u/entropy319

I'm pouring 2 gallons of water into this thing every day. My entire family doesn't consume that much water on a daily basis. Been a fun experiment filling a 2x4 tent with one plant.

I tried a couple of koi a few years ago, and just couldn't get the system right. Both died within a year.

My pond has evolved since then. I have many goldfish that stubbornly refuse to die, they won't even allow the ducks to eat them anymore. I have 3 native carp (North Central North America) and handful of small bluegills to eat the goldfish fry when they show up.

Total capacity is only about 700 gallons. I have a filter rated for 1200 gallons, and because we have an absurdly high water table in my neighborhood, I have a hand dug well that produces water unless we're in drought conditions, maybe 10-20 gallons an hour on average. I feed this water into the pond with a pump connected to one of the waterfalls, and it spills out at the back right corner. The spillway is lined and feeds back into a rain garden.

The water is crystal clear, and has required almost zero maintenance this summer. I feel like I've really got it dialed in.

Here's the kicker: they have to winter out there. I have tried bringing them inside but I just don't have the aquarium capacity to do it right. I always lose fish in the process.

In the winter, I run the filter and have a floating heater. It gets COLD here (-20F is pretty common), but the fish I have survive just fine.

Didn't put anything in the floating planters this year; just decided to see what popped up. In one of them a couple of big cardinal flowers showed up.

They catch quite a bit of breeze so they move around a lot. It's like a little sailboat 🤣

I think I may grow them on purpose next year.

Until yesterday, it was sharing the tent with an auto that was taking its sweet ass time. The thing has been vegging FOREVER. Suppose I can let it grow vertically now, huh?