Indoor 480 Gal Pond Design

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abortedsoul

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 4, 2008
1,154
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MD, USA
Hello everyone. I am just brainstorming, and decided to draw up some general design really quick, just to solidify what I want to do in my mind. I plan on keeping stingrays in this pond, so if anyone has any suggestions about how to keep the water temperature up (how to build your wood frame to insulate the tank and the filter) you should post! I also have no idea what kind of filter would be good for 480 gallon pond.

I want to use it for an eventual home for some motoro pups, maybe for retics and, for right now, a quarantine tank.

Materials that I have:
wood saw
2 1/2 inch nails x ~500
hammer

Materials that I know I need:
45 mm Liner (how big of a liner should I buy? Does anyone know a good place to order online? I would like to tuck the liner back over half of the lip, folding back down around the inside before I secure the wood. It has to look decent or I won't get the ok to build it.)

Filter What kind of filter would be best for a pond like this? I have been contemplating a simple sump / bucket system, fed by a pump, but the pond would look so much cooler if it didn't have a bucket hanging over it. I've never had a wet/dry filter, and I would like to use some sort of an overflow design with this pond. To have good water flow, should I draw from one long end and feed the water back in at the other?

Lumber/Wood What kind of wood is good for this? I am not a carpenter, and I am not sure of what would hold its structural integrity under the weight of 470 gallons of water. If anyone knows the names of the pieces (what I could literally just copy down onto a sheet of paper and then take to a hardware store employee) that I would need as far as wood and other bracing goes, I would be eternally grateful if you would post here or PM it to me.

Acrylic to build viewing windows As one of the things that will increase this plan's approval, I see these as essential. I will be building the viewing windows right into the side of the tank, as well as one into the lid. Does anyone know how to do this? Is there a way of sealing the tank or coating it with something other than a liner? Some sort of resin sealer, possibly? Can you easily cut and seal the liner? How thick does the acrylic have to be? Any experienced suggestions would be really appreciated.

Sealant of some kind When dealing with a project of this scale, is there a specific kind of silicon that can be purchased that is fish (and ray) safe? Should I instead use resin, or is something else a better material entirely?

Magnets I need magnets because this is how I plan on securing the lid.

Piping- I want to build jets on the output end of the filter to keep the substrate free from loose debris. I've seen a setup like this, and would love to find out how to build something like this. If I could get the tank to clean itself more efficiently, my energy could be spent on taking care of my rays in other good ways, like feeding them or building them a bigger tank!

Anyone have any suggestions? If you could supply me the names of the specific lumber, sealants/resins, and reccomended thickness/specific name of acrylic sheets, that would be absolutely awesome.

basic pond plan.GIF
 
http://www.flexibleliningproducts.co.uk is where I got my liner for outside, by far the cheapest in the uk, I don't know about shipping though but they are heavy so I guess it would cost big.

The plan looks sound enough, if your sealing the top with magnets I think this is more of a tank than a pond and I would suggest scrapping the liner idea all together and just go the classic pond armor route that people seem to prefer for a plywood tank design, trying to install viewing windows into a liner sounds like too much a headache to even attempt, Just MO

Good luck, subscribed
 
Yanbbrox;2424524; said:
http://www.flexibleliningproducts.co.uk is where I got my liner for outside, by far the cheapest in the uk, I don't know about shipping though but they are heavy so I guess it would cost big.

The plan looks sound enough, if your sealing the top with magnets I think this is more of a tank than a pond and I would suggest scrapping the liner idea all together and just go the classic pond armor route that people seem to prefer for a plywood tank design, trying to install viewing windows into a liner sounds like too much a headache to even attempt, Just MO

Good luck, subscribed

Hmmm... ok, is pond armor a brand or is it just a common name for the product?

(Trying to seal holes in a pond liner sounds like a headache to me too, but I was wondering if anyone had any success with it before.)

Thanks for the 411.
 
nice pond.cant wait to see it finished :)
every pond that I see on this forum make me want to build pond too for silver arowana :)
 
A little more searching on hear will get you some ideas.

Why 3 windows? Seems like tempting fate that all three seal properly. Maybe just one larger one?

Is this going in a basement? You can plumb everything into another room to hide all the mechanicals.
 
Sounds like a dilema.

Viewing windows are a pain. IF you are going to attempt them then scrap calling it a pond...... You will be buildng a plywood tank. Problem with building a plywood tank is it's expensive.... The cost per gallon really goes down IF you are building a monster tank, but under 500 gallons doesn't really seem that cost effective to me.

If you want to do it cheap then scrap the viewing window idea and build a pond.

If you want the windows it will be expensive. IF you're willing to spend the money GO BIG....

Is this going in a basement or upstairs?
 
DB junkie;2434356; said:
Sounds like a dilema.

Viewing windows are a pain. IF you are going to attempt them then scrap calling it a pond...... You will be buildng a plywood tank. Problem with building a plywood tank is it's expensive.... The cost per gallon really goes down IF you are building a monster tank, but under 500 gallons doesn't really seem that cost effective to me.

If you want to do it cheap then scrap the viewing window idea and build a pond.

If you want the windows it will be expensive. IF you're willing to spend the money GO BIG....

Is this going in a basement or upstairs?

It is going to be in the game room. I'll see if the woman will settle for just the liner... v_V
 
abortedsoul;2434915; said:
I'll see if the woman will settle for just the liner... v_V

good luck with that one
mine wifes supportive so:headbang2 just dont have the space yet
 
This idea has been pretty much scrapped. lol, not to worry, we are just going with a much bigger one. I'm looking into buying a 1200-1500 gallon water tank, or maybe building something like a 16x6x2 pond in the living room.
 
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