Slow progress but still moving forward
I'm thinking through a problem and thought I'd throw it out to the collective thinking here to see if there's a simple solution.
The main reef section is 8' x 16' x 4' (before the additional glass height). With the raised glass I gain another 27". So around 6000 gallons. The sump is 8' x 8' x 4' but will probably max out at 3' of water so 1500 gallons. The surge of s 8' x 8' x 2' so 1000 gallons. And there's a side algae scrubber, etc"¦
For the main reef, I need about 2' of the 4' pool depth and the rest is extra unneeded depth (serves no viewing purpose but costs in terms of salt and upkeep). So I need to displace it with something that is easy and cheap. I need 2000 gallons of "œfiller".
My first thought was very large gravel. But my wife pointed out that if/when we move, we will have to revert the space to the lap pool it is now (for resale purposes). So removing 2000 gallons of gravel seems much.
I thought of waterproof sand bags but it's the same issue of tons of heavy medium.
Can't use PVC pipe because it's too expensive and is hollow (I need to displace water volume).
I can seal the pipe but that would make it into a boat. I could add sand to make it neutrally buoyant but that's a lot of work and more cost"¦
Cinder blocks have weight but are mostly hollow.
I thought of bags of ping pong balls in waterproof bags with sand to weight them down"¦
Clearly a rabbit hole of possible ideas. I think there's a simple solution that is neutrally buoyant, cheap and easy to put in and take out"¦ I'm just missing it.
Thought I'd tease the wildlife here "¦ ideas?
