I made these poly structures last fall out of 55 gal poly drums and 3/4" poly pipe. I cut slots in them so small fish can take refuge inside and left enough room between limbs for large fish to use as cover. The half barrel structures I will use in 3-5' of water and the full size in 6-12'. Im using bricks slipped over the top of the pipe to help hold them in place.

http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u392/JamieE38/1a4dcd3b9ca46fbc90bd3977eb10f1ed.jpg


http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u392/JamieE38/9e2e36182be187d01d7d31b3036cb204.jpg


http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u392/JamieE38/6e17741b34c0897a7a2c136f0678f592.jpg


http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u392/JamieE38/e81bdb9a3cc7506a3d6d323f5e811480.jpg

wow, that is awesome! I like it!! If you left it whole but took the top off and filled the bottom with maybe a bag of cement do you think it would be enough to keep the whole thing on the bottom of the pond?

Also, what are the black arms made from exactly? Something I could just pick up at HD or Lowes or something?

That's pretty cool. And very creative.

Savannah, I would imagine once the drums filled with water, they'd stay in place underwater.

Thanks Savannah and Omaha. I think your right Omaha the water might keep it down, but I'm either going to put some rock in the bottom or use bricks to weigh it down. I have 8 of the larger full barrels and 12 of the smaller half barrels to put out.

Savanah,
The black stuff is likely 1/2 inch irrigation tubing that you can get at HD or Lowes in 100ft rolls near the irrigation stuff

Very cool, good job.

That's the black piping is.

Looks good.

One additional thing I would personally do is drill lots more holes in the ends of the barrels, and even between where the tubes are. 3/4 to 1 1/2 in diameter, to give lots of places for very small fish to dart in and out of.

Without enough holes, I would doubt the water inside the barrel will have much oxygen in it. More holes will let more water flow potential and light and more likely small fish utilize more than just the outer surface of the barrel.

I don't know this to be the case, just what I would surmise. I tried to drill lots and lots of holes in all the plastic stuff I put in the water. I even drilled holes about every foot or two in the black plastic 1" or 1 1/4" pipe that is similar to the black pipe you are using. I thought this would allow the inner part of the tubing to be more utilized (by tiny fish) rather than only the outer part. I tried to make things look like Swiss cheese as much as my hand and arm would stand running the drill.

Just my ideas and what I did.

These work great drilling holes in sheet plastic The small one I drilled holes all the way through the tubing (small hole on opposite side and larger hole on entry side at same time). The big one for drilling holes in barrels and the like.

You have some holes and slots, I personally would just put a lot more, even if they are just smaller holes with a drill bit. A wood spade bit works ok too, but you have to be more careful when going through the last little bit. The step drills work super.

That's right the limbs are 3/4" irrigation pipe from Lowes. The pipe comes in roles of 100' and I bought it for $12.50/role. It takes 2 roles to make one structure. I bought the barrels for $10 apiece. So I have around $35 in one of them. The full barrels are large enough to be used alone, so for the money they can cover a lot of area.

Snrub, You are probably right that they would be better with more holes. I may add more to them if I get time. Also, thanks for tip on the bits as the wood bits I've been using aren't the best for the plastic.

I get the 500' rolls of 1/2" from HD for $38.

Thanks Stan, That's a great price on 1/2"! I'll have to check out their price on 3/4" pipe.

You really don't need the 3/4 for this project.

I agree that 1/2" would have been just fine and I could have saved a lot of money by using 1/2", but the 3/4" does make for some nice thick limbs... I like the structures you made with the concrete and limbs on the other thread. I'm going to order some 1/2" pipe and build some for my pond. Thanks for sharing the idea Stan!

No problemo. You're gonna be impressed how quickly these spiders have growth on them, then fish around them.