DIY indoor pond as sump

[anarekist]

Hey, i have this idea to make a pond under my tank as a sump, size i have available under my tank is about 53"x15" with a height of about 20" or about 60 gallons, alot more than my current sump and about half my tank volume size.

i've been reading the indoor pond threads and im thinking about laying brick as my support structure then laying bricks on top of the liner on the perimeter to hold it in place.

my question is this strong enough to hold the water? or will the bricks bow out, would building a wooden box be more ideal? i'll be laying a used blanket first to keep it soft on the liner but if anyone has any other tips it would be greatly appreciated.
if bricks are enough what kind? i dont want to use cinder because of all the space that might be taken in by insects and what not (its in the garage)

 

[ejansuini]

that sounds like a really cool idea! please keep us updated. I may have to do somehting like this in the future.

 

[anarekist]

so i went to lowes to pick up the bricks and a tarp and a pathos haha.
i ordered a pcv liner from amazon for 24 bucks. cost about 50 dollars worth of bricks. i could of been cheaper but the day i went they were all out of the cheaper bricks

the test setup

added tarp for extra protection

test fill

so far so good. gona slowly fill it up with water as i do water changes on the display and wait for it to cycle so i can keep my fish in there when i redesign the top tank. then it'll be used as my sump. so far the sides that have no bricks are holding up pretty well dont see any signs of stress. sorry for the crappy phone pics.

 

[JK47]

Nice idea. How do you plan to cover it? The evaporation from a surface area the size of the pond will be a significant.

 

[anarekist]

i saw someone attach foam to eggcrate, i think i will do something similar so i can make a custom size. also i have those two lids you see in the last pic, i'll use those too.