Intex 18' x 48" pool

[Blue Bear]

I picked up one of these on Craigslist cheap, with the intentions on making a pond.

I got it set up, working on cleaning it out now.

I was wondering if I could put sand in for substrate? Driftwood, maybe? I can see the obvious dangers of driftwood, but mostly asking out of curiosity.

 

[xraycer]

Driftwood doesn't have much appeal when looked down into the water. It'll look pretty much like a shadow for the most part.

You can do sand, but it will be a nightmare to remove, should you decide to do this later on.

You should also strategize on how to control algae, unless you're going for the pea soup look.

 

[Blue Bear]

Driftwood doesn't have much appeal when looked down into the water. It'll look pretty much like a shadow for the most part.

You can do sand, but it will be a nightmare to remove, should you decide to do this later on.

You should also strategize on how to control algae, unless you're going for the pea soup look.

Driftwood would be more of a territory thing rather than visual appeal. Sand would also help with rooting underwater plants. Having a lot of plants should help with algae control, right? Floating and underwater? I'm not so much worried about removing the sand later on, I'd probably throw the whole pool out of it became too much of an issue to remove.

 

[xraycer]

Driftwood would be more of a territory thing rather than visual appeal. Sand would also help with rooting underwater plants. Having a lot of plants should help with algae control, right? Floating and underwater? I'm not so much worried about removing the sand later on, I'd probably throw the whole pool out of it became too much of an issue to remove.

I'm not a plant guy, but I don't believe sand, by itself, is a very good rooting medium. Unless the nearly the entire surface is covered, plants alone won't be enough to outcompete green water.

 

[Wailua Boy]

I would just use potted plants, opposed to adding substrate.

 

[Blue Bear]

I'm not a plant guy, but I don't believe sand, by itself, is a very good rooting medium. Unless the nearly the entire surface is covered, plants alone won't be enough to outcompete green water.

It wold help more than a bare liner, I'd imagine. I didn't plan on plants completely controlling the algae just in addition to other possibilities.

 

[Wailua Boy]

Plants can and will out complete algae, use fast growing emergents or even water lily. I would also add a floating plant.

 

[Blue Bear]

Plants can and will out complete algae, use fast growing emergents or even water lily. I would also add a floating plant.

Thanks for the advice. A friend of mine has a farm with a couple massive ponds and all kinds of plants he said I'm welcome to as many as I want. I don't know the names of all of them, I will find out. Mostly Florida native plants, I believe. I can order or buy different ones as well.

 

[Wailua Boy]

I have a few ponds and was considering adding a Intex pool. After crunching numbers, it is one of the more affordable ways to hold water. I am wondering how they hold up to high wind?

 

[Blue Bear]

I've had the metal frame ones for swimming in the past they made it through a few hurricanes although not major ones with no problem.