indoor pond

[necrocanis]

Hey everyone, new here. I am thinking of setting up an indoor pond. It will be used to house a firewood catfish, reticulated catfish, and possibly others in the future. Anyone have any ideas, or have you done this? Appreciate any help.
thanks
Clifford

[rweedon]

there are many other threads on this in the DIY section...

[guppy]

or check the pond forum. By the way, welcome to MFK

[Miles]

How fancy do you want it, and how much are you looking to spend?

You could go 2 ways.. :)

[Itaituba2003]

Their are ponds and their are ponds.
Regards
Frank
A tank but then different on my site (http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/1Engels/A%20tank%20but%20different.html)

[necrocanis]

Thanks for the info guys, I am probably not going to go super exspensive with this one, just I have read about some people using the plastic pools for indoor ponds and thought it might be an inexspensive way to make a nice pond for my fish to grow big in.
Cliff

[guppy]

Well necrocanis (dead dog?) You can do an 8'x 10'x 2' for under $600 including filters and pumps and that is less than 50 cents a gallon.

[necrocanis]

That sounds pretty descent. What materials does that price include?
CLiff

[guppy]

Check out the "raised indoor pond" thread in the "DYI and Ideas" forum. there is a materials list for this one, You make 2 drop in box filters from 44g storage tubs and it is powered by a 4250gph pump. There also some pics of other types of ponds in that thread, I like this one because it is very solid while not expensive.

[DeLgAdO]

How fancy do you want it, and how much are you looking to spend?

You could go 2 ways.. :)

HOLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!T!!!!!!! :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

[TROY25]

this is very nice!!!

[necrocanis]

gonna start buying the stuff for my pond soon. Everyone wish me luck. Hope I do good, some fish' life depends on it.

[guppy]

:thumbsup: Good luck, take your time.

[wism_chan]

How fancy do you want it, and how much are you looking to spend?

You could go 2 ways.. :)

Very nice Ray pond......

[aquaholic]

the local aquarium by me "jenks" has plenty of custom ponds and tanks ive gotten to chek out b/c i knew the employees there and they can be pretty cheap & easy as well as look good with ues of plywood thick glass, fiberglass, &epoxy resign

[Lawngnome]

tat stingray tank is pretty cool

[necrocanis]

Hey guys thought that I would give an update since this thing is finished. Ok here goes. I made a DIY filter for this thing. I bought a 6ft dia cattle tub at the local farm supply store. It is 2 ft deep and rated at around 350-400gal. It costed me $150. For the filter I bought a large household water filter for around $40, some pipes and tubing $10, a 1200 gph pump $50. I also bought a heater $20, some filter media $10, and a thermometer $1. So this project costed me around $281. I will put some pics up too. Enjoy.

[necrocanis]

damn forgot the pics here goes.

[necrocanis]

oh yeah, and yes I know I mounted the filter unlevel. Doesn't really matter though, I was doing everything by myself. The two guys in the pic just help bring it in, after that they left. WORTHLESS>lol. I guess my eyes aren't as level as I thought.

[ballsmcgee1234]

we have one in the basement. it's a 260 gallon. we have one red-ear slider turtle, and one painted turtle, and guppies. we put plants around it and in it. it looks really cool.

[necrocanis]

Gonna get some plants for around mine with my next check. I'll post more pics then. Fish are calming down after being in there for a few days. I don't think they have ever had that much room to swim. They seemed confused at the idea that they could actually swim in3-D instead of just side to side. They swam laps for hours till they figured it out. Then they fought for territory. Then they reconciled their differences and are currently huddled together under the tarp covering half of the pond for a temporary hidding spot.

[JnASabo]

we have one in the basement. it's a 260 gallon. we have one red-ear slider turtle, and one painted turtle, and guppies. we put plants around it and in it. it looks really cool.


Sounds cool. Any Pic?

[necrocanis]

check out the 2nd page of this post.

[ChickenTeeth]

wild

[dapike1979]

Guppy Do you have pic's of your pond???? Thank's

[kdenny35]

Their are ponds and their are ponds.
Regards
Frank
A tank but then different on my site (http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/1Engels/A%20tank%20but%20different.html)
Neat...

[suckerfish]

i could be wrong, but, i don't think that filter is going to do anything for your bio needs. don't those just filter out metals and chlorene?

[guppy]

Guppy Do you have pic's of your pond???? Thank's
Right now I am living at my sister's and they are holding off a while before putting one in, most of the ponds I have built have been for friends.

[necrocanis]

I modified the filter. It is working it's magic just fine. I am going to add more filtration to it very soon.

[DyaniBGud]

This is very beautiful. Very innovative and very economical for monster keepers! Doin' good!

[TONY60]

This idea does work. Concrete blocks: 3 blocks tall(stack them wide, not tall). Install a liner. Then go get solid, half higth concrete blocks. Lay them on top. They hide the top edges of liners. You can make it as wide and as long as you wish.
I did it on my back porch for gold fish. It looks really neat and clean.

[Nic]

if using cinder block glue them with a retaining wall adhesive (titebond or liquid nails) and fill them with 2a modified this will keep them from sliding from the weight of the water
Nic :)

[TONY60]

The water will not move them if it is only 3 blacks tall. But the adhesive sounds great. Every time I bump the tank with my leg, I have to scoot a block back in place.

[riskistang]

Those ponds look outstandings! Ones to ENVY!

[concord]

:drool: :headbang2 wow a swiming pool for a pond WOW AWSOME!!! :headbang2 I cant have 1 :cry: :cry:

[necrocanis]

here's an updated pic of the fish and pond from the inside! Also a pic of me petting him!

[necrocanis]

hey guys,
this really sux, but i have no choice but to move, and where i am moving my pond must be an outside pond. It will be above ground and must be able to be heated to temps of at least 65-70 f when the temps get -30f this winter. i thought I would put insulation around the pond and wrap it tight with a pond liner then make an insulated cover for the top also covered with pond liner and add a 1000 w titanium heater. does this sound good? what other things do I need to take into consideration?
thanks
cliff

[stotty]

hey guys,
this really sux, but i have no choice but to move, and where i am moving my pond must be an outside pond. It will be above ground and must be able to be heated to temps of at least 65-70 f when the temps get -30f this winter. i thought I would put insulation around the pond and wrap it tight with a pond liner then make an insulated cover for the top also covered with pond liner and add a 1000 w titanium heater. does this sound good? what other things do I need to take into consideration?
thanks
cliff



Insulate insulate insulate and I would have 2 heaters instead of the one that way you have a back up if one fails. Let us know how it ends up and look after those cats:drool:

[necrocanis]

Yeah, I am kinda scared seems like i am sending my catfish to their doom. I have heard of other people who have outdoor aquariums and they say they have no problems keeping them warm so long as there is a tight fitting cover. My fish will have to go in some storage bins for a few weeks while I prep their home. I hate moving blah!!!!! I am gonna make the cover out of ply wood cut to fit the top exactly it will be two half circles, with hinges on a 2x4 in the center of the pond. I will insulate the top and bottom of the cover and wrap it in pond liner and use silicone to seal the seams. I hope this works. i am kind of weary on the filters too, like will they be ok outside,,,,, guess I will find out. Also about electrical outlets for outside. this project = $$$$$ I didn't expect plus moving expenses.

[necrocanis]

Here's some updated pics of what I have done to my former indoor pond. I build an insulated box around it. At -30 f. the water stayed at around 75 degrees. Enjoy!

[Chad55]

Looks like he is healing up quick! Looks good man...but you might want to consider puttin on some siding or something so it doesn't rot.

Chad

[necrocanis]

I soaked it in sealant. I used about 3 gals of waterproof sealant on it. Plus all crevacies are silicone caulked. There is still a few more things to do. When I move yet again soon I am considering putting something on the sides and top of it for aesthetics. lol

[stotty]

The big boy is look good how big is he now? Also good to see the land lord didn’t put you off;)

[necrocanis]

He's still around 31-32". He's been eating again finally. His belly is still really sunken in. I am trying to bulk him back up. The first week back in the pond I just wanted him to eat something so I put 10 goldfish that were qaurantined for 2 weeks. He didn't eat them yet, so I tried chicken hearts, and gizzards. He wouldn't eat those either. I tried one of his fav.s thawed whole 1/2 lb. pompano. Still no luck. Then I tried uncooked shrimp with shell on for extra kerotine for healing of his skin and colors. He finally ate one after in the pond for 4 days. Now I have been feeding him 2 jumbo shrimp per day for a week, and have now increased the amount to 5 shrimp per day. And today before I went out to work for 5 more days, I fed him 10 at one time. That's about 1/4 lb. shrimp at one time. So things are looking up.

[doubledragon]

Nice setup and glad to here the temperature is holdin steady. I would be so nervous havin my fish outside but the pics look awesome and you really went the extra mile to make it payoff. Question, you said you left the shells on the shrimp for extra kerotine, not to derail but could you explain that a bit. I always pull the shells off.

[Chad55]

That is really good to hear you have him eating again! Sounds like he will recover in no time. Hope he heals up nice and quick and you get him nice and fat again. I remember the days when I would see that cat and he was just about the thickest fattest cat I have ever seen.

Chad

[fishaddict]

Hey Necro,Thank you for all the catfish knowledge you have given us in the past.About that plastic tub you bought,can you give me more info.I would like to do something like that.I tried looking in the internet but didn't find anything.TNKS.

[two_amen]

Necro, Hope it works out for you. Looks like you put alot of effort to keep those guys happy out there in the harsh northern winter.
Do you have some sort of remote temp gauge with alarms? where are the other two cats?

[wizzin]

good stuff! what part of Montana are you in? Still in Montana? What size heaters did you end up with? If it's in the thread already, sorry. sorry for the 20 questions too~

[Opiate]

man those ponds are crazy!!!! love em both!? expensive?

[necrocanis]

lol, missed a few questions. I just moved yet again, I now own a house here in montana. The pond has been moved to the garage. The heater size when it was outside was 2 500w titanium heaters. With all the insulation they hardly every ran, even when the wind chills were -45 f. Now I have the top off in the garage and the big boy is doing fine. He has ate about 8 lbs. of pompano and shrimp in the past month. I am going to get him some white suckers when I get home from work to eat and chase for enrichment. The other catfish including the plecostumus that was in his tank with him all died while upgrading the pond. I had the two smaller hybrids in a seperate tub with the pleco while I was doin the upgrades. I had the big boy on a seperate circuit breaker and one night when it was really cold somehow the circuit breaker tripped, but the big boy's didn't. All but the pleco in the other tank died. The filters that I had on their temporary tanks also froze that night. I put the pleco in with the big boy. The water in the tank I took him out of had ice on top and the temp at the bottom of the tank was around 38 degrees F. The big boy's temp was 56 that night. I don't know how those two didn't die. I put an extra heater in with them and that tub held at 80 f. Since they were in smaller tubs no one was eating and I believe the pleco died of malnutrition. My big fish was in horrible shape for the first month he was back in his pond, but now is healthier than ever. Why all that stuff I did you ask. All because my landlord at the time said I had to. After the fish died I decided that I needed to move and just get a place of my own so that I could have the freedome to do what I want with my fish dreams. Now the pond has the rocks in it again, plus some nice rocky sand on the bottom for substrate. He went nuts when I put him back in. I only had to do 2 days of upgrades this time so he wasn't as stressed as last time. I will add some new pics when I get home from work. Tnx for all the compliments and feedback.

[necrocanis]

good stuff! what part of Montana are you in? Still in Montana? What size heaters did you end up with? If it's in the thread already, sorry. sorry for the 20 questions too~



In great falls montana. 2 500w heaters.

[wangster11235]

so in -30 degrees you managed to keep the water at 75? what is in those boxes?

[necrocanis]

I used 2" thick plastic laminated styrofoam insulation, and also 16" thick batts of regular attic insulation. I great stuffed every seam, and crevice, and on top of all of that I used 3 gallons of waterproof sealant on all wooden surfaces, and silicone caulked every gap on the outside. Barely any heat loss whatsoever! Hope that helps. There was about $300 of insulation alone in the pond. Now I am in the design and planning phases of the 12'x8'x4' custom aquarium that I am going to build in my garage beside my pond. Roughly 2400 gals on the inside measurements. If you use the outside measurements it would be close to 2900 gals, but it will have thick walls.

[necrocanis]

http://www.quickpools4less.com/securecart/frameset.htm

That will probably be my new indoor pond in the next couple of months. I was going to build a 2500 gal aquarium, but with the prices of gas, and wood and everything else in the world this is a much better option!

[gunn55]

So where do you stand, any updates ?

[necrocanis]

got the 10 ft model of the pool setup in my garage beside the other pond. It's cycling right now. Can't wait to get some fish in it.

[gunn55]

Cool can't wait for some pics.

http://www.anythingfish.com/Todd's%20Cement%202500/Todd's_Concrete_2500_Gallon_Aquarium.htm

[necrocanis]

yeah, the filtration pretty much sux, but will do the job until I can get something better. Right now I have a 20 gal rubbermaid container full of filter floss on one end and pot scrubbers on the other. The stock load is not going to be that huge right now, but once the fish grow more I will have to upgrade the filtration. I'll try to get some pics really soon.

[amazonfishman]

Hey at least its better then the pool pump it comes with ;) I still haven't upgraded mine, just checked the paramenters last night trying to get my pH down by the end of this next week and I'll have heat by then so it will be time to move at least the big TSN to the pond and leave the perch for feeders. Post pics! ~Trent

Also: 300lbs of sand isn't enough to cover the bottom in case you were wondering.... I need at least another 50-100lbs :(

[necrocanis]

bare bottom for now. My params are stable, and I will be adding some monsters next week.

[Atreyu]

Itaituba2003 i bow down to thee

[Tokis-Phoenix]

i could be wrong, but, i don't think that filter is going to do anything for your bio needs. don't those just filter out metals and chlorene?



No, dechlorinator removes the chlorine and heavy metals from tap water. A filter grows beneficial bacteria which breaks down ammonia into nitrites in nitrates, thus keeping your water quality good, you need to dechlorinate your water though for this process to happen. When you start up a new filter, it has none of this good bacteria, so you need to cycle the tank i.e. carefully establish the benefecial bacteria in the filter etc.
The filters purpose is to suck waste from the tank into the filter where the bacteria lives, where the waste breaks down as the bacteria absorbs the ammonia from the decomposing matter. The filter also provides surfaces for the beneficial bacteria to live on, and a constant supply of oxygen via flowing water.


By the way, nice looking pond :) .

[frasertheking]

good job man any chance of pics

[necrocanis]

No, dechlorinator removes the chlorine and heavy metals from tap water. A filter grows beneficial bacteria which breaks down ammonia into nitrites in nitrates, thus keeping your water quality good, you need to dechlorinate your water though for this process to happen. When you start up a new filter, it has none of this good bacteria, so you need to cycle the tank i.e. carefully establish the benefecial bacteria in the filter etc.
The filters purpose is to suck waste from the tank into the filter where the bacteria lives, where the waste breaks down as the bacteria absorbs the ammonia from the decomposing matter. The filter also provides surfaces for the beneficial bacteria to live on, and a constant supply of oxygen via flowing water.


By the way, nice looking pond :) .


lol, I only used that house filter for a month. I reversed the flow, and put filter floss, and pot scrubbers inside it. It was fine for a short term deal, but when I moved the first time, I added 3x350 gph canister filters, eventually when I moved again i put 2 fx5s on it, and currently that's what it still has on it with just the big rtc x tsn hybrid living in it. he's currently 35". The new pond, has just one fx5 and a 15 gal rubbermaid container with filter floss and lots of pot scrubbers. This filtration will be taken out as soon as I can find some of those 55 gal plastic barrels, that no one seems to have around here. Here's a few pics of the new pond, and it's still cycling. This thing cycles like an up and down rollacoaster! Oh and the overhead pump that was hooked up in the pic has been replaced by a 1200 gph pump. Enjoy

[amazonfishman]

How many watts of heat are you running right now and whats the temp? I just purchased a 1000watt heater that should be in on Tuesday so then I can add some of the monsters into the pond.

I didn't have any cycling trouble my levels stayed constant throughout thus far with about 12 various sunfish 3-6" in there for 3 weeks or so now and 300lbs of sand and a couple anubias plants for a short while. I added a 350gph power head at surface level to keep the water from being still and to add a little current but eventually there will be another 500gph or so one setup in a different area for more cross current across the pond either at the top or the bottom. Nitrites and Ammonia are always zero for me. I am however having trouble with my pH, I added about 800 gallons worth of Discus Buffer to drop my pH and it hasn't really responded that well it dropped from 7.8 to 7.5ish but is holding there so I'm picking up alot more buffer this afternoon and also when I get some driftwood in there it should help also. You think the pool filter sand could be keeping the ph high? Thanks, looks like we will both be up and running about the same time but you'll have your real filtration up and running :( ~Trent

[necrocanis]

This filtration is only temporary until I can get the massive filtration levels that I want. I have a good design that I picked up for those 35-55 gal blue plastic containers that seems pretty fool proof. It was origionally designed for highly stocked koi ponds, so I feel certain that it should do fine for high levels of catfish stock also. Might be the pool filter sand, I have mortar sand in my 350 and seems like the ph is a little high also, but doesn't seem to bother my catfish at all. that and the ton or so of giant river stones. Thinking of just putting a few of those in the pond for hiding spots. My whole setup is temporary until I get my monster tank built. This is a really good cheap way to keep big fish though. My ultimate goal is the 8,000-12,000 gal tank I am planning to build over the next 2 or 3 years. Hopefully the pool will last until then. I am afraid to put driftwood or anything in this pool because seems like everytime I do anything to it, it springs another leak that I have to patch. Would be fine, but my garage doesn't have a drain.

[necrocanis]

got some of my fish moved. Will be adding more once the filtration has adjusted to the new occupants. Fish moved in are 2 oscars 1-11" and 1-12", 2 channel catfish 1-10", and 1-12", and 1-14" tsn. Oh and 1-10" plecostomus. Still not sure I will be adding any substrate, maybe once I get the improved filtration on it though. Here's some pics.

[necrocanis]

Here's some update pics of the pond. Stock list goes as follows right now.
2 channel cats, 1 tsn, 1 jau, 2 oscars, 1 ckf, and 1 plecostomus. That's it for now, but the rtc will go in there in less than a week. I have the barrels to make the true filtration that I need. I will more than likely chain connect 3 of them for this pond, and I will be making one for the smaller pond also. So that will be 165 gals of filtration on the 1100 gal pond. Running it at 1500 gph for the time being. Will be adding additional areation and heat. Threw in a couple pics of the other pond too.

[fish*mad]

great looking ponds, i cant wait to get my indor pond set up!:D

[Bgonz]

What type of filters you running on the big guys tub. I just got my 300 gallon tub cleaned up and ready for use. I had a homemade wet dry on it but I'm thinking maybe the big tidalpool ????

Cats looks real nice :thumbsup:



bob

[necrocanis]

For the time being I have two Fluval Fx5s running on the big guy's pond, but I will be upgrading that to a 55 gal barrel that I will modify into a filter. I will post pics of the whole process as it happens. I am going to make a screen that will sit about 10" off the bottom of the barrel. The water will flow up through the screen making the space under it a settling chamber. I will put an aeriator above that that will send air up through the bio filter media which will be about 25% lava rock and 75% pot scrubbers. That will come out to about 20 gals of lava rock and 80 gals of pot scrubbers. That should do my bio needs for a while!

[necrocanis]

oh yeah and a valve underneath the barrel to backwash the settling chamber once per week.

[DrunKen~MonKey]

great looking ponds!

[necrocanis]

tnx

[dreadfish04]

gah i want a pond