Hello all,
I am new to the forum but i have see the great information that is relayed on this site so i figured i would give it a shot. I start by explaining the current situation. I am currently a highschooler in upstate NY (Millbrook School) and another student and I came up with the idea that it would be a cool thing to build a shark and ray pond. Also at our school we have an AZA accredited zoo so we could not have more of a perfect place to set one up. We have both had Saltwater tanks and the zoo staff that we would work with has always had a reef tank. So we have a moderate amount of knowledge but we are not experts. We also have someone on staff that started in marine biology so that is also a benefitting factor. What we would like to do is create a 400-600 gallon pond constructed of concrete. The pond would be a rectangular tank with rounded edges and also have a viewing window in the front. The dimensions we were thinking of would be about 8ft long x 5ft wide x 2ft deep. For filtration we were looking into using an Ultima 2 1000 bead filter along with an Iwaki pump. We would also want to have a capable tower skimmer because we are not sure we would want to have a sump in the setup( unless it strong benefits). For insulation we would also probably being using a chiller as this building is a climate controlled building. We would be looking to build the pond ourselves but then again we are not opposed to hiring a contractor or at least having assistance from one. As far as stocking go we are looking to stock it with a pair of coral catsharks and then a pair of the california round rays or something of a similar size. We do like the cownose rays but we think that those would outgrow our system pretty quickly.
Let us know if you have any feedback, suggestions or disagreements with the setup thus far. We are still months away from begining the build process so it is not to late for anything. If you do not believe me about the zoo, just visit my schools website. Thanks for the help.
I am new to the forum but i have see the great information that is relayed on this site so i figured i would give it a shot. I start by explaining the current situation. I am currently a highschooler in upstate NY (Millbrook School) and another student and I came up with the idea that it would be a cool thing to build a shark and ray pond. Also at our school we have an AZA accredited zoo so we could not have more of a perfect place to set one up. We have both had Saltwater tanks and the zoo staff that we would work with has always had a reef tank. So we have a moderate amount of knowledge but we are not experts. We also have someone on staff that started in marine biology so that is also a benefitting factor. What we would like to do is create a 400-600 gallon pond constructed of concrete. The pond would be a rectangular tank with rounded edges and also have a viewing window in the front. The dimensions we were thinking of would be about 8ft long x 5ft wide x 2ft deep. For filtration we were looking into using an Ultima 2 1000 bead filter along with an Iwaki pump. We would also want to have a capable tower skimmer because we are not sure we would want to have a sump in the setup( unless it strong benefits). For insulation we would also probably being using a chiller as this building is a climate controlled building. We would be looking to build the pond ourselves but then again we are not opposed to hiring a contractor or at least having assistance from one. As far as stocking go we are looking to stock it with a pair of coral catsharks and then a pair of the california round rays or something of a similar size. We do like the cownose rays but we think that those would outgrow our system pretty quickly.
Let us know if you have any feedback, suggestions or disagreements with the setup thus far. We are still months away from begining the build process so it is not to late for anything. If you do not believe me about the zoo, just visit my schools website. Thanks for the help.
