Indoor pond idea's...

[Conner]

So I just finished my outdoor pond (well, its running, at least), and I've been thinking about building a new home for my motoro stingray, who could really use her own tank. I'm going to look at building an all glass tank as well, but I was thinking it would be a little cheaper to build a plywood/2x4 tank and use a pond liner to line it. Then, I would either build a plywood filter box that would sit on top of the tank, or use a 20-30g heavy duty plastic tote instead.

As for the pond, I want it to be 6'x3x'2', INSIDE dimensions, which is about 269g. I'm aiming for about 25-30g for the filter box, with a vertical DIY PVC biotube that the water will drain through on its way into the filter box, which would then flow back into the pond. I'm making some drawings to illustrate, and will load them later tonight or tomorrow.

Do you think this filter will be large enough, especially with the biotube? For the moment, there will only be a small (6.5" disc) motoro stingray, and maybe a few gar that are outgrowing their 125g tank. I will probably add another 1 or 2 rays in the future though, so I need to be sure the filter will handle it.

Any feedback on my idea's so far?

Oh yah, for those who use dehumidifiers, can you plumb them so they just drain back into the pond, or do you need to toss out the water the pull out of the air?

 

[justonemoretank]

The dehumidifier should not drain into the pond. The water that comes out of those things gets pretty gross. We used to have the kind that you have to empty, and it broke. Thank God, because we returned it and splurged for the auto-empty one with the pump. We had a hole in our wall anyway (due to having removed a gas heater that was there), so we just ran the line through the hole in the wall. I'd definitely recommend it. We were emptying the bin twice per day. It was pulling a lot of water. As for filter size and all, can't help, because I know nothing about rays. But I'd focus on getting the dehumidifier to drain outside, because after looking at that bin and how stained it got, something was making that water gross... either the (copper?) piping inside, or the nasty stuff in the air.

 

[Dawg047]

Ya i "justonemoretank" is right the dehumidifier pulls some nasty stuff out of the air and gets pretty gross, i would not chance it. not with a ray. and i say the bigger the filter the better. Good luck keep us updated

 

[Conner]

Thanks, I figured something like that with a dehumidifier. I ought to be able to work a drain pipe down into the crawlspace and sump down there.

I'll post up my drawings of the pond idea tomorrow, its getting late tonight.

 

[Conner]

My scanner's on the fritz, so I can't load my hand drawn sketches. I'm gonna have to redraw them in MSPaint before I can upload them.

I'm also rethinking my biotower idea. Has anyone made one of these before and have any opinions on their usefulness/ease of use?

 

[Conner]

Well the drawings aren't nearly as detailed as my hand-drawn ones were, but you get my drift. The main pond will (hopefully) be 72"Lx36"Wx24"H INSIDE. The filter will sit on top of the main pond at one end, and will be 12"Lx36"Wx18H" INSIDE. I will have a pump down in the main pond moving water up to a spray bar that will distribute water evenly across the mechanical and biological filter media. I will have a pair of drains through the bottom of the filter box that will drain back into the pond. These drains will be 4-6" tall, so that if the pump stops, the filter box won't drain completely, allowing some of the bacteria to survive a short power outage.

What do you guys think?

 

[Conner]

Doing some measurements in the room where this will go, I may have to reduce the width to 30" instead of 36", but we'll see.

With a plywood pond/tank this size, but only 24" tall, do I need to have 2x4 supports on the exterior, or is the plywood strong enough by itself? Especially if I use some style of eurobracing with more plywood or 2x4's?

 

[Noto]

Looks good to me.

That's a huge media volume; I think it would be worthwhile to block off one end of the filter box for a water-loving houseplant like a dracaena or peace lily. The reduction in biomedia volume should be more than offset by the plant's ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate takeup. Plus it's cheaper than an extra 6 gallons of media and it'll look nice!

 

[Conner]

Looks good to me.

That's a huge media volume; I think it would be worthwhile to block off one end of the filter box for a water-loving houseplant like a dracaena or peace lily. The reduction in biomedia volume should be more than offset by the plant's ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate takeup. Plus it's cheaper than an extra 6 gallons of media and it'll look nice!

I might do that! Plus it'll make it look nice to have a plant(s) growing up out of the filter box, and maybe falling down over the side of the filter. I assume these should be kept in a pot (with gravel) inside the filter, or should I just drop them down with the roots loose?

Would a 6"x12" area be enough for 1-2 plants?

 

[Noto]

I might do that! Plus it'll make it look nice to have a plant(s) growing up out of the filter box, and maybe falling down over the side of the filter. I assume these should be kept in a pot (with gravel) inside the filter, or should I just drop them down with the roots loose?

Would a 6"x12" area be enough for 1-2 plants?

A pot with gravel is better, otherwise they'll tip over. These plants typically come in 1-gallon (6.5" diameter) or 2.5-gallon (10" diameter) pots, but you could repot them into a rectangular basket with more convenient dimensions.

You could also poke cuttings of pothos or heart-leaf philodendron down into the gravel for a nice fast-growing trailing plant. I think philodendron is slightly toxic if consumed so it should be kept trimmed back, but you can let pothos grow down into the main tank.

All the plants I mentioned have very low light requirements and should do fine with just the ambient lighting.