank(the kind you'd use as cold water storage in the house) to use as a
fish
pond for our patio. We won't be burying the rectangular black plastic
container into the ground but leaving it in the corner of the patio area.
We've seen similar looking black plastic containers in large garden
centres
selling stuff for fish ponds but they were all round, we needed a square
or
rectangular shaped container to fit the corner of the patio.

Anyone know if this is Ok to use as a fish pond? will exposure to sunlight
&
weather etc degrade the plastic & poison the water & fish?

Yes, it's OK for the fish, some fish tanks they live in for years are a lot
smaller than that. The plastic is stable, it's for human use, but it will be
slowly degraded by light although it takes years (I've had some outside as
filters for 20 years.).
However, you will need some form of filtration to ensure the removal of any
toxic waste, an internal powered fish tank filter will work OK, only ever
wash the filter sponge in tank water as you are trying to build up the
nitrifying bacteria which is what does the work.
A bigger problem will be that if the sides are exposed to sunlight,
especially early morning, the temperature of the water will rise quickly and
put the fish under stress causing disease etc. I suggest you use some log
roll or similar to cover and protect the sides. A brick wall would be better
and would stop anyone banging the sides of the bins and terrifying the fish.

We've filled it
up with water & had it sitting with some weeds & oxygenating plants for
over
a week now, should we put some fish in or do we wait longer for the water
to
settle?

It's much too early to buy and put fish in a pond, late May is the earliest
you should attempt it. Most of these fish are bred in Singapore or Israel,
so imagine being out there all your life and then being chucked into our
weather now without a coat. If you have bought pond plants they also have
either come from abroad or been forced under glass.

there's a little scummy, bubbly bits on the water surface, don't
really like the looks of it... but me thinks they're the air bubbles
that's
come off the insides of the plastic container. I kind shakes it about
every
now & then to get them off the sides to the surface. Any advice anyone?

Didn't you wash and scrub out the bin first? Maybe manufacturing chemicals
etc.
But tap water contains gas which has to bubble out, a glass of water from
the tap often goes milky with these bubbles.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.