1500 gallon pond build and recommendations on heating it?

[matty832012]

hi all i have started the build for my red-tails. this is something that im so excited about. first off i was almost all ready to build a wood tank this week until one of my in laws came over to see these huge cats and convinced me he could build an amazing concrete any size i want under the cost of building the wood pond. now i have started prep work for concrete and picking up supply's latter this week.

5 bags of Portland cement

three Masonite panels,

some 3/8 rebar. he has a 1500 gph sand filter to throw in as well

here im going to throw in a couple of pics of the cats and a couple pics of the beginning of the build. the outlines on the floor is me starting to grind off all the paint so the create will stick and the cut Sheetrock in the back is at 36 that will be the full depth of the pond. the cats are 26 inch 20 inch 10 inch and 6 inch two red-tails and two tiger shovel cross! this is why the tank has now gone from 4x8 wood to 11x5 concrete for almost the same price. i have started prep this Sunday and with all the luck in the world will have it all created and plumed by next Sunday! sounds great hope it goes as well. i also was curious as to any input on how to heat it. cant wait.

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[Michael Day]

Hey man, that sounds like an epic build and will be great to see all the build pics . I would suggest a heat pump to heat that size tank it would be the most effecient way, one of those ones they use on the marine tanks. It will be more expensive to buy but will save you money in the long run.

 

[wednesday13]

A couple larger submersible pumps should heat it enough, especially it being indoors. I do not run any heaters on my 1700 pool for tsn. It stays around 70-76 year round in my basement.

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[matty832012]

great what are you mentioning as a submersable pump,

 

[wednesday13]

A submersible pump for ur filtration as opposed to an external pump. Good lids will keep ur heat in also. My pool is open top and i still do not run heaters. I actually do not run heaters on 80% of my large tanks even through the winter living in Ohio.

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[matty832012]

A submersible pump for ur filtration as opposed to an external pump. Good lids will keep ur heat in also. My pool is open top and i still do not run heaters. I actually do not run heaters on 80% of my large tanks even through the winter living in Ohio.

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great what do you use for filtration then on that 3k ? as i noted my brother in law who is a pool guy has a sand filter pump that i will be plumbing in at first but at a later time it will not be a problem to just use it as a pump and provide the sub pump idea?

 

[wednesday13]

Id leave the sand filter on permenatly....i run overhead sumps on all my large tanks and additional plant filtration. This is what i will use on my 3k. More filtration the better so anything u can find and put together will work. I make almost all my own filters so nothing fancy is needed. Just use what u got. U could prob just run a couple sand filters since ur related to a pool guy.

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[wednesday13]

Here is my hommade filtration on my 1700 pool to give u an idea of something u can put together.

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[wednesday13]

Misread ur just plumbing in the pump...see if ur brother in law can get u a couple used sand filters on the cheap aswell. Just change the sand and clean them and ur good to go. U can run a submersible pump or two as a powerhead to give off some heat. I do this aswell in my 1700 pool for aeration and water movement.

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[Reedmaster16]

If your water heater is relatively close by the cheapest option to heat a large body of water would be a radiant heating system.

Basic premise is you get a stainless steel circulator pump teed off the main hot water line.

Run a coil of PEX tubing from the pump either in your sump container or somewhere in the tank sectioned off so no livestock can get near it and burn themselves.

The coil then returns to the bottom of your hot water tank creating the closed loop.

The pump is then either wired or plugged into a temperature controller and the controller turn the pump on or off depending on the temperature of the tank.


So the hot water running through the PEX coil is radiating heat warming up the body of water it comes in contact with. Only electrical usage is the controller and the 50w pump turning on and off periodically throughout the day. Much cheaper than constantly running 1,000w heaters. There are a number of threads on this here on MFK and as well on reefcentral. Good luck.