Monster Fish Pond

[messiner]

OK guys heres my proposal,
Firstly i live in florida and it gets 40 deg on a winter night once a year, yeah it stays HOT most of the year, so i figure instead of getting the 300 gal tank i need i could do a tropical pond instead. it will house my PB, LMB, long nose gar (not for life), and a lima SN. also maybe a CK but prob not. the pond will be 5x6x2. this will be about 450gal. i am planning a pond filter (forget the name now, tired) with built in uv. I will onlt need to heat the pond in winter and provide shade in the summer

 

[Princley]

not sure what part of fla ur in..but i lived in portcharlotte for 7 years i never heated my pond it was fine ..we had lot of warm water fish... in it



ahhhhhhh i have to add any fish loss we did have was from other critters coons and what not so make sure they can't get in it

 

[guppy]

If you go 6" deeper it will reduce predation by putting the fish out of reach of most fish eating birds, cats, and coons. Also, if you line the pond with timber or go with above ground construction you can go 8'x6' for very little extra money. A 12'x15' liner will be needed.

 

[messiner]

sorry, i didnt have time to finish my original post. I am going to have a mesh cover as well to keep out the fauna in my area. im on the W coast near tampa.

 

[messiner]

sound plausable? im kinda worried about runoff from the lawn

 

[guppy]

If run off is a problem use a 2x10 lip set so a couple inches is above the ground, pack they area around it with a collar of high clay content dirt topped with gravel or pavers to form a counter slope, this will prevent the run off from entering the pond except during the most extreme gullywashers. Garden shade mesh can be used as a raised canopy that you can walk under and still keeps out most predators, racoons get into everything. It has the added benifit of slowing evaporation slightly and cutting back quite a bit on algae blooms. If you were keeping jumpers like aros or brycons you could velcro the lower edges to the pond lip so fish that jumped just land back in the pond instead of on the lawn.

 

[messiner]

thanks, now i get to convince my old man...

 

[werdna]

hope it works for ya

 

[JustinL]

good kuck with it.

 

[JustinL]

*luck