Building plant stands?

[hotspurdotus]

I'm currently using landscape blocks to elevate the plant baskets in my pond to the proper height. They are bulky and take up a lot of real estate in the pond, so I'd like to replace them with some custom plant stands.

Does anyone have any recommendations on building good, functional plant stands? I want to minimize the amount of space taken up while still providing a stable platform. I also want to work with pond and fish-safe materials. Stands will vary from roughly 12-18" tall.

My initial concept it to have a central support column with discs on each side, sort of like a dumbbell turned on it's site.

The second design is to build a girder style tower that fish could swim through.

(crap, apparently my crude line drawings won't work since the board eats white space)

I was hoping to build these from PVC piping. Is white PVC tubing used for plumbing pond safe? Could I paint it black?

Thanks for any tips.

 

[fishin4cars]

I'm currently using landscape blocks to elevate the plant baskets in my pond to the proper height. They are bulky and take up a lot of real estate in the pond, so I'd like to replace them with some custom plant stands.

Does anyone have any recommendations on building good, functional plant stands? I want to minimize the amount of space taken up while still providing a stable platform. I also want to work with pond and fish-safe materials. Stands will vary from roughly 12-18" tall.

My initial concept it to have a central support column with discs on each side, sort of like a dumbbell turned on it's site.

The second design is to build a girder style tower that fish could swim through.

(crap, apparently my crude line drawings won't work since the board eats white space)

I was hoping to build these from PVC piping. Is white PVC tubing used for plumbing pond safe? Could I paint it black?

Thanks for any tips.

I'm not sure about what to suggest for the plant stands, I use rocks, milk crates, and over turned pots with holes cut in them. Good luck on this and update us to what you come up with. I would love to see new ideas on this for sure.
on the other questions, PVC is 100% safe, painting it black, I tried it and was not pleased at all! One the PVC has to be sanded for the paint to even think about sticking for any length of time, Pleco's will suck the paint off the pipe! Thats for certain! But, a better alternative would be use ABS, it comes already black, not much more than PVC works fine in any water application and available in larger sizes so you may find that it works better than PVC for planting stands. One thing to do though, no matter what you use make sure water can flow freely through water ever you use, If you use pipe drill some holes in the pipe low and high, this will allow the water to get in and out so it does not go completely stagnant. The bigger the holes the better but you still want it to be stiff and rigid so as to support the weight of the plant, pot, and media.

 

[hotspurdotus]

I'm not sure about what to suggest for the plant stands, I use rocks, milk crates, and over turned pots with holes cut in them. Good luck on this and update us to what you come up with. I would love to see new ideas on this for sure.
on the other questions, PVC is 100% safe, painting it black, I tried it and was not pleased at all! One the PVC has to be sanded for the paint to even think about sticking for any length of time, Pleco's will suck the paint off the pipe! Thats for certain! But, a better alternative would be use ABS, it comes already black, not much more than PVC works fine in any water application and available in larger sizes so you may find that it works better than PVC for planting stands. One thing to do though, no matter what you use make sure water can flow freely through water ever you use, If you use pipe drill some holes in the pipe low and high, this will allow the water to get in and out so it does not go completely stagnant. The bigger the holes the better but you still want it to be stiff and rigid so as to support the weight of the plant, pot, and media.

I'd like to use the ABS stuff, but if I go with the girder style setup I may actually need smaller sizes and different parts than I can normally find with it.. I forgot about PVC's resistance to paint; Will algae eventually stick to it so it's not gleaming white if I decide to go that route?

Water flow is my primary concern with this move; the blocks I use now are bulky and restrict water (and fish) flow, which is why I want to get rid of them. I'll definitely post some pics of whatever I come up with.

 

[fishin4cars]

They cover very nicely with algae and blend well, UNLESS you have a pleco, then you end up with white pipe again.

 

[hotspurdotus]

No plecs here, though I do like those guys. I'm not sure they would handle the cold real well here.

 

[fishin4cars]

No they don't handle cold well, and once they start getting big they are a pain to bring inside and house every year, I think this will be the last year in the pond for this guy, I'm guessing he will probably be close to 20" long by the time to get him out this year and my tank is only a 75 gallon, way to much fish for a aquarium that size. My dealer has some enclosed vats for keeping fish inside and he said he would gladly swap him out for a smaller one.

 

[koiguy1969]

i would have to get rid of my pieco if i didnt have the basement pond... down to about 50*f is their limit in temp tolerance.but its not like you really get to see him unless your really looking...blends into the liner, and basically disappears...mine's just under 20" now as well

 

[Malak]

And don't glue anything in case you need to do a height adjustment. :-D

 

[hotspurdotus]

I bought 4 1/2" outlet elbows and a 5' length of PVC pipe (white) at Lowes. Going to try and build a simple rectangular frame to put the basket on and see if it's sturdy enough.

Cost me about $6.50, not too bad if it actually works.

 

[vertigo72]

They cover very nicely with algae and blend well, UNLESS you have a pleco, then you end up with white pipe again.

Ive had some pieces of (orange sewer) pipe in the pond for months now, and grey PVC tubes for 10 or so years and they still look brand new. The slightest waterflow or a koi swimming by cleans what little is on them to a state you cant distinguish from new. Same for the pipes in my filter, there is not a hint of "wear" or algae or discoloration. Maybe if you sand them down, but otherwise, I wouldnt count on it. Looking at the downspouts from my house, even 30 years doesnt seem to weather them.

Painting should be worth a try though, if you use appropriate plastic paint, possibly with a primer first.

 

[Malak]

Make sure it is safe when dry though. It may be fish safe, but kill crustaceans etc.

 

[hotspurdotus]

I finally made my prototype today. I cut the pvc pipe, roughed everything up with sandpaper and then fitted it together without using and adhesive. I ran out of my 1/2" pipe, but luckily I found an extra piece left over from a wiring project that I used to make the last two legs. I decided not to paint it for the time being; I want to see if algae growth on the roughed up surface will cover the white.

You can see the stand below, next to the pot and blocks I was previously using to support the plant. I drilled several hole in the top to allow air to escape from the pipe when it was placed in the pond. I also cut a couple small pieces of leftover liner to use as footpads. I attached the footpads with scotch tape, which hold surprisingly well; it stayed on even after I took the stand out of the pond, despite water streaming out the bottom.

I had to take it out to shorten one leg slightly. I like this approach because I can customize stands for any part of the pond, even slopes where I would not otherwise be able to put a plant.
The fish were a little wary of the stand for the first few minutes, until my bigger koi (blurrily visible in back of the second pic) swam by and deemed it safe.

 

[SE18]

nice! If I were you I'd spray paint the PVC black or some dark color. It will do 2 things; make it blend better and more importantly, will make it last longer as PVC (the white kind) deteriorates with sunlight over time. The gray and orange PVC doesn't need paint.

 

[Malak]

You should put holes at both ends to get some water flow, however minor. Isn't it possible the wind could make it tip over or not really?

 

[vertigo72]

To be perfectly honest with you, I think the old stand looked 1000x better.