DIY Indoor Pond For Guppy Breeding! (Tutorial)

Guys, you're not gonna believe this build today. This thing is epic. I have to give a huge shout out to someone and that is Tanner from SerpaDesign. If you do not know who Tanner and the SerpaDesign channel is, go check them out. I'm actually gonna link him in the description. He didn't have anything to do with this video today other than the fact that the inspiration from his builds is so powerful. That dude is a master at his craft. And he posted a video the other day and it was a pond bucket build where he had some semi-aquatic plants that were submerged in water and things of that nature. I thought, that's really cool. I think I wanna build something like that but with a land mass and all this kind of stuff and a waterfall. And I didn't realize he had already built one. So I was able to use some of the techniques that he taught in his video to build this. So I'm gonna link his video down below as well where you can watch his original build. But I have to say thanks to Tanner. I definitely am not the type of person that steals ideas and doesn't give credit. So thank you so much, Tanner, if you happen to ever see this video. What we're gonna do today is we're gonna be building this epic pond that you just saw in the intro. Obviously it's already been built. This intro is being filmed after the fact. But you wanna make sure that you stay tuned. Make sure if you haven't subscribed and turned on your notification bell yet that you have done that as well. Make sure you drop a like on this video and make sure you comment below and let me know what you think about this and the fish that we put in this during this video today. So with all of that guys, I'm not gonna waste any more of your time talking. Let's get into this build today. All right, well, before we get started with this build, I wanna go through exactly what materials we're gonna be using today. And number one is I found this planter at Walmart. It's a 20-inch round half whiskey barrel planter, but it is plastic. And the reason I went with this one is just simply because there are no holes in the bottom, which means that it will in fact hold water. So the next items that we're gonna be using, some half-inch PVC pipe, some half-inch three-way PVC connectors, which I'll show you what these are for here in a little bit, but we're gonna need eight of those total, which we have right here. We're gonna be using some of this clear plastic tubing. I don't remember what size it is, but what I do know is this Turtle Clean Filter 318 from Zoo Med is what I'm gonna be using in this container setup. And this plastic tubing fits perfectly over the outlet nozzle right here, which is where we're gonna be able to use it, which will allow us to direct water flow where we need it to go. We're gonna be using some waterfall foam as well as an array of different size moss rocks that I sourced here locally. This really super cool piece of driftwood. Now this is for the initial setup of this. Once we get into the second part, which will be in this video, but once we get into the second part after we've waterfall foamed in things, we'll go over the next list of materials that we're gonna be using. We're also gonna be using some egg crate light diffuser. So now that we've seen all the hardscape materials and the materials that we're gonna be using here, let's go ahead and get started. First thing that we're gonna wanna do is, if you saw Serpa Design's video, essentially what he did was cut this plastic egg crate light diffuser down to be able to fit inside of this bucket at a certain height. So that's what we're gonna start with here. And we're gonna go ahead and start cutting this down and get this into the bucket so we can get the scape started. I went in and cut this down into a circle that'll fit about three and a half inches down in this planter. Now this kind of gives us an idea of how we're gonna scape this out. This base here is going to allow us to put our hardscape over top of it. Now this particular egg crate is quite flimsy and that's where this PVC is gonna come into play. So what we're gonna do now is, since the egg crate is where it needs to sit at the depth that it needs to sit, we're gonna go ahead and create a base out of this PVC pipe to be able to hold it up steady so it does not collapse. So what we've done is we've just built this rectangular cube, if you will, out of PVC. And what this is going to do is it will provide stability to this piece of egg crate here and allow it to hold a majority of the weight of this scape. Before I start scaping this though, what I wanna do is I wanna go ahead and attach this egg crate to this piece of PVC using some zip ties. One of the things that I did not account for in building this is this lip that's in the bottom of this tub. And honestly, unless I got really creative on carving out this PVC, it's just not worth it. So what we're gonna do is stack some rock up in the back corner here just to keep it level while we go ahead and get the scape done on top of this here which will help keep it balanced and right. Now we're perfectly level up here and we can go ahead and start putting our scape together. Now to start, this piece of driftwood is gonna sit upright, kinda like this. Show it to you from this direction here. And maybe even a little higher than that. I don't quite know just yet. I gotta look and see exactly how we're gonna manipulate this to stand up. But it's probably gonna sit about this height right here. I wanna go ahead and start working on some of the rock placement. Sometimes things just don't come together and you gotta start over. Well, after trial and error and trial and error and trial and error and trial and error, I think we have our initial scape done. Now I will tell you, this rock right here is just holding the wood in place because we're about to foam it. This will go away but it'll be left with this here. So what we're gonna do is start foaming this in and it's really just getting foam all up underneath the base of these rocks. Stick it down to this egg crate. All right guys, well, the foaming has been done. As you can see, I just put up just a layer of foam all the way around to kinda hold it in place. Nothing crazy. Once this dries, we will come back and clean it up, cover up any exposed foam with some silicone and get some dirt on it to make it look more natural. But for right now, this thing looks fantastic. Now we just have to let it sit and dry. So it's the next day and this foam is completely dried. Now what I went ahead and did is trimmed up the front here to get rid of the egg crate. And what we're gonna do now is I'm gonna use my foam knife and go ahead and start just trimming this foam away. And really the process in doing this is just cutting it away just to kinda give it a rugged exterior look. You don't want it to look unnatural. We're gonna carve this down as much as possible. And see like up in here on the edge of this here, what we'll do is just kinda get that shiny part off of it. Cause what we're gonna do is we're gonna use some silicone and cover this up. We'll get into that in a minute though. So let's go ahead and carve this away. Now, if you notice, I tried to put some rocks on this foam just to give it a more natural look and see if it would stick so it wouldn't have to silicone. But unfortunately the rocks just did not wanna stick to the foam. And sometimes you can just rip it with your hands which is okay as well. Now back here on the backside, it does not need to be nearly as clean because you're not gonna be able to see this. Well, with that, we have it all trimmed up. So now what we wanna do is we wanna come back in, start to fill in and cover up this white grate at the bottom here, as well as the foam that's up in here. And we're gonna do that with some silicone and some different material types. So let's go ahead and get that done. I'm gonna start filling in everywhere you kinda see white or black with some silicone and some different decorative items. You can place liberal amounts of the silicone up here. We just wanna make sure that we get nice coverage over everything, like I said, that is white or black. Then I'm just gonna take a little cheap paintbrush here and I'm just gonna start kinda pressing this and painting it on everywhere up where I've kinda put it here. Get a nice even layer. And then you're just gonna start pressing elements into this silicone wherever you want them to sit. So like if you have specific rocks, you wanna kinda stick in here that take up some of this space. Just wanna stick those in there like that. With that being done, what we wanna do, take some of this coconut fiber. We're gonna dust every place there is wet silicone with this coconut fiber. Now because we have rocks in here too, we're gonna gently press this coconut fiber down on the rocks that we've just placed. Try to get it nice and pushed in there. And now we let it dry. So now that this silicone has cured a little bit, we're just gonna come in, kinda blow this away a little bit. And as you can see, kinda gives it an appearance of a natural kind of bank area. Like you can still see a little silicone there, but that'll be underwater. And we'll touch this up too when we do this upper part. What we really wanted to accomplish was getting the rocks set so they did not move and then covering the silicone bulging out from those rocks. We'll come back in with some finer details later on. We covered the white up with a little bit of brown. This is actually going to have to be redone a little bit too just simply because there wasn't quite enough silicone on there to get and grab ahold of the coconut fiber, but that's okay. So this first step is done and I totally didn't have my camera on. So we went through the same process here where we went ahead and silicone in right up here where there was all the foam. I also added a couple of elements of moss into it as well. And then all you're really doing is the same process, covering this with the coconut fiber and really pressing it down and to make sure it makes good contact. And then once you're done and it's cured just for a few minutes, now it's just a matter of letting this dry as well. So we have a few more details that we need to add to this thing, but so far it's looking fricking sick. We have a few more spots where we need to add some silicone right up in here, right up in there, and kind of over here just to cover up all of the waterfall foam. So we're going to go ahead and get that done now and then we'll let that set, cure, and dry. Go ahead and add silicone up on this side over here. You won't be able to see so much of that from the front, but still we want it to look natural no matter what direction. We added some moss up around the side of this rock here and some rocks up into this little crevice here, which kind of looks really cool. So that looks good. Now let's just move over to this side here. Now the process on this side is going to be no different than any of the other ones. And we're just going to start pushing this silicone up onto this. What we'll do is turn this on its side for a moment while we get some of these rocks and just drop them in. Same process here. We're just going to keep pushing this stuff in with our fingers just until it gets a nice bond and pushes all the rocks and all the moss into that silicone and we'll just simply blow the excess off. Now it gives it a nice kind of naturalistic look up underneath there where you don't see so much of the foam and things of that nature. It looks really, really good. Well, now that this thing is cured, we want to go ahead and get this thing washed off and get some water in here because we need to start setting up the pump filtration system and kind of where and how we're going to put this in. So let's go ahead and get that done now. So all we're doing here is just giving it a good rinse down. We just want it nice and clean before we run water through the filtration and figure out how we're going to do this. This will also get any of the extra debris off. Now, as far as filtration goes, we're going to be using this Turtle Clean 318 filter, which will do up to like 30 gallons. And the reason I'm doing this is because this particular piece of hose that I have that I've used in multiple other builds fits this perfectly. So I can take it and stick it right into this adjustment nozzle. And this actually comes off. And what that does is it controls the flow by twisting it. So it's perfect. So I can redirect water where I need it to go. Now, what I'm going to do is scoot this whole setup forward just a little bit. So I can drop this down into the bottom and we will actually attach this at some point. But right now, we just want to get it in here to test the flow. What we're trying to figure out is exactly where we want this water to come out. Thinking maybe right about there. So what I'm going to do is drill a hole through the wood right here and down into the bottom so I can run this up to the top. And then what I will do is redirect the water with a piece of rock or something of that nature. And then what we'll do is silicone this in and then add a rock to it just to direct flow a little more. We now have beautiful water flow all the way down into the tub. So we're going to go ahead and let this thing fill all the way up before we start looking at other elements of this. The next day. Since we had tested the water flow in that last segment, what I've done is I went in and silicone our hose right into here, put a little bead of silicone around it. And that's really just to keep the water from back flowing back into that. Just going to use a pocket knife and kind of cut this open a little bit. So I'm going to leave this top flat, which will allow me to kind of shape this the direction I want. And then we'll have a rock that sits right on top of this. So for right now, that'll be good. Now, as I showed you in the beginning of this video, there's a little leveling that had to happen with some gravel underneath here just to keep this thing situated. So we've got that done. And now what I want to do is go ahead and cut off this hose and make it a little more manageable. We need to go ahead and fill in these sections right here on the sides with rock, because we want to block this whole section back here off. So I have some of these larger pieces of stone that we're just going to place in here. Now, had I gone back and done this over again, what I would have done was actually incorporated this all the way to the outside of the bucket, but I didn't. So we're having to make it work now. Nice thing about the sandstone is it shapes pretty easily. You just rub it across some concrete and it literally will take the edge off, make a little bit of an easier fit. So we now have the sides blocked off as much as we possibly can. And now what we're going to do is go ahead and wash these rocks off and get everything washed down. And as you can see, the filter sits right down in the very bottom there. Hose comes out of the back and it'll be fully hidden. So now that we have this kind of put together here, what we now need to do is spin this around and start working on this back section. Now this back section is going to be fully planted with terrestrial and semi-aquatic plants. In order to accomplish this, what we're going to have to do is line this with some sort of a barrier. That barrier is going to be this one over here that I asked Max to bring out and he just dropped in the yard. So I'm going to go ahead and cut a nice big piece of this, probably two or three times bigger than what we need, because we will probably end up folding it a little bit and kind of doubling it up. And this is just a regular weed barrier that you can buy like at Home Depot, Lowe's, those kinds of things. So I've got this thing folded up pretty well and we're just going to stuff this back here underneath this, kind of pushing it all up in here, getting it stuffed in as much as possible. Now we will come back and hide this significantly once we get everything in here, but for right now, we need it to look kind of like this because we need a safe place to drop dirt that's not going to fall into the bottom of the bucket. So now in the case that this is too thick for the water to penetrate and flow through quickly, what I'm going to do is just use some pea gravel to make sure that we have a nice little drainage layer. So I'm just going to put some pea gravel down in here. And normally what I would use is some sort of a like planted substrate, like some carob seed or something of that nature, but I'm currently out of it, but this stuff will do just fine. And it's just a very thin layer right across the bottom in here. And this really acts just as like a drainage layer almost. We'll just get that nice and flat. We're going to come back with the scissors and start trimming some of this away just to make it a little more manageable. So we're going to start on this side right here. And I think in this high point right about here, I'm going to go ahead and add this green and yellow, I don't know exactly what it's called. It's like a gold dust plant or something to that nature. Get back up in there like that. Grab some of these other tall plants, like this red vein plant, then drop this one like right about here. Maybe take the white vein plant with this guy right about here. And we have this really cool creeping penny, I think is what it's called. I don't remember exactly, but I kind of want this to either creep down here in the middle, which would be super cool, or maybe even creep down the sides, which now that I think about it, I'm actually going to have it creep down the side over here. So we're going to drop this one kind of right in over here next to this gold and yellow plant. We have a little bit more of this, and we're going to put the other piece on this side over here. Now for our final plant, that'll go in right there. So now what I need to do is go ahead and backfill this. And what I'm going to use is just some standard potting soil as well as a mixture of what I call, I don't know, it's a terrarium mix that I actually, I think I learned from Serpa Design as well. So I'm going to use this and start sprinkling this in. Now I'm going to come back with some of this Reptibark and just kind of lightly dust it, because we want to make sure that this soil stays nice and hydrated. And then it'll also give us an opportunity to tuck this down and hide this as well. So I'm going to come in and hide a couple of these little imperfections with some sphagnum moss, which will stay put and will hold moisture, which is good. And what I'm doing here is just poking some moss down in between this crack on this tree root. I'm just trying to give it a more naturalistic appearance and stuffing moss where you would actually find it. With that, I believe it to be done. Before I move this to its permanent location, I want to go ahead and wet this down a little bit and just see how everything holds water. Just make sure that it's all nice and moist. Okay, with that, let's get this thing set where it's going to go. I need to test the flow of water out of this water feature. And now this is probably going to be a lot of water to start, but I will adjust it and make it right. So as we can tell, that water flow is way too high. So what we're going to want to do is help that with some rock of some sort. See, I like the flow of that, but that rock is way too large and it takes away from the overall scape. So let's keep looking. Actually, I kind of like the way that looks. Now that we have the water in here, we've got the water directed and flowing the way we want, we're going to go ahead and dechlorinate this using some of our favorite products here in the fish room, and that is API Stress Coat Plus. So let's go ahead and get it dechlorinated. Now that this water is dechlorinated, let's go ahead and get some of this really good looking frog bed in here. So I think the floating plants will give this a really nice look. It'll also help hide that white PVC pipe that's down in the bottom. Get a good bit of this in here. Actually, looks like there's some duckweed in there too. We'll let that grow and see if that'll grow too. I think that that is perfect. With that, this thing is done. We're going to let it cycle. Before we cycle it though, we're going to add one more product and that is going to be this API Quick Start, which will jumpstart the cycle in this pond. However, we're actually going to let this thing naturally cycle over the next week or so as well, and we'll ghost feed it just to allow this quick start method to go ahead and propagate some bacteria in this thing. We'll go ahead and let this thing cycle and then we'll test this water here in a few days and then go ahead and get some fish in here. So we'll see you back in this video stocking this thing in just a minute, right after you see a really cool montage of this thing. So let's take a closer look. Well, this thing has been cycling for four or five days now and I've tested the water. So everything looks good with this thing. So it's time to get fish in there. So what we're going to do is we're actually going to head out and go pick up some fish today. Now I have an idea for some fish that I would like to put in here and it's a type of rice fish. However, I'm not really sure if I'm going to be able to find those today. So I don't want to guarantee that, but we're going to go out and we're going to take a look and see what we can find. So we'll meet you back here in the fish room in just a moment. Well, we are back and we have our fish and we're going to have to acclimate them and we're going to have to get them ready for this pond. And you already know what they are because I titled the video based on what they are. And you know that I love them. In fact, I got a whole bunch of them up here. Different kind. I don't have any of these currently in the fish room. They'll do really nice breeding in this little pond set up here. So let's go ahead and get them acclimated and get them in there. So as we've talked before, acclimation takes more than just floating the bag. I mean, you have to actually acclimate the fish. And what we're going to do is we're going to sit here and we're actually going to pour cup by cup worth of water into these bags over time to make sure that the fish are truly acclimated to the parameters of the water. So as the bag sits here, it will acclimate them to the temperature, but by pouring the cups of water from the tub into the bags, that actually acclimates them to the water parameters. So we'll continue to do this over about a 20, 30 minute period. And then we'll go ahead and transfer these fish in here. All right, guys. Well, hopefully you went on to enjoy this video today. This bucket pond is really cool. It's turned out very nice. So I have to say thanks to Tanner once again for inspiring me and probably inspiring a lot of other people that build setups like this. So thank you very much, Tanner. And you know, I couldn't do this without your instruction to be completely honest with you. So thank you very much. So with all that guys, thank you everyone that has come by and watched this video. Make sure you drop a like, make sure you drop a comment and let me know what you think about this pond, because like I said, I think it's pretty epic. So we're going to be doing some more builds like this. In fact, you're going to be seeing some moss collection happening in a video coming up soon, a terrarium build. We're about to upgrade Gerald's enclosure up here to a massive 40 gallon. That's going to have a pond and a river in it. You're going to see all that stuff. So make sure you subscribe, make sure you turn on that notification bell. And if you have not followed us on Instagram, make sure you go do that because I actually posted a small little clip of this on my Instagram story to give everybody that follows me over there a little sneak preview of what was going on here in the fish room. So make sure you follow us there as well. All right guys, well, I really appreciate it. I'll stop talking now and we'll see you next time.