My 1500gal plywood build (pics)

Well I needed more room for my catfish and I finally had some time to build this this weekend so it looks like my fish are getting a awesome new pond for xmas. Construction started on Thursday and I plan on having it full of water Wednesday. The pond its self is 12x6x3 the room I built for it is 13x13. Filtration is a 4x2x3 wet/dry full of scrubbies should hold about 180gal of them. The sump will be supplied by 2-5,000gph (accounting for head loss) pumps. The actual pond is basically 1 wall, that is bolted down and tied into the 2 opposing walls in a way that distributes the weight of the water between all 3 room walls and the pond wall. A lot of time/work went into the actual design so as to make it modular. In its current configuration it will hold about 1500gal, which should last my fish about 2yrs. When it comes time to expand it to its maxium designed size 12x12x3 all that needs to be done is drain the pond, unbolt/screw the pond wall from the other 2 walls and floor, unbolt the outer wall and move the pond wall to the outer wall, and move the outer wall out 6'. which should take about a weekend. Any way Heres what Ive got done so far.

Wednesday Night 6pm-11pm

Old Pond



Time to move the pond....FWI moving a 300+gal pond with water and fish in it is NOT easy at all. luckily my dad stopped by to help me out. I used 1.5" pvc pipes to roll the pond over to a spot out of the way. The fish really didn't seam to get to stressed out actually, this was still easier than trying to catch the catfish...




Ponds finally moved and refilled. U never realize how much crap you have in a area till you have to move it all.


All clean now watch as I turn this

Into this


Thursday 8am-10pm
Just getting the walls for the room done first




Friday 8am-11pm
Did all the electrical today. Separated the lights from the rest of the basement, added 3 20amp outlets and light switch. This took most of the day. Other than that I got all the insulation done and the pond wall up.... unfortunately I completely forgot to document it all.



Saturday 9am-9pm
Worked almost all day on this thing got 90% of the plywood done(need 1 more sheet), 50% of the ceiling and got wood filler on. Tomorrow Ill sand and paint.....might have slacked off a bit to watch river monsters lol.

Pond finally taking shape



A 5gal bucket for a size reference, keep in mind that not all the way from the opposite wall....It really does look quite a bit larger in person


Sunday 8am-12pm
Got the sanding done and cornering done on the pond half of the room, Started painting, Should have the stand done for the filter done by the end of the day also. Got to put 1 more coat of paint up let it dry than I can finish the ceiling and hopefully get started on the tile.



To be updated.

USMCtanker;4719033; said:

sweet, ill be watching this, as im hopen to build a bigger pond in my garage. only problem is it gets very cold. in there. so i gonna fix that 1st lol

Click to expand...

yup I got the same problem in the basement. Gets down to about 60. And its so expensive to heat water...the solution heat the air. Thats why its so well insulated. So I can keep air temps around 75. Insulation was about half the total build cost

AOmonsta;4719286; said:

Looking cool. What all cats you have?

Click to expand...

Here is the link to some pics of my cats
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370879

Sunday 3-6pm
Got the sump done. It is 4x2x3 internal dimensions.

Should hold aprox 180gal of scrubbies. I still have to put the trey in the bottom.

Here is a sample of how the filter will be plumbed. 1.5" pvc tubes with holes drilled in a web pattern on the bottom. Each 5000gal pump will pump through 4 tubes each, with a total of 8 drip tubes inside.


Picking up the sump....wasnt as light as I had hoped

Sump on stand, Just need to insulate it finish with plywood and doors on the bottom.

2-3" drains to drain sump via gravity. I hope its enough to flow about 10,000gph