New Container Pond!

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Hello, I'm a newb from hardiness zone 7b with a container pond. I'm very excited to see where things take me this year and to possibly grow to bigger and better things in the future. I'm currently working on growing lotus tubers in my container pond and I'm stoked to see the growth tips getting taller and taller each day. My water is still cloudier than I'd like and I'm hoping to get that straightened out soon with the help of a water testing kit. This week I also found mosquito larvae in my container pond, so after a full water clean out I've been looking into adding a couple of small fish to help keep that issue at bay. The issue I'm running into is that my pond is still water, so I need to add some oxygen first. So a lot of work needs to be done but I'm excited to be here and for any advice!
 
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Welcome to the GPF! Post some pictures of your container pond! Here's mine from last year. Those floating hyacinths really took over - you can't even see my frog spitter... just the water that he's spitting!

IMG_3124.jpeg
 
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Welcome to the GPF! Post some pictures of your container pond! Here's mine from last year. Those floating hyacinths really took over - you can't even see my frog spitter... just the water that he's spitting!

View attachment 130590
Your pond is absolutely gorgeous! My container pond is way smaller! I'd like to add some photos once things really start to grow out of the water. As of right now, the growth tips of my lotus are still underwater so it looks just like a bucket of mud.
 
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You could add a little mini fountain, a spitter, or an airstone. I have this fountain kit in my 60 gallon pond and get lots of compliments, but the smallest pump it's compatible with appears to be 140GPH pump, which sounds like it might be too big for your container. If you give us your container's size, we can make good recommendations/suggestions.
 
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You could add a little mini fountain, a spitter, or an airstone. I have this fountain kit in my 60 gallon pond and get lots of compliments, but the smallest pump it's compatible with appears to be 140GPH pump, which sounds like it might be too big for your container. If you give us your container's size, we can make good recommendations/suggestions.
My container is only holding between 15 and 20 gallons of water.
 
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My container is only holding between 15 and 20 gallons of water.

You could just add Summit mosquito crumbles (https://www.amazon.com/Summit-Responsible-Solutions-Mosquito-Bits/dp/B0001AUF8G/ref=sr_1_5) and no fish (easiest) so long as you do not have pets that drink from the container.

A fountain will probably be too big and splash outside the container. A spitter might work with a very low volume pump to add movement if you just want the sound of water, but it probably won't be enough to prevent mosquitoes since in a container that size you'd need to have a very low flow rate to prevent water splashing outside the pond.

As for fish, for a container that size, you could add a couple guppy (Poecilia reticulata) or mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrooki/Gambusia affinis) if you also add filtration. Three male guppies would be OK since they are smaller (fancy guppies come in many wonderful bright colors which is why I use them in my small pond), or two female guppies, or three female minnows, or two male minnows since the male minnows are larger than the female minnows - DON'T add both genders as they could multiply and overstock your small container very quickly), but not without sufficient filtration. I have no experience in minnows. I believe minnows are schooling fish and should always be kept in schools of three or more, but I'm not sure your container is large enough for three+ fish unless you add robust filtration. You could make it work with good filtration. I would also be sure to only buy one sex as breeding will be problematic in that small of a container: you could quickly get more fish than your container can support if they are allowed to breed.

For a container that small, you could probably just use an aquarium filter that's rated for twice the size of your container if you want to add 2-3 small fish (I'd size up since the filter will be doing more work in a pond-like container which gets sun than it would be doing in an aquarium which is cleaned more often and not exposed to sun, so you'll be having to clean the filter pads of algae quite often if the filter area is small). The Fluval U2 (http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Filtration/Internal/A470) would probably work as it has two filter pads and a biomedia canister plus a venturi valve to add aeration (here's a video that shows how to set it up to also aerate using the venturi value: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0b5JmJbXMc, and a video that shows you how you can tweak this filter to save money in the long run: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz_HxKQ7Db4, and also a video about how the venturi system that adds the air to this filter system works: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr6dPkrJWNo). Don't get the Fluval U1 as it won't be sufficient for an outdoor container. Once you add a good filter that adds oxygen plus filtration, fish would be OK to add (no more than three fish that get up to 3 inches, since 2 gallons per inch of fish is a safe rule of thumb for most small aquarium fish). Adding a mechanical filter to a pond means adding pond maintenance: you will need to remove your filter pads/sponges and rinse them regularly to maintain good filtration. Depending on how much sun and fish load, you might have to rinse the filter pads every week. The good thing is with the Fluval U2 filter, you need not worry about killing all your biofilter bacteria when you rinse your filter pads, since you can rinse the filter pads while leaving the biomedia canister in place in the filter to keep your beneficial bacteria in place. This means you can just pull the filter pads out and rinse them in the sink in tap water (or use the garden hose), then treat them with a little water conditioner before adding them back to the filter in the container. Guppies do well in moving water, so would be fine with this filter (they love swimming into the current). I am not sure how minnows do in water with a lot of movement. Others may have other filtration ideas. I don't think I have ever seen a pond filter for something that small though, so you'll likely have to use an aquarium filter. Most aquarium filters will say "indoor use only" but should be fine so long as the plug stays dry (I use an aquarium heater all winter outside for my pond with just the plug up off the ground under a table to keep the snow/rain/groundwater off it).
 
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You could just add Summit mosquito crumbles (https://www.amazon.com/Summit-Responsible-Solutions-Mosquito-Bits/dp/B0001AUF8G/ref=sr_1_5) and no fish (easiest) so long as you do not have pets that drink from the container.

A fountain will probably be too big and splash outside the container. A spitter might work with a very low volume pump to add movement if you just want the sound of water, but it probably won't be enough to prevent mosquitoes since in a container that size you'd need to have a very low flow rate to prevent water splashing outside the pond.

As for fish, for a container that size, you could add a couple guppy (Poecilia reticulata) or mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrooki/Gambusia affinis) if you also add filtration. Three male guppies would be OK since they are smaller (fancy guppies come in many wonderful bright colors which is why I use them in my small pond), or two female guppies, or three female minnows, or two male minnows since the male minnows are larger than the female minnows - DON'T add both genders as they could multiply and overstock your small container very quickly), but not without sufficient filtration. I have no experience in minnows. I believe minnows are schooling fish and should always be kept in schools of three or more, but I'm not sure your container is large enough for three+ fish unless you add robust filtration. You could make it work with good filtration. I would also be sure to only buy one sex as breeding will be problematic in that small of a container: you could quickly get more fish than your container can support if they are allowed to breed.

For a container that small, you could probably just use an aquarium filter that's rated for twice the size of your container if you want to add 2-3 small fish (I'd size up since the filter will be doing more work in a pond-like container which gets sun than it would be doing in an aquarium which is cleaned more often and not exposed to sun, so you'll be having to clean the filter pads of algae quite often if the filter area is small). The Fluval U2 (http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Filtration/Internal/A470) would probably work as it has two filter pads and a biomedia canister plus a venturi valve to add aeration (here's a video that shows how to set it up to also aerate using the venturi value: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0b5JmJbXMc, and a video that shows you how you can tweak this filter to save money in the long run: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz_HxKQ7Db4, and also a video about how the venturi system that adds the air to this filter system works: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr6dPkrJWNo). Don't get the Fluval U1 as it won't be sufficient for an outdoor container. Once you add a good filter that adds oxygen plus filtration, fish would be OK to add (no more than three fish that get up to 3 inches, since 2 gallons per inch of fish is a safe rule of thumb for most small aquarium fish). Adding a mechanical filter to a pond means adding pond maintenance: you will need to remove your filter pads/sponges and rinse them regularly to maintain good filtration. Depending on how much sun and fish load, you might have to rinse the filter pads every week. The good thing is with the Fluval U2 filter, you need not worry about killing all your biofilter bacteria when you rinse your filter pads, since you can rinse the filter pads while leaving the biomedia canister in place in the filter to keep your beneficial bacteria in place. This means you can just pull the filter pads out and rinse them in the sink in tap water (or use the garden hose), then treat them with a little water conditioner before adding them back to the filter in the container. Guppies do well in moving water, so would be fine with this filter (they love swimming into the current). I am not sure how minnows do in water with a lot of movement. Others may have other filtration ideas. I don't think I have ever seen a pond filter for something that small though, so you'll likely have to use an aquarium filter. Most aquarium filters will say "indoor use only" but should be fine so long as the plug stays dry (I use an aquarium heater all winter outside for my pond with just the plug up off the ground under a table to keep the snow/rain/groundwater off it).
Thank you so much for this huge reply! I will totally check everything out! Thank you so much for taking the time to teach someone new!
 

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