Project "SUBARU": Installation of SIX 15-gallon planters as nano-ponds

[Bill Smith]

(That's the constellation, not the automaker!)

After reading @Sliceofnature's barrel/mini pond build and becoming extra jealous of his 3/4 wine barrel, I went online to see what I could come up with where I could maybe maximize my money and spend a bunch of hours on new fish projects to play with! With the wife and kids out of town for a week-and-a-half starting next week, Dad needs an all-consuming project!

I apologize in advance to those folks with slow connections, but this build log is going to get into gory detail and have far too many pictures! 😐

By the way, I welcome any and all suggestions, ideas, warnings, etc.: WHAT WOULD YOU KEEP IN SIX 15-GALLON NANO PONDS? Thank you!

Off we go!

PLANTER SELECTION

After MANY HOURS of searching and searching, I came upon these low-cost 22" planters on the Costco Web site:

https://www.costco.com/.product.1253881.html
(non-affiliate link)

 

They're $25 each, sold in 2-packs. I started with a single 2-pack.

When they arrived, I first wanted to see how they looked in the space I had in mind. I have a walkway in my back yard along my bedroom wall that I thought would be perfect for maybe six of these planters. It faces the northwest, and gets 2-3 hours of low, direct sunlight each afternoon, right before the sun drops behind a six-foot fence. Which means I get to see them in bright sunlight when I come home from work. I live in the San Diego area, so I don't expect any temperature extremes except for a little heat a couple days a year. I placed the first two planters to see how it would look:

Oh yeah, I'm sold. Imagining a row of six such tubs right there! But first, I have some serious planning to do around wiring, weatherproofing, and equipment.

I placed some cables and cords and boxes behind them and walked around, trying to see how hard it would be to hide things behind them and how visible everything will be:

Yep, I can make this work.

ASSESSING MY OPTIONS

The first thing I did with the first pair of planters was take some measurements and do some testing.

The planter measures 22" in diameter across the top, 12-1/2" in diameter across the bottom, and is 14-1/2" tall. Rather than trust to my math, I filled it with water and determined the capacity to be a little over 15 gallons to the rim. Since I won't be filling to the top of the rim, I'm assuming these will hold about 13 gallons for my purposes. The material is about 5/16" thick and the plastic is admittedly a little flimsy, but at this price I wouldn't expect otherwise. Certainly sturdy enough for this project.

I also tested adhesives: can I mount anything to the outer surface? After trying different tapes, I think gaffer's tape works not too poorly. Duct tape was too weak and clear packing tape was a non-starter. But hot glue adheres to this planter so well that I couldn't get it off! Great, now I know how I can stick things to it! That is actually a HUGE plus.

SOME PLANNING & PREPPING

In San Diego, the weather never reaches freezing, and the coldest winter periods usually last only hours and rarely drop below 45 degrees. I want to be able to run a heater in each planter, so that I can actually keep virtually any tropical fish/critter I want. Between that, a USB nano pump, and a light, I'm looking at somewhere around 4-5 cords/tubes for each planter. And it all needs a low-cost makeshift "electrical box" of some kind for each one.

Each planter has a removable plug in the bottom:

Even though my test of filling it with water didn't result in any leaks, I decided not to take any chances; I siliconed the plug just to be sure!

So that's as far as I've gotten for one day. Next post, I'll share what I've been learning about how I want to handle equipment and electrical stuff. Also going to hot rod a Jehmco box filter for minimal mess and maintenance (I hope)!

Thanks for reading!

Bill

Edited August 10, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Sliceofnature]

This is gonna be an epic thread i can tell already! 6 smaller tubs is a great idea. It gives you so many options for keeping different species out there and the plastic tubs should be much easier to maintain. Cant wait to see your progress!

[shkote]

I purchased a similar planter at Home Depot so that I could put a small fountain in the center of my 110 gallon tub without worrying about sucking up fry. I loved the way it looked so much, but after monitoring temperatures in the small pot vs the big tub, my temps are just too extreme for something this small. Bummer! Now I will follow this thread and just keep an eye on your project Bill! I really do love those resin whiskey barrels. It's going to look great. 👍

[DaveSamsell]

Bill,

Looks like an outstanding project.  Am sure you will do a fantastic job.  One note though, make sure the electrical extension cords are rated for "outdoor" use.  Keep us posted on your progess.  All the best.....😊

[Bill Smith]

1 hour ago, DaveSamsell said:

Bill,

Looks like an outstanding project.  Am sure you will do a fantastic job.  One note though, make sure the electrical extension cords are rated for "outdoor" use.  Keep us posted on your progess.  All the best.....😊

Thanks Dave. Yep, for any cords exposed to the elements, outdoor use only. The rest I'll be protecting from the elements myself. 🙂

[Byte]

Bill,

Nice project, well written too! I really like the look of the planters.

Nice solution for those that do not have the capacity for a large outdoor pond!

Can't wait to see the final result!

[Bill Smith]

THE "ELECTRICAL BOX"

I use that term loosely.

My idea here is to protect all the connections from the weather as much as possible by tucking them into a small makeshift box, and then daisy-chaining the boxes from one planter to the next, hiding them as well as possible while protecting them from the elements.

After some testing, I settled on these "Tupperware"-style boxes from the dollar store. They were three for a buck.

I then did some testing and fitting with some electrical parts that I had, ordered a couple more, and when I had my plan, I used a soldering iron to melt some holes in the box: two big ones in front for the cords to exit the box, and about five smaller ones in the back that will act as "air holes" to prevent condensation. I also cut through the plastic from the rim downward to each of the two bigger holes:

To help hide it, I next spray painted the box on the inside with flat black paint. Painting it on the inside helps ensure that I won't scuff off streaks of paint if the box slides around on a rough surface.

After that, I gathered my parts (these are non-affiliate links):

1. 200 watt heater ($14): This size seemed overkill, until I remembered that I would want the heater to occasionally compensate for an ambient temperature as low as 40-45 degrees. The cost was about $3 more than the 100-watt, so why not?

2. USB nano pump ($9): This will power my hot-rodded Jehmco round box filter.

3. USB adapter ($4.50): I selected this one because the ports are on the SIDE of the block, not the top. That's uncommon and a space-saver.

4. Cube tap ($2.50): For fitting several plugs in a tight space.

5. 8 foot polarized power cords ($5): Actually I only need one per planter, but each of the cords are shared between two planters: the inlet AND outlet of each cord goes into a box. These are not rated for outdoor use, but all connections will be in the box, and I have some plans to protect the cords themselves. I chose this kind of braided cord for its color, price, and the fact that it was a flat plug (space saver). Grounded three-prong cords are not necessary.

(I will be dealing with lighting as a separate part of this project.)

Next, I laid out everything and plugged in all the components.

Then I took everything out to my garage and placed it all in the black box, with two cords sharing each of the larger holes. The smaller holes will be facing downward in the finished project, and will allow air exchange to prevent condensation.

I lightly superglued the lid on. I may have to destroy the box to get inside it, but that's why I source parts at the dollar store!

I'm going to try for some sort of drip-looping. But in case I can't do it across the board, I decided to silicone the cords as they pass through the holes, preventing water from seeping in at this point.

Electrical box complete! Tomorrow, I hope to work on mounting it to the first planter. Lots of hot glue in my evening!

Thanks for reading,

Bill
 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Brandy]

Extremely clever. I love DIY! 

[DaveSamsell]

16 hours ago, Bill Smith said:

THE "ELECTRICAL BOX"

I use that term loosely.

My idea here is to protect all the connections from the weather as much as possible by tucking them into a small makeshift box, and then daisy-chaining the boxes from one planter to the next, hiding them as well as possible while protecting them from the elements.

After some testing, I settled on these "Tupperware"-style boxes from the dollar store. They were three for a buck.

I then did some testing and fitting with some electrical parts that I had, ordered a couple more, and when I had my plan, I used a soldering iron to melt some holes in the box: two big ones in front for the cords to exit the box, and about five smaller ones in the back that will act as "air holes" to prevent condensation. I also cut through the plastic from the rim downward to each of the two bigger holes:

To help hide it, I next spray painted the box on the inside with flat black paint. Painting it on the inside helps ensure that I won't scuff off streaks of paint if the box slides around on a rough surface.

After that, I gathered my parts (these are non-affiliate links):

1. 200 watt heater ($14): This size seemed overkill, until I remembered that I would want the heater to occasionally compensate for an ambient temperature as low as 40-45 degrees. The cost was about $3 more than the 100-watt, so why not?

2. USB nano pump ($9): This will power my hot-rodded Jehmco round box filter.

3. USB adapter ($4.50): I selected this one because the ports are on the SIDE of the block, not the top. That's uncommon and a space-saver.

4. Cube tap ($2.50): For fitting several plugs in a tight space.

5. 8 foot polarized power cords ($2.50): Actually I only need one per planter, but each of the cords are shared between two planters: the inlet AND outlet of each cord goes into a box. These are not rated for outdoor use, but all connections will be in the box, and I have some plans to protect the cords themselves. I chose this kind of braided cord for its color, price, and the fact that it was a flat plug (space saver). Grounded three-prong cords are not necessary.

(I will be dealing with lighting as a separate part of this project.)

Next, I laid out everything and plugged in all the components.

Then I took everything out to my garage and placed it all in the black box, with two cords sharing each of the larger holes. The smaller holes will be facing downward in the finished project, and will allow air exchange to prevent condensation.

I lightly superglued the lid on. I may have to destroy the box to get inside it, but that's why I source parts at the dollar store!

I'm going to try for some sort of drip-looping. But in case I can't do it across the board, I decided to silicone the cords as they pass through the holes, preventing water from seeping in at this point.

Electrical box complete! Tomorrow, I hope to work on mounting it to the first planter. Lots of hot glue in my evening!

Thanks for reading,

Bill
 

Bill, am always amazed of the many uses of hot glue.  The project is indeed progressing.  😊

[Bill Smith]

MOUNTING THE ELECTRICAL PARTS

Time to get sticky.

 

Shorter update this time!

 

As planned, I hot glued my black box to the base of the planter. The glue is holding very tightly.

 

 

From the underside, you can see the ventilation holes that will equalize the air temperature inside the box and hopefully prevent condensation.

 

 

Next, I bunched up the cords for the air pump and the heater near the box, and secured them with zip ties.

 

 

After that, it was time to hot glue the power cords. I used the fake "metal strap" as a guide under which I hot-glued the cords. It is holding really tightly as well!

 

 

I stopped at about the halfway point of the barrel shape, on each side. From here, each cord will make a "leap" of 1-2 inches to the next planter.

 

 

Although I had thought gaffer's tape would be a really good option, it's not very weatherproof. Aluminum foil tape, on the other hand, is made for sticking through all weather extremes! I covered all the cords with this tape, for extra protection. It holds VERY tightly.

 

I also tucked the coils of cords for the heater and air pump under the loops of power cable.

 

 

And on the inside, all we see is the heater and a tiny clip for the air pump. I do think I will have to switch from blue to black carabiners for those things. 🙂 

 

 

Next post, I will work on a second planter, connect the two together, and see how it looks in place. That's gonna take a few days. 🙂

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Bill

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Bill Smith]

CONNECTING A SECOND POT

Joined at the hip...

 

Time to move this project outside to where these nano-ponds are going to Live.

 

After assembling a second "electrical box, I attached it to the second pot. It's going to be my "end" pond, so power doesn't need to pass through it. I also didn't want tape and cords to show at the end, so I was careful in how far around I took things.

 

 

There was excess power cable remaining, so I had to bundle that up as well.

 

 

The cord has to make a "leap" from one pond to the next. I accomplished this by running the cord upward about 2 inches, giving it an inch or so excess, and then bringing it down on the other side.

 

Not invisible, but you really have to be looking for it:

 

 

Okay, time for a walkaround. How concealed is everything?

 

From the right:

 

 

Head-on (only the tiniest bit of cord showing in the middle if you look for it):

 

 

And from the left:

 

 

End-on, I begin to see the guts of everything. I'm satisfied with that. And no silver tape is visible!

 

 

Quick switch-out of the blue carabiners for black ones and I'm good to go.

 

Woo hoo! Two down, four to go! But I'm far too impatient to sit around and wait till the four remaining pots arrive. The day is young, I'm setting them up!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Bill

 

[DaveSamsell]

16 minutes ago, Bill Smith said:

CONNECTING A SECOND POT

Joined at the hip...

 

Time to move this project outside to where these nano-ponds are going to Live.

 

After assembling a second "electrical box, I attached it to the second pot. It's going to be my "end" pond, so power doesn't need to pass through it. I also didn't want tape and cords to show at the end, so I was careful in how far around I took things.

 

 

There was excess power cable remaining, so I had to bundle that up as well.

 

 

The cord has to make a "leap" from one pond to the next. I accomplished this by running the cord upward about 2 inches, giving it an inch or so excess, and then bringing it down on the other side.

 

Not invisible, but you really have to be looking for it:

 

 

Okay, time for a walkaround. How concealed is everything?

 

From the right:

 

 

Head-on (only the tiniest bit of cord showing in the middle if you look for it):

 

 

And from the left:

 

 

End-on, I begin to see the guts of everything. I'm satisfied with that. And no silver tape is visible!

 

 

Quick switch-out of the blue carabiners for black ones and I'm good to go.

 

Woo hoo! Two down, four to go! But I'm far too impatient to sit around and wait till the four remaining pots arrive. The day is young, I'm setting them up!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Bill

 

Bill,

The project is surely coming along nicely.  You really like those USB pumps.  Truthfully, so do I.  Those color pots against the concrete look nice.  Neat and clean looking.

 

[Bill Smith]

FILLING THE FIRST TWO PLANTERS

No way am I waiting any longer...

 

I have four more planters arriving from Costco midweek this week, but I figured I'd get started right away and get some enjoyment out of the setup so far!

 

For substrate, I picked up a couple of these 45 lb. bags of pea pebbles from Lowe's at $4 each. I like that this gravel is very coarse; I hope it will help hide any eggs that get dropped by eggs scatterers. It's also a very natural-looking, dark neutral color when it's wet.

 

I split two bags into three portions of about 15 lbs. each.

 

 

This gravel is VERY dirty, so rinsing took a long while. I put a portion in each of my planters, and connected two of my hot-rodded "dagwood sandwich" round box filters from Jehmco:

 

 

Here's a closeup of the layout for no good reason. 🙂 I'm using Fluval black air tubing for its stealth aspects:

 

 

I filled up both planters using water that is ONLY from my established 100-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank pond. That pond has a couple sponge filters in it, so I squeezed them out in these planters to make things nice and mulmy. A couple hours later, it had all settled and cleared. If I stock lightly at first, I don't expect to have to worry about cycling at all.

 

 

I have to decide what I want to put in them! One of the six is definitely for daphnia; I will try to find a local pond/lake where I can gather a seed population.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Bill

Edited August 3, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Brandy]

This is such a fun project, I am starting to consider if I could make one of these indoors....I have innumerable planters this size with terrestrial plants....

[Bill Smith]

The four remaining planters arrived! 

Still gotta assemble four more electrical boxes...I hope to get to filling by the weekend...we'll see...

Edited August 5, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Sliceofnature]

On 8/2/2020 at 5:29 PM, Bill Smith said:

FILLING THE FIRST TWO PLANTERS

No way am I waiting any longer...

 

I have four more planters arriving from Costco midweek this week, but I figured I'd get started right away and get some enjoyment out of the setup so far!

 

For substrate, I picked up a couple of these 45 lb. bags of pea pebbles from Lowe's at $4 each. I like that this gravel is very coarse; I hope it will help hide any eggs that get dropped by eggs scatterers. It's also a very natural-looking, dark neutral color when it's wet.

 

I split two bags into three portions of about 15 lbs. each.

 

 

This gravel is VERY dirty, so rinsing took a long while. I put a portion in each of my planters, and connected two of my hot-rodded "dagwood sandwich" round box filters from Jehmco:

 

 

Here's a closeup of the layout for no good reason. 🙂 I'm using Fluval black air tubing for its stealth aspects:

 

 

I filled up both planters using water that is ONLY from my established 100-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank pond. That pond has a couple sponge filters in it, so I squeezed them out in these planters to make things nice and mulmy. A couple hours later, it had all settled and cleared. If I stock lightly at first, I don't expect to have to worry about cycling at all.

 

 

I have to decide what I want to put in them! One of the six is definitely for daphnia; I will try to find a local pond/lake where I can gather a seed population.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Bill

I really like that gravel! My danio fry are able to hide for about the first week in much smaller gravel so that should be great for egg layers. $4 is a steal, i thought i had done pretty well getting gravel for my pond on sale for around $25. 

[Bill Smith]

Prepping the four remaining electrical boxes now...might be filling the remaining four planters tomorrow!

[Bill Smith]

All wired up!

No really, it is! Can't tell? Good!

[Daniel]

It is amazing how well you have concealed the air and electrical! I had to flip back and forth in this post to understand what you had done. Just looking at the last picture, it looks like it all work by magic. 🙂

[Bill Smith]

All filled up and ready for denizens! I have some fish and daphnia coming late in the week.

The right-most planter has only an airstone; all the rest have box filters.

 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Bill Smith

[Bill Smith]

I HAVE FISH!

And I have the crappy photos to prove it.

I have very specific species in mind, so I decided to stock these nano-ponds strictly with mail order choices (lousy LFS options in North San Diego County). I made my selections based on these criteria,

1. A variety of color themes
2. A variety of small fish types to fit the small size of the nano-ponds
3. Not prohibitively difficult to breed
4. Fish I've never kept or rarely kept

Love opinions/observations on the choices, because they're pretty new to me. I started sprinkling in some greenery as well, but I have more coming.

So sorry for the poor quality of the photos; I will try to get better ones soon!

Nano Pond #1 (RED):

These are 12 cherry barbs, with a water hyacinth and some duckweed for cover. There's also a dwarf lily bulb in there.

Nano Pond #2 (YELLOW):

These are 12 leopard danios, also with a water hyacinth and a few stems of moneywort. And a dwarf lily bulb inside. More greenery to be added!

Nano Pond #3 (GREEN):

These are 12 green kubotai rasboras, also with a water hyacinth and the beginnings of some errant water lettuce that appeared out of nowhere. Dwarf lily bulb as well. Again, more greenery coming next week!

Nano Pond #4 (BLUE):

These are three MFF trios (plus one extra, total 13) Hawaiian blue Moscow guppies. The females are nice and robust! This pond also has a water hyacinth, a dwarf lily bulb, and some moneywort stems. Hope those moneywort spreads and starts growing upward!

Nano Pond #5 (RAINBOW)

These are 10 very young clown killies. Also with a water hyacinth (no lily) in here, with more greens coming next week. I wonder if I'll need to think about lowering my water level much to allow for jumping...maybe duckweed or water lettuce in here as well? What do you think?

Nano Pond #6 (LIVE FOOD)

I have a large culture of daphnia magna arriving tomorrow, so I hope to keep it alive in here with a large supply of green water I've already prepared.

Greenery coming next week: Guppy Grass, Subwassertang, Water Lettuce, and Salvinia! Which of these would you suggest for the clown killies to mitigate jumping?

Anyway, let's see how this goes. I will try to get some better pictures in direct sunlight soon, and I'll be feeding them twice a day, with Aquarium Co-Op Easy Fry Food in the morning, and live/frozen baby brine shrimp or small daphnia in the evening.

Any thoughts, concerns, advice, please feel free. Most of these fish are new to me!

Thanks for looking!

Bill

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Bill Smith

[MickS77]

Looking good Bill, I can't wait to see them all grown in! It would be cool to have some shrimp in one of them

[Bill Smith]

4 hours ago, MickS77 said:

Looking good Bill, I can't wait to see them all grown in! It would be cool to have some shrimp in one of them

Heh, yeah. I just haven't learned to love shrimp...yet. I'm sure I'll hit that phase at some point.

 

[Daniel]

I have heard the weather in San Diego is wonderful. Do you have to have the heaters? What do think the temperature profile in the Subaru tubs would be without heaters?

[Bill Smith]

17 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I have heard the weather in San Diego is wonderful. Do you have to have the heaters? What do think the temperature profile in the Subaru tubs would be without heaters?

I have to have the heaters because of the small water volume. If I was in the hundreds of gallons I probably wouldn't worry about it. Most nights in the summer drop into the low 60s and winter can sometimes drop into the 30s. The fish can probably handle the swings, but just for the sake of extra stability. The ponds adjust to air temperature relatively fast.

If it weren't for tropical fish I'd probably rethink this as well. They're super cheap (200 watts for $14 on Amazon), so why not, y'know?