4600 gal converted above ground pool

OTp1144

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Oct 7, 2013
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Swimmin' with the fishes
My red tail and channel cats are finally getting too big for their 300 and I saw a deal that was too good to pass up. A 14' round pool for only $100. Comes with ladder, cover, thermometer, pool canister filter, chlorine tablets and chlorine float. I'm obviously going to sell the chlorine tablets and float and seeing as there's still about 25 pounds of chlorine left, I see this pool coming to a total cost of ~$60. Hard to beat less than $.02/gallon. :headbang2

So I figured I'd track my process here so all y'all can see too.

The location:
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This was after about an hour of weed pulling
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Bonus puppy who wanted to help (read as hinder)
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Okay back to the original topic. Got 3 tons of dirt delivered for free (thank you craigslist) but his truck broke down literally 100ft in front of the RV gate. So to avoid getting hounded by the HOA, I had to move it back behind the RV gate... at 8pm... with nothing but a shovel, a 30 gal foot locker, and sheer willpower.
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With flash. LED solar lights are very useful
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The next morning. For reference, each slab of concrete is 10'x6'. So that's about 14'x5'x18" of dirt.
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After about a week of moving the dirt, once again by shovel, foot locker and will (I know I need to invest in a wheelbarrow), I finally got the area leveled out. Put the top down for a mock up of where the pool will go.
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Put the top together for a better idea.
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The whole time I was moving dirt I was raking out the rocks and grass as well. It was painful and tedious but well worth it. I did learn two things: walmart rakes suck and the AZ sun is HOT even in February! After about 2 weeks of moving and raking, I finally got it to where I like it.
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Plan is to fully assemble the pool this week and then get to cleaning.

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Thekid

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piranhaman00

Redtail Catfish
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You going to stock with anything else?
 

OTp1144

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Oct 7, 2013
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Swimmin' with the fishes
What about cooling?

Subbed.
Cooling is actually going to be easier and cheaper. I'm planning to hook up a water fall for cooling via evaporation as well as get a sun shade to basically cover the entire side of the house. Luckily the yard is on the north side so there won't be direct sun for much of the day or year.

I'm DEFINITELY going to get some lilies and probably hyacinth. I'm really wanting to get a Victoria plant, but they're just so damn expensive...

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OTp1144

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Oct 7, 2013
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Swimmin' with the fishes
You going to stock with anything else?
Eventually the koi will go in there once there big enough as well as a Florida gar. I'll probably add some pacu too as people are giving them away for free all the time out here. I'm looking to get a tiger shovelnose and a RTC tiger hybrid, but either no one has them or the ones they have aren't healthy.

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