Was thinking of making a small 450g concrete pond with a front glass panel.

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xmortred

Feeder Fish
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Mar 6, 2013
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Was thinking of making a small 450g concrete pond with a front glass panel. I am thinking about doing this thing for a pretty long time now, any ideas on how to do it? I came up with a couple of threads when I was back reading which was way over budget but was something that I would really like to build over time. This concrete pond will be placed on the rooftop. The dimensions I though of were about 96"(8ft)x36"(3ft)x30"(2 1/2ft).

With this being said, I already have a couple of questions in mind.
First off, I was planning to put a flooring/base of 9ftx5ft and about 4-6inch thick, would this suffice?
2. Since this is going to have a front glass panel would it be safe to have a thickness of 6" with regards to the concrete? And would it be better if there was a slit in the middle of the front walls for glass to be placed in?
3. Thickness of the glass, would it be okay for 3/8 thick glass or go for 1"?
4. Waterproofing, with regards to this one, do we first make a 2" thick floor and apply something to it? Or do we have something to mix with the cement to make it waterproof?
5. I also plan on having 2 overflow pipes with 2 4ftx18x18 sump to be placed on both sides, would this be okay?

I'm really sorry for asking a lot of questions directly, but these are the things I really want to ask.

Any PROs and CONs would be highly appreciated. Also, an indoor glass tank is out of the question.
Thanks!
 
concrete thickness should suffice, though most on here use blocks on the walls to speed things up and then skin over them with concrete to give the more finished look.
2-3. Slit in the middle to drop the glass into will make it easier to drop the glass in...or harder depending on how accurate you can be. Glass thickness depends on the size of the panel. Is it going to be the full height of the pond? (ie 2.5 foot) or less?
Option 1: at 2.5ft (an 8ft by 2.5ft panel) 3/4" glass is recommended.
Option 2: If you cut that in half and have the bottom half of the front concrete and the top half glass (ie 15" concrete on the bottom with and 8ft by 15" glass panel) you could go down to 3/8" (calculator seven say 1/4" is fine I just don't like that idea on an 8ft panel)
Option 3: if the concrete is only the bottom 6" and the glass is the top 2ft, then you'd need 1/2" glass.

4. You'll need to apply something for sealing, this won't have to be a robust layer as in plywood tanks as the concrete is both strong and mostly waterproof (varies on the mix) but unless you're going to be using waterproofing concrete in the build you'll need something to keep moisture out as standard concrete isn't completely waterproof (and can leach things into your water) Look into pond paint or a liquid rubber. (I don't see any benefit to going the epoxy route on a concrete build I know pond armor is used but its far more expensive and seems overly redundant).

5. sounds fine to me
 
450 gallons is not that big of a pond. Could be expensive to construct. Rubber liner or other material may be cheaper in the long run. Additionally, the concrete is very heavy, especially on a roof.
 
be cheaper to buy a tank imo!
 
yogurt_21 said:
concrete thickness should suffice, though most on here use blocks on the walls to speed things up and then skin over them with concrete to give the more finished look.
2-3. Slit in the middle to drop the glass into will make it easier to drop the glass in...or harder depending on how accurate you can be. Glass thickness depends on the size of the panel. Is it going to be the full height of the pond? (ie 2.5 foot) or less?
Option 1: at 2.5ft (an 8ft by 2.5ft panel) 3/4" glass is recommended.
Option 2: If you cut that in half and have the bottom half of the front concrete and the top half glass (ie 15" concrete on the bottom with and 8ft by 15" glass panel) you could go down to 3/8" (calculator seven say 1/4" is fine I just don't like that idea on an 8ft panel)
Option 3: if the concrete is only the bottom 6" and the glass is the top 2ft, then you'd need 1/2" glass.


4. You'll need to apply something for sealing, this won't have to be a robust layer as in plywood tanks as the concrete is both strong and mostly waterproof (varies on the mix) but unless you're going to be using waterproofing concrete in the build you'll need something to keep moisture out as standard concrete isn't completely waterproof (and can leach things into your water) Look into pond paint or a liquid rubber. (I don't see any benefit to going the epoxy route on a concrete build I know pond armor is used but its far more expensive and seems overly redundant).


5. sounds fine to me
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Thanks for the input, I'll put this in mind. I'll also have to come up with a better design.




joe jaskot said:
450 gallons is not that big of a pond. Could be expensive to construct. Rubber liner or other material may be cheaper in the long run. Additionally, the concrete is very heavy, especially on a roof.
Click to expand...


Yep, the only concern I have is the weight of the concrete, but the place already supports a 6ftx5ftx6ft reservoir tank, I'm guessing this won't be a problem since surface-wise, weight would be distributed properly and water level won't be that high. Thanks for the input, though!


justarn said:
be cheaper to buy a tank imo!
Click to expand...


I don't think so. I already have some of the materials to be used, like cement, sand/gravel and some metal bars.
 
yogurt_21 said:
Option 2: If you cut that in half and have the bottom half of the front concrete and the top half glass (ie 15" concrete on the bottom with and 8ft by 15" glass panel) you could go down to 3/8" (calculator seven say 1/4" is fine I just don't like that idea on an 8ft panel)
Click to expand...

Let's say I go with this idea, put 20" of concrete for the bottom with 2x 3ftx1ft glass(middle part would also be concrete, so it's pretty much like having 2 3ftx1ft panels with 1ft concrete at the middle), could I go down to 1/4? What if each side will have glass panels, giving it 3 sides for viewing(front, left/right) would this be okay to go with 1/4?
 
according to the glass calculators, yes if you do that you'll be fine at 1/4" for 3ft x 1ft panels. should be well above the recommended 3.8 safety factor, likely even more than the 4.5 safety factor (which is recommended for glass bumpers like pacu, piranha, etc).

so hopefully that helps out on cost.

the rest is really up to your materials at hand and workmanship. Concrete is robust but if you mix it poorly it can crack. Other than that it's pretty forgiving.
 
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