It's spring, time for some experimentation. Do I hear Copepond??!!

So the last two days have been filled with yardwork of various sorts, one of which involved pulling the old pond out of the backyard and replacing it with an above ground fountain.  What to do with the old pond liner?  AHA!!! COPEPOND!!.  A few quick shovels of dirt, some sawzall vs. railroad tie action, and viola.  I was able to pop the pond liner in sort of an above ground configuration along the side of my man-shed.  I figure I can do okay keeping the temp around the high 60's mid 70's with little juice usage (and of course a 400W heater) and get me some harpacticoid and rotifer action.

Some quick engineering utilizing some scrap wood laying about, and some screening and I was able to plop a nice hinged top to keep the debris out and hopefully keep most of the evaporation in.  The pond was seeded primarily with tapwater (yar yar.. I know) and about 30 gallons of tank water from my water change today.  Salinity is at a tasty 1.020 and I just got done checking temp on a snowy evening to confirm it's at 68*.  The pond was seeded today with two gallons of Nannochloropsis and about two gallons of copepod / rotifer co-cultures containing A. Tonsa, B. rotindiformus, and T. Californicus.

In any case, how bout some pics!!  I will be sure to keep everyone updated as it plays out.  With any luck I will have a good pond stock of copepods to offer to friends both finned and legged.

The pond after first getting plopped in

A little bit of dirt backfill, more to add later after everything settles...  this water was pumped out and replaced.

The final subject with it's hinged top... yeah it's kinda ugly as it stands but who cares... it's in the backyard by my man shed... anyone who complains about the pond can just shut up cause my man shed is just that cool.

The hinged top worked out well as I had two long hobby hinges laying around.  Some quick and dirty notch carving with the sawsall and a few 45's in a 2x2 and I have a lid prop!  Here the pond is just prior to receiving tank water and cultures!