My Monster Pond Project

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C

charles-n-charge

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2010
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Livingston Tx
Hello fellow MFK, I'm Charles and I'm about ready to begin designing my first Monster Pond. I plan to keep this thread open and updated during the whole project from beginning to end and look forward to the help and support of all of you.

First of all I'd like everyone to know, I am a teenager and am on a low budget of about $600. I would also like to find energy saving ways of doing everything (parents are being pretty strict about the project).

So far my plan is to dig out a massive hole about 25'x25'x5' with some shallow ledges that are only about 1'-2' deep and possibly a "beach". The hole will have a thick plastic above-ground pool liner to keep water inside (from what I know, fish enjoy water), and around the top will be a 2' tall rim made from cinder blocks covered in tile to look nice and to help keep cats out and fish in. For filtration I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do just yet. I plan on drawing up some blueprints on graphing paper to see what would work best.

Obviously I have a lot of work and planning to do before ground is broken, so if anyone has suggestions or advice then it would be much appreciated.

Leave me some comments and tell me what you think guys!



I'll post pictures of the blueprints when they are drawn up
 
Wow 23,437 gallons. That's a lot of dirt to move. I just built a 8000 gallon pond and it cost me more than $600 to get rid of the dirt.
To be realistic $600 won't even get you a 200 gallon pond with filter. Sorry if I'm being too negative. Good luck.
 
kendragon;4864664; said:
Wow 23,437 gallons. That's a lot of dirt to move. I just built a 8000 gallon pond and it cost me more than $600 to get rid of the dirt.
To be realistic $600 won't even get you a 200 gallon pond with filter. Sorry if I'm being too negative. Good luck.
Click to expand...

We have access to a large tractor to dig with and I plan on buying a used pool pump, friend has one and he said he'd give it to me for $200.

But if that doesn't work out, how much would just the water pump alone cost on a standard pool filter? Used or new
 
Sounds like you got a plan. Love it.....keep us posted.
 
jthefishguy;4864699; said:
nice work and congrats. my brother and i did a small one years ago. nice idea to use the plastic liner-they last a lot longer. i have no idea what you'd use on a filter though. good luck!
Click to expand...

My current plan for a filter is to have about 200' of PVC pipe running 5' underground and then coming up into a 15'x2'x2 long concrete troff with the layers of the filter. So it starts at one end, flows through the parts of the filter, and then exits the other end and back into the pond via waterfall. All done with one large water pump and gravity
 
Here's the current basic plan. Will most likely change little by little over time.

0bc34dc0.jpg


Each square = one square foot

The lowest section is 5' deep, second lowest is 3', and third lowest is only 1'. The filtration system will start with water from a pump at the bottom of the pond and will move up to the beginning of the long stream at the top-right of the pond. It will pass through several layers out filtration and flow back into the pond through a waterfall at the far right.

This is a VERY basic drawing of what I'm planning. It will most likely not work exactly like this, but hopefully close to it.

If anyone is interested and has some spare time then please print off the plan, draw over it with corrections you may see fit, and post it back on this thread with corrections. Compromise sometimes is the best route.

Do not be scared to cretic and post your honest opinions, if love to hear them, positive or negative
 
Diskboy12;4865116; said:
I think its a great idea....but its going to be wayyyyyyyyyy over $600. What do you plan om keeping?
Click to expand...

Hm I figure the only things I'll need to buy are a large liner, a cheap pump, a lot of cinder blocks, the PVC, and a few other things. I'm going with all the cheapest material I can find lol

And I plan on keeping a few silver arowanas, shovelnose catfish, maybe red tailed catfish, clown knife, red belly pacu, pleco, irredesent shark, oscars, and the rest I'm not sure about just yet
 
I'm not trying to burst your bubble or anything but my pond im building (350 gallon stock tank) is costing me almost $300 i cant even imagine how much a pool liner will cost...
 
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