# Whiskey Barrel Pond - Crypts & Buce



## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

My Whiskey Barrel Pond









We move our house plants out to the side deck every year. We pot some annuals from the garden center and cluster everything together. I thought I try a whiskey barrel pond this year.

I got a 1/2 Whiskey Barrel from Home Depot. I tried to "age" it for a month. I alternated filling & emptying it. But it was still leaching a whiskey smelling carbon film. So I decided to line it and go from there.

1st - I cut a pc of foam carpet pad to fit the bottom to gepl prevent snags/tears.
2nd - I laid in a double thickness of plastic sheeting, the a layer of black plastic from a heavy duty 70gal trash bag.
3rd** - You can see a white strap, that's nylon packing strapping. I used a staple gun to run a strap over the plastic to hold it in place
4th - added 1" of washed play sand. I use bricks to ebate the clay pots I plant in. The sand will also help prevent tearing the plastic liner.

When I set-up we were/are having some cool nights 45 to 50degrees. I added a 300w heater. I made a lid from a 3/4" thick pc of isolation foam to help over night. You can see the old HOB I added. I remove all filter media when I use a HOB and replace with 10PPI foam. I also cut a pc to cover the intake.

That's my Black Mission fig just behind and draping over. Nest to it is a Mango I found growing in my compost bin about 4-5yrs ago.

The 4 pots with the white labels are 4 Buce sp. cuttings from my adult plants. In front of them are 3 pots of C.Nurri. Behind a Florida Sunset (C. Wenditti) and C. Keei. The Crypts are also yping plants from my other tanks. There's a pot of hygrohpila corymbosa 'siamensis' cuttings too.

Not visible are a some baby Java Needle and Red on driftwood and a red lotus.

Today we hit 97 here, water temps 82 on the surface, pretty cool towards the bottom. The barrel has sunlight from 7am to 2pm. that is all not direct as I have some mature trees that filter and block the sun at various times.

I have some bricks and a plastic grate to help elevate the pots. As the plants grow I cam lower them. This also overs shade/hiding for 12 Cherry barbs and 4 zipper loaches

** The strap was a bit more involved, I can go into detail idd someone needs the info.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Cool idea to stick a HOB filter on there. I'm planning to try one of those cheapo solar pumps on mine this year. 

They make hard plastic liners that fit right inside those barrels. The HD by me doesn't have the real barrels this year so that's a nice find!


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

Thanks Arron

The barrel was $29. My local garden center had the liners for $62 that's insane. The plastic tub liner also did not fot that well. It was not tight to the sides.
If this works well this summer I might try to either epoxy or rubber to seal the inside.

And old HOB put to good use. I really wanted this simple and so far it works well.


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## duff (Feb 27, 2006)

That's pretty darn cool! Great idea for the liner and HOT filter. - you could also use great stuff, I was playing around with it this weekend. If you press something into it (say a trash bag), it spreads out and actually one can goes along way - spreads out thin underneath. 

I may have to try your Idea, I'd love to try a few pond/ bog plants, this jsut may be the ticket. 

How are the plants doing for you?

Ha, I do the same with my house plants - drag them out for summer, in for winter.... all 15 of them!


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## wabisabi (Dec 4, 2010)

Nice setup. 

Love your Hosta. I can't get them to grow nice and lush like that. I think it's too hot for them here.


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

Duff - The Great Stuff sounds interesting kinda like making a background. Price would be right. I was thinking about the roll on Truck bed liner rubber I don'y know if it's toxic? I also thought bought doing the prep whorl and running it over to the Rino-Liner dealer.

I have new growth on everything The most dramatic is the C. Keei The color is bright and C. Keei has ben hard for me to keep going.


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

wabisabi said:


> Nice setup.
> 
> Love your Hosta. I can't get them to grow nice and lush like that. I think it's too hot for them here.


Thanks, I can't claim much skill on them. Here in the midwest they are weeds. That's a 40' row that warps around to a 10'x10' area. In the rear of the house I have another 15'x15' of those and a 15'x15' of the giant blue host that I just split out of 3 clumps and replanted.

And all of it needs to split in 1/2 this fall...

I'm actually more proud of the Mango in the pic. Behind it is a 16 y.o. Grapefruit tree started from a seed!! I'll add another pic soon.


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## duff (Feb 27, 2006)

Price was my thought as well. three cans for around $10. I was playing around with GS this weekend to see what one could do with it and if you squish it down you end up with a very plastic like coating. 

I wonder if 2 cans of the black foam would be enough to cover it, then you could skip the liner.... Or what about using 100% silicone -pretty cheap at the big box store.... I don't know enough about using silicone, I wonder if that might work?

In doing a quick search it looks like it might be safe (rhino-liner) one site has Shrimp Tank under their Spray What section. 

BTW, whats "doing the prep whorl"?


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

Duff - Prep work...Fat fingers & bad eyes = Typos

My barrel was chard for aging whiskey. I'm not sure if they do that to wine barrels??

Mine would need the chard surface blasted or ground off prior to any type of permanate liner being installed.


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## wabisabi (Dec 4, 2010)

DogFish2.0 said:


> Thanks, I can't claim much skill on them. Here in the midwest they are weeds. That's a 40' row that warps around to a 10'x10' area. In the rear of the house I have another 15'x15' of those and a 15'x15' of the giant blue host that I just split out of 3 clumps and replanted.
> 
> And all of it needs to split in 1/2 this fall...
> 
> I'm actually more proud of the Mango in the pic. Behind it is a 16 y.o. Grapefruit tree started from a seed!! I'll add another pic soon.


lol, Mango grows like weeds here! One of my favorite fruits! Have you had any fruit from those trees?

C.keei turns into a different plant in high light. Glad to see yours is enjoying the outdoors.


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

No fruit on those, maybe due to photoperiod? We might be too far North?

My Mulberries & Cherry trees do well.

I figured my C. Keei fails were due in part improper PAR levels.


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## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

What a fantastic idea. Looks very nice!


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

*UPDATE*

Some of my Cyrpts on summer vacation out in the whiskey barrel pond










Top.................. C. ciliata
Middle.............. C. keei
Bottom..............C. wendtii 'Florida Sunset‎'


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

*S. graminea*










Got a few of these from 2ManyHobbies, thanks Travis. I expect the others to be above water line soon.


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## 2ManyHobbies (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice looking plants! Take a close up of that flower when you have a chance.


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Awesome project!


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

Gordonrichards said:


> Awesome project!


Thanks Gordon, these are Anubias I got from you around Christmas Time. They had maybe 4-5 leaves each.










Forgive the bad cell ph. pic...I'd rather buy plants than cameras :wink:


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## chrislewistx (Jun 8, 2012)

Your barrel pond is looking very nice. How about taking a full setup photo? I would like to see the full picture. Have any of your other plants grown out of the water yet?

Your whole patio garden looks great actually, good job.


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

chrislewistx said:


> Your barrel pond is looking very nice. How about taking a full setup photo? I would like to see the full picture. Have any of your other plants grown out of the water yet?
> 
> Your whole patio garden looks great actually, good job.


Thanks for the kind words. The very 1st has a shot of the barrel & filter. Just am old HOB I had. I do pull the media that comes with the filters and replace with a 10PPI pc of filter foam. I also have a 300W heater in there. Im April and October nights can get into the 40s. I put a sheet of house insulation foam over the tank on cold nights. I also have a large sheet of plexiglass that can be put over the top in cooler weather.

This started out as a place to grow plants out doors in the summer to reduce hobby maine. time in the house. It's becoming a favorite "tank" of mine. I wish I had a better camera or video to show how Red the Cherry Barbs are. Even the females are colored up.

No other plants are growing out of the water at this time. I have be trimming and replanting. So maybe it I keep my scissors out of the pond I get some areal growth. I've got a few tiger lotus in there I hope I can get a flower this year.


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## Jon_TX (Jan 8, 2012)

Very interesting project. Makes me want to start one (but my better half would kill me if I started *another* tank project). Do you plan on keeping it going throughout the fall/winter?

Also curious about the fish in there. Any need to feed them regularly, or do they just snack on plants/algae/insects?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

The black mission fig is beautiful. Love the leaves. Looks like fun. Do you have any fish in your barrel?


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## DogFish2.0 (Oct 7, 2011)

Jon_TX said:


> ... Do you plan on keeping it going throughout the fall/winter?
> 
> Also curious about the fish in there. Any need to feed them regularly, or do they just snack on plants/algae/insects?





Tex Gal said:


> The black mission fig is beautiful. Love the leaves. Looks like fun. Do you have any fish in your barrel?


I'm near the Il/Wi boarder we're still nice temp wise well into Oct. I'd like to keep it going as long as I can. overnight temps sub-40degrees will be my cut off. I'll start using some of the plants in a new scape indoors in Sept. ( I doubt I can squeeze one more stem in there now.)

I have my colony of Cherry Barbs in there 15 went in. of course impossible to count, no less than 10 that I have seen in a group feeding. The colors are pretty unbelievable the boys are very deep red and the girls are colored up too. I also put 4 zipper loaches in there two of which were obviously gravid with eggs. I'm looking forward to see if I might have baby loaches!

I do offer a bit of flake every few days mostly to see the barbs. They are always zipping around pretty fast. Once a week I do put in a chuck of blood worms for the loaches, again more to check up on them.

Both fish sp. are uber-healthy so my feeding isn't a factor.

Misson Fig - Yes, I got that one last year from a local grocery store. I actually just repotted it this morning. I've got my training going well on it, hopefully next year I'll get fruit.

In Tx. you guys could probably keep a barrel out all year. if you took a few cold/heat precautions. For cold things like I do. For heat, shade obviously and partially sinking it in ground will keep it cool.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

We have quite a few hobbists that have ponds. They also have a lot of shade. I would have to build shade structures. Our trees are still too small to provide any appreciable shade. Right now I just appreciate others' ponds.


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