First Tropical Pond Build

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C

charles-n-charge

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2010
1,644
3
68
Livingston Tx
Hey guys,
As the title says, this is my very first pond build! I'm so excited, but insanely nervous aswell! So I'm hoping that this can be an enjoyable expirience for me and for you all also, because I'm hoping you guys can help walk me through this and incorporate some of your geneius into my work!

Here's what I have to work with (BTW this is an extremely cheap build)
  • 27'x27' pool liner (w/ 4' tall walls (so 31x31 I guess))
  • The old sand filter from the pool (Nothing wrong with it)
  • A ton of PVC
  • A shovel
I know this isn't everything needed, but it's all the important stuff.

I started digging last week, and so far the hole is about 9x11x2 (It's really hard to dig in our rock hard, dry, dirt here in Texas)

I'll try to post pictures of my progress later


Now one of my biggest concerns is how am I going to heat it?
I don't want to use electrical heating. My idea is to cover the pond with a hoop-house/green-house, and to have a metal barrel with metal pipe wraped around it that leads into the pond, and have a fire in the barrel (We have tons of burning wood).
But would this be enough to keep the pond to a safe temperature for tropical fish?
And please keep in mind that in Southern Texas we only have 2 weeks or so that get below freezing, and our Winter is only about 2-3 months.

Besides that, if there are any questions or anything I may have left out, feel free to ask.
I also like hearing comments, ideas, and opinions; either good or bad, so throw them out there!

Thanks,
Charles
 

Attachments

Had to put up some shade. It's 100+ degrees outside this time of year!
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A couple young cats playing in the hole. They bounce off the walls and play in the dirt like it's an arena lol
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Are you going to have this burning barrel inside the green house?
 
Then how you going to transfer heat to the pond, by running water through the burning barrel?
 
I am curios are you trying to build a 27x27 footprint pond with 4' walls? If so you will need at least a 35x35 liner 4' to go down one side 27' across the bottom and 4' to go up the other side. If that is the case I would look at liners before going to hog wild on the digging because if you want cheap you can get 20'35' for $520 but a 30x35 is $600 and 40x50 ( which is the smallest 40' liner you can get) is $1200. So as you can see the price from needing a 30' to a 40' liner goes up very fast. Plus you would always want a foot or two extra liner you don't want to get a liner exactly the size of the pond or you will have no way to properly anchor it. So for a 20x35 you could build a 10x25 pond with 4' sides and be somewhat inexpensive. I used prices using firestone EPDM liners because I have heard from multiple builders they are the best.

As for your idea to heat it, the idea to use a wood stove to heat teh pond that way will make it hard to have consistent temps in the pond. you would be better off with some sort of a hot water recirculating system from a standard hot water heater like in radiant heated floors. I also would not use and metal in the tank as it may contaminate the water. Pex tubing is best for these applications. I would look up the heating system a guy in the DIY section laied out. His screen name is VLDesign. His write up is very good.
 
The1and only said:
I am curios are you trying to build a 27x27 footprint pond with 4' walls? If so you will need at least a 35x35 liner 4' to go down one side 27' across the bottom and 4' to go up the other side. If that is the case I would look at liners before going to hog wild on the digging because if you want cheap you can get 20'35' for $520 but a 30x35 is $600 and 40x50 ( which is the smallest 40' liner you can get) is $1200. So as you can see the price from needing a 30' to a 40' liner goes up very fast. Plus you would always want a foot or two extra liner you don't want to get a liner exactly the size of the pond or you will have no way to properly anchor it. So for a 20x35 you could build a 10x25 pond with 4' sides and be somewhat inexpensive. I used prices using firestone EPDM liners because I have heard from multiple builders they are the best.

As for your idea to heat it, the idea to use a wood stove to heat teh pond that way will make it hard to have consistent temps in the pond. you would be better off with some sort of a hot water recirculating system from a standard hot water heater like in radiant heated floors. I also would not use and metal in the tank as it may contaminate the water. Pex tubing is best for these applications. I would look up the heating system a guy in the DIY section laied out. His screen name is VLDesign. His write up is very good.
Click to expand...

The pond is only going to be about 20x16 at the most, and itll be like a Figure-8 shape almost. So I should have enough liner.

And as for the heating, I'm willing to take any adivce given so thanks. I'll definitely look his thread up later today
 
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