Soil substrate pond

[MitchM]

I'm going to change over the 320g aquarium in our greenhouse to an unheated dirt substrate pond, using garden soil and gravel for the substrate. I'll populate it with pond plants that are available here plus probably 4 goldfish.
Our outdoor pond water temperature doesn't get up to warm enough temperatures to really grow a lot of typical pond plants, plus the outdoor pond is covered with ice for more than 6 months of the year.
I can keep the greenhouse temperatures between 50F and 85F, no matter what the outside temperatures are. We can get to -40F to +95F for extremes outside.

I've started with testing a 40G aquarium with 1 inch of garden soil and 1 inch of gravel.
I've also filled our indoor 600g aquarium with the same substrate so that I can transfer the tropical fish to our indoor heated living space.
I'm thinking that I can make a bog setup for the greenhouse pond using a plastic tray filled with gravel and bog plants that drains back into the pond.
This will take a few months, but I think it will be successful.

Here is the 40g test setup:

Here is the 320g greenhouse pond to be:

 

[Meyer Jordan]

What prompted you to do this?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

So is this going to be a natural planted tank?

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method

 

[MitchM]

What prompted you to do this?

Years ago I took a course in Marine Invertebrate Zoology and that gave me a great appreciation for the support system required for more advanced life forms. (corals, fish, mammals) After trying to set up a marine deep sandbed system, it turns out I'm not able to buy the required materials and animals to recreate a deep sand bed system here in Canada. I've had reef aquariums and high tech planted freshwater setups, but that only boils down to adding chemicals and doing water changes. It seems too disconnected from nature for me.
I've purchased a book by Diana Walstad called The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, so I'm going to be using that as a reference for this project.
The book focuses on plants and bacteria as filters for the aquatic environment and with a few fish, the system should balance itself out. Mechanical filtration is minimal, if used at all.

So is this going to be a natural planted tank?

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method

Yes, that's it, Maria.

.

 

[MitchM]

The Walstad method doesn't use a bog set up, so it's not exactly the same, but something I would like to incorporate into the setup.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Pretty cool project, keep us updated please

 

[Dave 54]

Yes please Mitch however with koi this method would have been a no brainer as they would have wrecked it in next to no time .
I take it goldfish being mainly mid water feeders the substrata becomes established

Dave

 

[MitchM]

Yes please Mitch however with koi this method would have been a no brainer as they would have wrecked it in next to no time .
I take it goldfish being mainly mid water feeders the substrata becomes established

Dave

Right, but even once a dirt substrate is established, I'm not sure how much a koi would really disturb things. Bacteria in the substrate will bind the substrate together so I think the disturbed substrate would settle pretty quickly.

 

[Dave 54]

Right, but even once a dirt substrate is established, I'm not sure how much a koi would really disturb things. Bacteria in the substrate will bind the substrate together so I think the disturbed substrate would settle pretty quickly.

Having watched the amount of gravel a koi can suck up in one go looking for scraps of food or invertibrates , I've a feeling they may well suck it up then pass it via their gills and in doing so totally recreate the bottom of the tank .
I've even graded the gravel in our indoor set up and by the end of the week they had regraded it to their own liking ,heavy pebbles one end down to fine the other this is with large river pebbles sat ontop weighing down the airstones .


Dave

 

[MitchM]

I wish my tank was bigger so I could perhaps have a koi and observe.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

One would be hard pressed to find a earthen sub-strate pond, natural or man-made, that housed Carp/Koi where the water was not turbid.

 

[MitchM]

I prefer to have a degree of turbidity in a pond.
It provides shelter for the fish when startled, protection from sunburn for them, and along with DOC's and humic substances, will adsorb heavy metals in the water.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I prefer to have a degree of turbidity in a pond.
It provides shelter for the fish when startled, protection from sunburn for them, and along with DOC's and humic substances, will adsorb heavy metals in the water.

You da man! A real no frills pond. Luv it!!

 

[MitchM]

Lol, thanks.

 

[MitchM]

A big benefit of using soil as a substrate in a pond - the soil will adsorb phosphate.
(the Holy Grail https://www.extension.org/mediawiki/files/1/18/Aquaculture_Pond_Bottom_Soil_Quality_Management.pdf page 11)