10,000 gal pool reef. 38,000 liters

[karimwassef]

it took a while to capture the walkthrough so I'm going to post the images tonight and then explain over the week

ok.. here's the end view as it stands...

and here it is without the reef cover:

and without the screened-in reef room:

the design has morphed into a coral reef inside of a pool. The pool is basically a moat (U shaped actually) and the pool water is separate from the reef water but there are windows that allow viewing inside the reef from underwater in the pool. This is a wife-compromise and the reef is 20% smaller now at 8' x 16' x 5.5' deep. The pool is 20' x 30' x 4'. The sump is the part of the pool that is separated behind the reef and that's 5' x 20' x 4'.

The surge tanks are 4' x 8' x 6' and the return surge fuge is 4' x 8' x 2.5'

But it all starts with building the pool... on a very strict DIY budget!

Here's the starting point:

the first step is the deep excavation for the geothermal loops. First, the air cooling loops that go down about 8'

and then a foot above that, the water cooling loops:

Both are PVC loops and the excavations are filled in with sand which is wetted and then compressed... Is it perfect? No, but it's an opportunity to reduce my cooling costs in the summer.

The excavation is then expanded in area to put in the pool and plumbing. The first step is a gravel base:

Then a waterproofing plastic layer and a 4" insulation layer to reduce heat loss in the winter (pink). Then the pool plumbing. There are two bottom drains and 2 pool skimmers connected to the pool equipment back beside the house. I also added 3 "conduit" channels underground made of 4" PVC for electricity and water connections over time. I'm also adding PEX heating loops at this point.

The challenge is to keep the pool at 73F or warmer during the upcoming Texas winter. If I can't do that, then I have no chance of keeping a reef alive. Either I make an all-year pool first, or ... no reef. That's the driving force behind all the insulation, the heating coils, and the swimming pool moat. The idea is that the pool water volume would act as a giant thermal battery. If it's under a greenhouse structure, it should continue to hold on to heat.

 

[karimwassef]

Next is the waterproofing layer and the rebar (horizontal and vertical) #4:

and then the concrete pour with 4000psi (6sack) mix:

the next step is the concrete walls and I'm planning on using preformed PVC from a company called EPI plastics: https://www.epiplastics.com/index.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItN-Fs4yr6QIVGv3jBx1xpgIeEAAYASAAEgL7evD_BwE

Here's a video showing how they go up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZex0ne8GM

The walls are 4' high but the excavation is 3' deep to the concrete floor so there's about a 1' edge above ground.

Then the epoxy paint from Aquaguard:
https://www.aquaguard5000.com/product/aquaguard-5001-epoxy-pool-paint-primer-sealer/
https://www.aquaguard5000.com/product/epoxy-pool-paint-aquaguard-5000/

That's basically the pool.

The protective screen room is next:

The purpose of the room is to provide a space to work in the brutal winter in Dallas. Ice is harsh. This is a mini-greenhouse with insulated walls for sound proofing and controlled environment.

The front of the room is screened with clear plastic sheet and the roof is acrylic panels.

Next is the "pool shed". This will house the 100A subpanel, RODI, ATO, sinks, generator, hot and cold water, drain, as well as the pool equipment:

and it's all brick and roofed to match the house:

then the pool "green-house" cover is PVC and plastic sheet:

 

[karimwassef]

So the pool guts look like this:

Then the insulation around the pool sides too...

So far, the estimate to do the 20'x30' 18,000 gallon pool is $36K... my budge is $25K ... so I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze it all in...

 

[karimwassef]

Once the pool is proven in, the reef can start:

The plumbing goes in first:

The large white pipes are 4" overflow and drain (red is emergency) and the green pipes are 2" returns from the surge-fuge. There are also four yellow pipes 2" for vacuum and four white 2" for electrical and hydraulic connections... these are just conduits to avoid running wires over the pool edge.

Next come the walls - same construction as the pool but with windows cutout under the water level with glass panels.

and here's what it looks like with the greenhouse screening room:

 

[karimwassef]

 

[karimwassef]

 

[karimwassef]

Here's what I wanted to achieve:

1. Solar to reduce cost of lighting
2. Geothermal to reduce cooling cost
3. Thermal coils to allow me to use gas heating
4. Peninsula to allow 3 sided view
5. Dropoff edge to create separate shallow and deep reefs
6. Deep cavern region for the fish to hide and sleep & encourage sponges.
7. Large shallow reef with side and top view
8. Underwater pool view
9. Thermal mass of the pool to control heat loss
10. Tides with a hydraulically controlled overflow
11. 4 massive channel surges that can immediately flow in circulating loops to each other
12. 100% surge-fuge return inside the rock to encourage soft structure plankton
13. Underground surge flush through limestone
14. Sand bottom and rock bottom
15. Year round access with a moving pool/reef cover
16. Large raised tanks to to create a scrubber that can be vertically scaled by fish (reverse dropoff)
17. Large settling tank with rotating separation for detritus
18. Walk-on pool walkway (barefoot only) with winter greenhouse effect

There are a few more nuances to the design but I'll capture them as I walk through the images later.

 

[travisstewart]

Dang! You sure you don't build pool reefs for a living?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karimwassef]

Dang! You sure you don't build pool reefs for a living?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LOL! I might end up doing that after this build...

 

[karimwassef]

If anyone sees anything that could be done better, now would be a good time to chime in.

I haven’t taken on a project this big before.. any ideas on cost reduction options or smarter solutions would be great.

 

[travisstewart]

Just invite me over!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karimwassef]

You can be present at the groundbreaking event... I’m hoping it’s a week out. Contractors are getting edgy.

 

[travisstewart]

You can be present at the groundbreaking event... I'm hoping it's a week out. Contractors are getting edgy.

If it's a week out, i won't be able to be there :/ I live in Houston, but am in rowlett two weekends a month. I was just there this past weekend


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karimwassef]

Maybe we can coordinate. When are you back here?

 

[travisstewart]

Prob 5/22 weekend but for my 30th bday not a good weekend lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karimwassef]

Here's the volume calculations:

The reef is 4' + 2'9" deep ~ 6'9" and it's 8' x 16' so that's around 6500 gallons.
The surge tanks are 2' x 8' x 6' so that's around 700 gallons.
The surge fuge is 4' x 8' x 2.5' and that's 600 gallons. About 1'4" (of the 4') is actually "surge" @ 200 gallons and the fuge is the rest @ 400 gallons.
The sump volume is 5' x 20' x 4' and that's 3000 gallons.

The sump volume and the surge tank volumes will alternate, so I'm only counting the sump volume. The surge fuge though has a fuge portion at 400 gallons...

So the total actual volume is 6,500 gallons (reef) + 400 gallons (fuge) + 3,000 gallons (sump) = 9,900 gallons.

However - I'm hoping to minimize the actual water volume by limiting the sump to only about 2' deep when the surges are full. So that's 5' x 20' x 2' ~ 1500 gallons.
I'm also going to use limestone gravel covering the bottom 1' 3" so that reduces the actual water volume in the reef to 8' x 16' x 5' 6" ~ 5300 gallons.

So the water volume is 5,300 gallons (reef) + 600 gallons (surge fuge) + 700 gallons (surge tanks) + 1,500 gallons (sump) ~ 8,100 gallons.

Still massive... but I wanted to be clear since I decided to title the thread 10,000 gal pool reef.

 

[karimwassef]

I guess I can't go back and annotate the walk through any more, so I'll just have to quote and add my notes:

Once the pool is proven in, the reef can start:

The plumbing goes in first:

The large white pipes are 4" overflow and drain (red is emergency) and the green pipes are 2" returns from the surge-fuge. There are also four yellow pipes 2" for vacuum and four white 2" for electrical and hydraulic connections... these are just conduits to avoid running wires over the pool edge.

Next come the walls - same construction as the pool but with windows cutout under the water level with glass panels.

So these concrete walls separate the freshwater in the pool from the salt water in the reef. They form the bottom 4' of the reef and sump. The back section is the sump and that's 5' x 20'. The reef is 8' x 16'.

and here's what it looks like with the greenhouse screening room:

This is really a temperature controlled shelter for winter use and to be more aesthetically appealing (HOA issues). It's bricked to match the house. There's one design element incomplete here which is how to make the roof removable and waterproof in the winter...

Now the big challenge with a "moat pool" around the "island reef" is how to get to it... so I added platforms that allow me to walk over the pool water. This is wood studs covered in acrylic to allow thermal heating of the pool water while also reducing evaporation in the winter.

The next big challenge is accessing the massive sump when there's no floor to walk on... so I added a suspended stud and plywood room immediately behind the reef and over the sump with half of the floor open for access... the access is both for me and the piping/wiring.

This box is 5'5" wide, 6' high and 8' long. It also acts as a frame to raise the surge-fuge. It's a little claustrophobic but I think I can manage it. The half floor can also be half removable to allow all access to the sump.

The sump has the large 4' diameter settling tank that feeds both sides of the sump. The sump also has access to the geothermal loops here. The pink conduits connect this area to the "pool shed" for power and RODI water.

Next.. the construction INSIDE the reef: I start with large perforated plastic sheeting over 2" tall rings of 2" PVC pipe. These are basically just spacers to keep the perforated plastic raised over the concrete floor. The plastic will be sitting under tons of limestone gravel so this basically creates a plenum layer under that massive mass. One of the surge returns will run into the plenum and flush it up periodically. There's cinderblocks on the plastic sheeting as well to allow the construction of the reef over it... the purpose will be clear in a bit.

Now, the limestone gravel is added to about 1' depth and it's very large open gravel ~ 3/4" to 1" in size. The idea is that there should be a lot of flow up through this volume when the surge outlet is opened:

The next layer of the reef is constructed with more cinderblock. There are steps on one side and stands on the back side. The overflow pipes are added now. The cinderblocks in the back will eventually hold up the massive vertical surge tanks:

Above this layer of cinderblocks is a plywood+epoxy resin platform for the shallow reef to sit on.

There will be two pairs of surge tanks - the rear surge tanks rest on the lower floor blocks and the front surge tanks rest of the upper floor blocks. That's the purpose of the cinderblock structure.

Also, the open forms are strong without creating obstruction to flow. They act as caves for fish as well.

Next, the overflow acrylic box is formed over the fake reef floor. This will establish the "low tide" level of the water on the reef.

There will be a hydraulic "lip" that will raise the water level to allow for high tide to low tide cycles.

That's it for today - I'll update more tomorrow hopefully.

Please share your ideas and feedback!

 

[McPuff]

Karim, is there a way to view the reef up close without standing in the pool? This seems like a downside to the current plan...but maybe I'm missing a detail.

 

[karimwassef]

Yes. The walk on platforms act as a bridge between the pool edge and the reef edge concrete. They basically cover all the pool water so you walk up to the reef.

Also, the vertical surge tanks rise 6’ above water level and the fish can swim up into it. They’re basically inverted tanks so the tangs can graze on the scrubber growth.

 

[karimwassef]

Also.. here's the yard - nice and sunny!