Hey, I've seen a few pics of some beautiful barrel ponds on this site and I was thinking of setting one up for my two common goldies rescued from a certain ____mart. I was going to set them up in a bigger tank but we have a half barrel in our backyard that would make a pretty little pond for them! I was just wondering what type of liner and filter I should use and also, what kind of plants would thrive. I live in california so the temperature is not very extreme but I would love some advice on controlling the temp. Also, we live on nine acres so I was wondering what kind of predator protection to use. Any advice on this would be super helpful! I would love to have it up in running for my fishies within a few months .

Also, any advice on a fishless cycle for a 20 gallon? (I am sure this topic is discussed somewhere else but every site says something different and it seems so complex! Can anyone give me some simplified instructions?)

Thanx - !

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/FishlessCycle.html

These links both show how to cycle a goldfish tank.

dfernandez77, Daniel, has 3 fish in his pond.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=60169

Thanks for the links! Oh man, I had better start cycling that tank... . It will all be worth it though so I can get !!!

The liner you want is Firestone EPDM PondGuard: http://www.firestonebpe.com/lining/_en/
I know, it's expensive. But if you use anything else and you are asking for trouble eventually. I bought an end piece off a 5.5 foot wide roll from a pond supply shop for about US$30.

I bought a small pond package of plants from The Water Garden: http://www.watergarden.com/pages/build_wg.html
These folks are really helpful and the plants are top quality in my experience.

I have a 300 GPH HOB filter on the barrel and the water chemistry stays perfect.

You may need to get something to protect your pond from diners. I lost 4 beautiful comets to what I think was a raccoon. Now I have a solar powered motion detecting flood-lamp over the pond. So far, no new diners.

Have fun,

Thanks! Hey what do you use for filtration?

Just a Hydor 300GPH hang on back filter, and a big airstone for oxygen and circulation.

Thanks for the help!! I just finished cleaning out the barrel and I am going to start setting it up this week!! Yay! My fish are going to love their new home.

Oh, and dfernandez77, I heard about your poor fishies.... I am so sorry. I think I am going to make a screen out of like chicken wire or something to put over my half barrel at night. Thanks for your help!