Why a indoor pond (or just do it)

stotty

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 12, 2005
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I was asked to do this thread by a couple of members(sorry it took so long and I still think there are better people out there for this) if the spelling sucks sorry and the grammars not up to much I’m sorry again but you should get the idea:D .

Why a tropical pond?

If you have the space like a fish room or conservatory why not?

Well number 1 for me is Cost when I bought my cat fish I knew they were going to get large and I knew I would require a large tank for them as I have the luxury of a fish room and the space and after reading about them years ago in a book called Tank Busters I thought the time has come for the MK.1

TYPES

There are several ways to go about this from a performed pond this is nice as has no crease or folds for cleaning no messing about just put it in and fill it up. If you just want that or box it in or as some of our member have done put a window in for viewing.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=657497#post657497

The other is a liner you can make a frame out of bricks railway sleepers and line it with a pond liner the disadvantages of this are the creases in the liner in the corners and if built to high and your brick work sucks you have a wet room and dry fish:( .

We also have other member using blow up kiddie pools once aging very cheap but no spiky cat fish in those I’m afraid.

The next is concrete blocks rendered with cement and treated with a sealant to prevent leaching of live into the water


HEATING


A rough formula for heating a tank is 4.5 watts per Gallon you can double this for a pond in an unheated conservatory and or no lid.

Well once aging it helps to have them in a warm place a nice feature in a glass conservatory or a nice well insulated fish room is a good start for the small pond you can treat them like a large fish tank such as my one just has 2 x 300 W heater in it keeps a stable temperature but I do think a lot of this is helped by the per specs lid. Other ways I have looked into are Koi pond heater see link:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...vnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB&sa=G

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...ter&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB

like any thing Koi they start at a reasonable price and go to very expensive but you do see the deer once crop up second hand on eBay but you take your chances with second hand don’t you?

I would however still have the back up of at least 1 300 w heater just encase to goes wrong so at least you can keep some heat in the pond. The good thing about having 2 smaller heaters is if one jams on its not enough to boil your fish but if one fails you have enough to keep it heated.
Insulating the pond helps a lot I insulated my one all round then boarded it in








FILTRATION

Well my one I put a pond filter on it with a UV built in and works fine a friend of mine runs trickle filter over his pond the water is pumped up to the box over the pond it flows through the media and runs out the bottom again back into the pond with the all-important over flow just encase of floods.

I have seen large canister on them as well and once aging just think of it as a large tank.


LIGHTING

Now I ran out of time and money on this but the MK 2 will have 2 under water lights in it that can be switched on for viewing but if your are having light above the pool (this might sound dumb but!) make sure they are secured as if they go in it would be shocking :nilly: and if strip lights a mesh cover is a good idea as if low fish can jump and smash them.


I hope this has been of some inspiration and help it might not be the bible of indoor ponds but might give you a bit of get up and go to build one your self a few of our member ponds are shown in the link below I believe


Super cheap blow up pond by Rottbo

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33402

Miles ray pond

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23499


And finally the man that gave me the kick up the ass I needed to get my one out of the garden and fitted ;) necrocanis a simple 6ft dia cattle tub bought from the local farm supply store



http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7610&page=2


All comments welcome good or bad and any more links to help people out please add.


I will say if your fish jump put a lid on it but this can cause condensation do not make the edging out of wood as you have to treat it or spend ages wiping it down use UPVC. I know I didn’t.

As I said at the start this is not a manual just some inspiration. (I hope):naughty:



last of all some pics of my one from sitting in the Garden to up and running

15.JPG

25.JPG

26.jpg

28.jpg

f1.jpg

pond5.jpg

DSC000921.jpg

tsn2.jpg
 

softturtle

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 9, 2005
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N.W. Indiana
That tub is bad ass! I wanted to get a square one but I couldn't find one for the life of me. I guess I can handle a round one for now. Nice little write up though.
 

Joshy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2006
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www.bbc.co.uk
Excellent thread sCotty *cough* hehe just messing. All of the indoor ponds on MFK have certainly been an inspiration to me, and I am sure many others as well. But your design stotty is certainly the one that appeals to me most. People underestimate the benefits of an indoor pond, and overestimate the ‘drags’. Bottom line is, we are monster fish keeps, and you can’t become much more of a MFK’er when you dedicate several hundred gallons inside. Better late than never on the article, good stuff. You and all our ponds, ghetto or upper case – simple or complicated, they are flag ships to the hobby. Would be good to see some more inspired following this thread!
 

rottbo

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 15, 2005
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oh and a small clarification so people dont think that I use a fully inflatable pool... What I have only has an inflatable ring around the top and the sides are a very thick reinforced liner... and stotty this is a great thread maybe it will help some poeple to realize that it is not that expensive to setup a permanent home for their growing monsters.......
 

Paul_MTS

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2005
254
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Excellent write up stotty.

Can't wait to get mine up and running properly, it's empty at the moment, fininished the sump off tonight, managed to fit about 30litres of K1 in there :D
 

necrocanis

Catfish God
Staff member
Moderator
MFK Member
Oct 10, 2005
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Hey stotty great thread. Wow, I forgot how ghetto my pond was when I first set it up lol. Then it was beautiful and now it is outside instead of inside due to a stupid landlord. lol. I will put pics of the new setup on here after I get home from work on monday if there is enough daylight to take some pics! I have mine in an inclosed box that is super stuffed with insulation. I have all the walls of the box lined with 2" thick styrofoam insulation, and regular house batting insulation stuffed to the max inside the box. There is a smaller box attached to the big one with all the electircal stuff. Two fluval Fx5 filters plumbed in through the side of the pond. And two 500 w heaters. The lid is custom fitted. Two half circles with one side having 2" styrofom insulation on the underside, and about 8 inches thick blown in attic insulation on the top. I used a waterproof tarp to upholster over the wood and insulation on the lid! Of course with all the wood, screws, great stuff foam, silicone caulk, water sealant, heaters, and filters, this was pretty expensive! You do what you have to do for your fish though. Thinking of putting a coat of paint or something on it so it won't look so ghetto though. Great thread stotty!
 
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