Next Year's Water Garden Plans...

HI all! The past two years I have kept fish outside in 15-20 gallon pots with lots of aquatic plants; however, water lilies invariably get outcompeted by the other plants in such a small setup. Thus, next year I am planning to have a 4 by 2 by 2 foot metal water trough as a water garden, like this one;

My idea is to give a dwarf water lily half the water garden, introducing it at the start of April to give it a head start over the water lettuce and hornwort I would add later. How would this container work for a water garden? Thanks

 

It sounds like a lovely project, hopefully members who’ve done something similar will chime in

 

Not sure about galvanized metal, but water lettuce pretty much takes over no matter what! You could always pull and throw out what you don't want, or put it up for free or a small fee ($2) on your local classifieds. I was indebited to a lady across town who gave me a free bucket full in mid-summer when mine failed to take off last year!

 

Thanks for the replies so far! I have switched to a 110 gallon rubber container in case the metal is toxic to fish. Anyhow...how deep does a container pond need to be for fish? I was going to keep it unaerated so that the bottom of the water garden is cooler than the top.

 

Hello again everyone! I have a question...how deep does a water garden need to be? If my landlord does not allow an 110 gallon water garden, I was going to get a 40 gallon tuff stuff water trough to serve as a water garden; however, it is only 13 inches deep. Is that deep enough that the water garden doesn't get crazy hot during the day? Thanks

 

Mine is 10 inches deep and lined with black plastic. Honestly, I never measured the water temperature. The plants did fine and the two surprise fish I ended up with this year that came in on the plants have grown an insane amount. (They are getting netted out this weekend and I'll know for sure then, but I think they are probably baby koi.) I also kept an apple snail out there and he tripled in size since spring. I'm in Ohio so we had a lot of hot days around 90 and tons of sun. I used a potted tree and tall plants to give the pond some shade during the day in the hopes there were some cooler areas, and my neighbors tree blocked the morning sun as well so it got around 9 hours of direct sun a day.

 

OK! Thanks Leaning towards the 40 instead of the 110 because of the work load an 110 would present me with. Guess it will be fine.

 

I don't do anything with mine. It gets set up in May and torn down in September, and the most I have to do is add a few buckets of treated water to top it off it if we go without rain for a week. (And I only did buckets this year because of the snail, years past it got the garden hose.) It's always full of frogs and insects and small snails that came with the plants.

Oh! That is one thing - mine is the local watering hole for about five or six hives of bees, hornets, and yellowjackets every year. It is frightening to watch them all, it's like a bucket brigade, but for hive building. As soon as one leaves with water, another arrives and they always follow the same flight path. It's really amazing. However, because it's so many hives occupying the same space, there is zero aggression. It took a couple years, but I just wade right into them and do what I need to. I get slammed into sometimes but have never been stung or even threatened. And because it's neutral ground for them, we never have any hives move into our yard anymore. They seem to come because of the floating plants as it gives them a safe way to land.

 

Interesting...my water garden this year attracted a lot of bees, but that was because of the swamp milkweed growing out if it (something I will not repeat...it left a gap in the lid that allowed my black paradise fish pair to jump out)