K McZongo

Its a good idea, I have been been using a couple 5 gallon jars and smaller 2.5 gal jugs to raise up ricefish fry / keep some other strains with some floating pearl weed. All without any ferts because of daily feeding fry food etc. Lid open is the way to go. can also drop some cherry shrimp in there too. Only top off once a week and change out every quarter, can change more often if you want it to look nice. Can also start green water that way too.

Thanks, Your tub looks great. what is the red plant In the last photo?

The tub today: it's a bit cloudy still since putting in the lilly tubers in gravel/aqua soil. Planning to get some water hawthorn in another week. The day after fill: nice and clear. Can't wait to get more plant growth. Little unsure about putting fish in anytime soon though.

I just started up a 100 gallon stock tank late summer tub after finally getting the space to place it in the yard. I have been letting it settle for about a week after dumping some old tank water in it along with 40 cull cherry shrimp. I also added a couple of lilly tubers water hyacinth and aquarium cuttings mainly excess pearl weed. Mosquitoes have already laid eggs and got larvae and my tap/aquarium water is soft 6.8 ph range. Meanwhile testing with aquarium coop test strips intermittently (3 days apart). I just added some brand new cinder blocks to raise up some pitcher plants. Two days ago and noticed my pH and buffer have shot off the scales above 8.4. I haven't had time to go back and test with a different kit. Is it a chemical from the blocks reacting with the test strip? All the cherry shrimp seem fine and haven't had any die off. I rinsed the cinder blocks off as much as possible, but I have heard that the blocks should have been "seasoned". By soaking them in water for a month or so. Has anyone else had this happen with new cinder blocks? Did you wait it out or try to water change out of it. How long might it take for the cinder blocks to leech off what ever is coming out of the blocks? Ideally I'd like to get the water in the pond back down to 6-7 before adding fish. I am planning to stock it with medaka ricefish and may 1-3 fancy goldfish. Will upload some pics later. Thanks.