Another 600 gallon build thread

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I just got home, I bought a third of the wood and some other supplies, namely a $50 6 amp drill. I got a $140 bill and thought it was a bit high and on the way out of l***s i looked at my receipt charged for 12 2x8x8's when i had actually gotten 6 cut in half, but a quick trip to the customer service counter netted me $25 cash back.

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Some plastic chicken wire to keep the fish from jumping out or larger objects from falling in. It's a 4 feet tall by 50 feet roll.

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Twelve 4 foot Pieces, 5 for the sides and 2 for use as verticle 'beams', basically bigger, stronger, cheaper than metal mending brackets.

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6 Amp drill for driving the 3 inch outdoor screws

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Hillman Group Exterior (coated) screws.

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My cat named Tazzy or Taz for short, who had two broken toes when i adopted him from the animal shelter. Now he is pondering which fish to eat, although the 20gal long he is on has nothing in it.


That's probably it until next weekend. The liner and pump should arrive by FedEx in the middle of this week.
 
Oh i also drilled more holes in the top bin, so now the water hose can't keep up with how fast it drains... My bottom bin started to form a crack when i drilled a hole for the water to exit. Also since the biomax and stuff is designed to work when submerged think i will just put it in bags across the bottom so it gets rained on, and only use the polyfil to position the biowheels and seed media.
 
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The pump and liner arrived today.

edit: Liner- the liner was not as pleasant an arrival as the pump. It has some scuff marks in the rubber. I don't think that's normal??? But i understand after googling that they would have had to walk on it to cut it to size. It just seemed like there was some surface damage. Some rubber flaking off. I didn't expect that until after I started positioning stuff on it, etc

Pump: I was positively surprised and delighted by the pump, the last pond pump I had bought was totally different and barely dribbled water at some of the heads it advertised as being good to go. Even at 6 foot head the TetraPond was gushing water. This Tetrapond 1900 puts out like twice the pressure than my garden hose on full blast. So i may need to rethink my storage bin filter, it's perhaps just not big enough to handle all the water. Perhaps a trash can full of cinder is in order or something. I'll have to experiment. I really need some bulkheads or fish safe cement for whatever filter I do, so i don't end up draining my pond onto my floor.
 
I've got the rest of the wood, going to try to rap it out tomorrow and finish my pond. I also picked up a .7 mil 12x9 drop cloth (to cover a portion to reduce humidity due to evaporation) as well as 50 more screws so i don't run out.

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20 tall.
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This all had to come down. 50 gallon to the right too with two jouvenile pacu in it. They are going in the pond!

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Temporary 30 gallon home for pacu while pond is finished

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Its done time to run duct tape over the screws that are sticking out

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Pic2

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Filling and messing with liner at this time of this post.

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Nice build. Very similar to what I built. I hate to even say this..but I heard that pacu will bite at folds in the liner. Now when I first heard this, I didnt know that they could let alone would! But it happened to me. I have had a leak in my pond for quite some time now. Its a natural water changer lol. Im glad my pond slowly drains to my sump. But I havent found the bite yet! The only reason I know it could be them is by the damage on other things that are in the pond. I have the hard refridgerator tubing in the tank for my air stones and they now have huge bite marks out of them. They are the only culprits in the tank with jaws that powerful. Theyve also chewed plastic plants, ceramic decorations, plastic ones and pvc! I'd watch these guys closely. Not saying all pacus do this kind of damage...
 
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