A 16YEAR OLDS GUIDE TO A CHEAP STINGRAY POND

[Bogwoodbruce]

Well due to popular demand im making a thread about setting up a tropical pond so here i go (i will keep updating it as it progresses)

All in all it should come to less than £800 to make.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

1ST STEP
The first sep was to find somewhere were we could setone up the best place was my fish room where i keep my 3 main biggest tanks but due to already having tanks in there we decided elsewhere. So we chose are summerhouse, its my mothers but it never gets used (Bristish Weather) so i asked and she said yes!
A picture:

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

2ND STEP
The next stage was chosing what the vat should be made of, we considered maing one out of wood ourselves or breese blocks, I also had to take into consideration that it should be made of a thick material or the rays could puncture it with their spines. We managed to find a Cheap Plastic Koi vat which was perfect! It measured 72"Long 45" Wide and 24" Deep which works out at 300 gallon! Thats the same volume as my two 6x2x2's combined!
Some pictures im not smaller either for compairison:

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

3RD STEP
Our next step is to clad it out with wood and polyestireen to insulate it and keep heat in. Ideally this should have been done first but since the vat was such a bargain we decided to get the vat first. Also since my dads going into Hospital for Keyhole surgery my uncle will be makign the room for us.

Some more pictures:

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

STEP FOUR
My Uncle came and cut us out part of the floor where then added several Bleeze Blocks and some 4x4 steel to strenghen the base. Due to the Weight of the pond itself when filled it will wigh roughly 1.3 Tons.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

STEP FIVE
Then my Uncle cladded out the insides with Wood and board, then they addesd some wood and very thick polyestireen to make the base, then they put the vat on top.
wood:

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Well since theres about 300 gallons of water i need to use lots of filteration so, i am using a Fluval FX5 canister filter which will draw in the water and will then pt it through a black pond box and then it will come out of the black box and into the pond, the FX5 will power the black box rather than a pump in the pond. The black box will provide all of my mechanical filteration.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

So to keep the heat in as it does get cold during the winter, my uncle added lots of 50mm insulation around the hole of the building and also around the base and sides of the pond itself. Then he added lots of wood around the outside to cover to it. Next we will add some tiles and paint to smarten it up.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Now we had to decide how to cover the pond for when im not doing maintainence and looking at then, as to prevent condensation and any fish jumping out. We decided on the see through perspex that is used on the roofs of green houses and buildings as its strong, transparent and cheap. We still need to keep it held down though.

 

[soggysandwich]

looks good. one thing. those lids you got, sense they are slanted, when the condensation builds up on them it will all run down and drip off the end, so you might want to put a bin down there to catch the water, or cut them short to it drips into the pond.