So after finally wearing my boyfriend down I got him to agree to a half barrel pond in the backyard. I've had goldfish before and I even made a small pond out of a kid swimming pool once, but I have never done the barrel thing or had water plants. Does anyone have any tips?

Right now I have it filled with water to let the wood swell up to seal any gaps and I've scrubbed the inside with a grill brush. I'm not using a liner and I read online that you have to let it sit for as long as a month so that all the stuff left over from the whiskey can leach out. I also read that water hyacinth act as a natural filter for the water and they will help cycle the pond. Can anybody confirm this?

Here is what she looks like now. I'll be adding plants and goldfish as soon as I can.

Pretty cool idea!
Plants wont help the cycle, you need a source of ammonia for that. They will help suck up extra nutrients though. I wouldn't recommend water hyacinth, It grows like mad and may overtake the barrel. I would look to plants native to your area, those you wont have to worry about having an issue with the temps. I think if you plant it heavily and keep the fish down to 2 to 3 you wont have a big need for a filter but you will need to aerate it somehow. You could either do an air pump with a sponge filter or one of those little waterfall statue things, anything that will stir the water well and give you a good gas exchange rate.
Was that a 55g barrel? if so you've got roughly 25 gallons there allowing for the cut and your lip room.

That's a cool idea! I am hoping when I get my own place to put a nice pond in the back. Don't know how well that will go over with my wife, but I'm sure she will warm up to it!

Sweet. Keep us updated. My wife would love something like that.

Interesting idea.

I'm actually spiffing up the whole backyard this summer :) Getting lawn furniture and potted plants. I'll keep you guys posted on how the barrel pond is going. I'm planning on taking a bunches of pictures while I'm in the process.

If anyone is interested I got the barrel at Home Depot for $35.99. They had smaller ones but I wanted one big enough for a few fish.

Fern- it was a 59 gallon barrel so I'm guessing its around 30ish gallons. I'm going to be adding 3 maaaybe 4 shubunkins. I really want to put in a red cap oranda but we will see...

Not familiar with those... Just go very easy on the bio load and it should work fine with just some water turbulence and plants.

I like this idea - really starting to consider it. I have dogs out in the back, however - they come inside most of the time, but on good days we let them run around in the back unsupervised. Wouldn't want them to mess with it, that would be my main concern...hhhmmm...