In-ground Pool soon to be a POND!!!

[Dr Joe]

This will be awsome! You'll love it.

Firstest... Is there a budget involved and are you skilled (do you know which way the pointy end of a screwdriver goes?).

I can't wait for your answer...

Next.

Just dechlor it completely and understand you WILL have some algae.

I wood suggest a mechanical filter before your sand filter, maybe just a couple of floor scrubbing pads cut and put in the skimmer and main drain cover.

Yes you can use the sand filter, probably have to put diffusers on returns or point
downward.

You can build a bio-filter right next to the pond or filter and just plumb it in-line with the return or if it's too fast by-pass some of the water around it and straight back to pond.

Will need to cage-in the bottom drain and skimmer so fish and junk don't clog them up.

Do you have any room to put up a couple of used solar water heater panel if it gets to cold? You just plumb them into the system with a couple of valves. Works in reverse in summer, you run them at night to cool the water.

I put black construction plastic over 2/3rds of mine, 2" under the water and raised the temp to 88* in Jan. (cheap solar heat)

You can get floating planters for lilies etc.

Send the pics and we'll see what else we can come up with.

Here's some light reading...

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pondsubwebindex/poolpdconvart.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pondsubwebindex/pdpoolconvfaqs.htm

Keep us posted and Good Luck.

Dr Joe

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[fote03]

Thanks for all the advice. I havent even had time to take any pictures of the pool yet. I have been so busy with work and life that my project has been coming along very slowly.

I picked up 2 90gal. and a 120gal. that are preformed ponds with water falls, pumps, and filters for each of them. Also came with a ton of river rock from NC and a couple of tons of lime stone from here in florida. And it all only cost me a $100 and about 2hrs to take them all down and pack them in my truck and trailer. Can you get a better deal. I think i might set them up first and work on the pool soon to be pond at the same time.

Ummm: It is marcite finish a common blue color.

Ash: I live right outside of Gainesville Fl.

Softturtle: Let me know if you find that pond mag. i would be very interested.

Also how can you figure the amount of water?

Thanks for the links they where helpful keep sharing anything you find i can never read enough about fish and what others have done. My girlfriend hates this site cause i will get on and get lost in it. I spent 4 hrs last night reading about jelly fish after i saw someone on here building a tank for them. I had never thought about keeping jelly fish. I will get some pictures up this weekend or earily next week.

 

[RadleyMiller]

My guess is 7500 gallons, but I don't know what anyone else thinks.

1 ft^3 = 7.5 gallons roughly

10 ft x 20ft x 5 ft = 1000ft^3

1000ft^3 x 7.5 gallons per 1 ft^3 = 7500 gallons

congrats, that would be awesome when it's done. lets see pics!

 

[Bigbob55]

My guess is 7500 gallons, but I don't know what anyone else thinks.

1 ft^3 = 7.5 gallons roughly

10 ft x 20ft x 5 ft = 1000ft^3

1000ft^3 x 7.5 gallons per 1 ft^3 = 7500 gallons

congrats, that would be awesome when it's done. lets see pics!

Yeah but the pool is rounded, not a rectangular prism.

If it were a perfect ellipsoid cut in half it would be approx. 3925 gallons, but the pool is bigger at the top, and only really rounds at the bottom, so its probably in the 4500-5000 region. For filtration reasons and such(bragging rights included), I would use 5000 gallons as a good number.

 

[abpositive]

Okay this is a REALLY dumb question, but if you scrubbed down (no soap) first, couldn't you swim in it?
My mom has a 60,000gallon rectangular diving pool and she wanted to be able to turn it into a pond AND pool...

 

[Chad55]

Well have you ever swam in a pond or a lake with fish in it. Kinda the same thing right???? As long as the filtration is good enough I don't see a problem at all. Anyways how else are you going to clean it.

Chad

 

[Bigbob55]

There was an (indoor)aquarium on ebay a while back, it was like 900 gallons, i think, something along those lines.

In the auction it said it was a "snorkling tank", It had ~50 discuss, 2 FW stringrays and they had a picture of the owners of the tank sitting in it (it was like 5 ft.+ tall) with the fish, with their swimming suits and snorkles on.

Perfectly fine swimming in a pond, just the #1 issue is that whenever we(humans) swim, we release tons of skin flakes in the water, which can cause the water to be cloudy, so you'll need plenty of filtration to keep the pond/pool lookin good.

 

[missyme06]

i say swiming pond, keep your koi and swim with them too, its the hot new thing in land scaping and its a lot cleaner then a pool too.

 

[justin]

I would go with a bead filter. Like a pressurized sand filter, but superior to sand and alot better for fish applications. Also if you are not planning on coating the cement with waterproof, fish safe epoxy you might want to watch out for the ph swings due to the calcium and lime and other stuff released by the cement. By the way the cement coating is made for fish and plant safe applications and comes in different colors if interested.[URL="http://www.pondbiz.com/home/pb1/page_1568_9/pond_shield_epoxy_pond_coating.html"]http://www.sanitred.com/WaterFountain.htm[/URL]

 

[justin]

http://www.sanitred.com/WaterFountain.htm