10' Pond Build

Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.
 
bristle said:
Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.
Click to expand...


That sounds like such a cool idea! I want to try that! If only I had a larger tank...hmmm...
 
Betta132 said:
Update on the yellowtail damsels in the ray tank at the local aquarium, if it's helpful: there are fewer. I haven't seen aggression between them, so I suspect the missing ones were eaten. You may want to get larger ones.
Also, there are peaceful damsel species. Perhaps try a few? They're cool.
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Thank you for the update! I haven't been seeing too much aggression from my blue or yellowtails at all. Both of the conch shells have been claimed by the largest two blue damsels, which live inside and will chase the others away when they come within a foot, but aside from that, there really hasn't been much aggression. My pair of three stripe Dascyllus are probably the worst that I have in terms of territoriality, but even they aren't too bad (defending an area of about 2 square feet). I'm a big fan of the Pomacentridae family in general, and have kept at least one member of the family in most of my past and present systems. I definitely plan to add a few groups of other (smaller) species to the pool.
 
bristle said:
Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. Building/plumbing it in wouldn't be a problem at all, and I could probably do a gravity fed container from the sump without having to add any additional pumps. If/when I do attempt something like this, I would probably go with a longer, more shallow dump container (say 3' in length by a few inches in depth) so that it creates a light wave across the pool. I'd be concerned that If I go too big with this, the force of the wave would compromise the pool's frame over time.
 
moriarty said:
Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. Building/plumbing it in wouldn't be a problem at all, and I could probably do a gravity fed container from the sump without having to add any additional pumps. If/when I do attempt something like this, I would probably go with a longer, more shallow dump container (say 3' in length by a few inches in depth) so that it creates a light wave across the pool. I'd be concerned that If I go too big with this, the force of the wave would compromise the pool's frame over time.
Click to expand...

Plus, would you be able to see anything through the rippling water?
 
SDguy said:
Plus, would you be able to see anything through the rippling water?
Click to expand...

Very good point. I love this idea, wouldn't want to do so at the expense of visibility. Another drawback would be the added noise. I guess I'd have to play around with dumping water in to see how it effects things. Fortunately, with my 200 gallon monthly water changes (will likely increase as more fish are added) I have plenty of opportunities to do so!
 
You could experiment with a slower filling rate for the container (that will dump the water.) So that it isn't constant. Maybe 1 time every 10 minutes, that would allow the surface to settle in between dumps to provide viewing time.
 
Ooh- there are damsels that farm algae, ones that aren't very large and defend a small area of rockwork. Perhaps you should get one or two once your algae builds up a bit, they're really cool to watch.

I have a way to reduce/almost eliminate surface disturbance from water pouring back into the tank. I've done this with my freshwater tank. You just hang a sponge in the outlet so that the water is in the sponge all the way down to the tank level, thereby reducing the noise. Since it's at the end of the filter, it doesn't build much gunk up. You just have to rinse it out a bit every month-ish.
 
Wow that is a really cool setup, looks like a little piece of ocean. Congrats! I'd love to see some video especially at feeding time.
 
I upgraded my lighting yesterday. Replaced the two Kessil A150s and RAB Lighting flood (will be repurposed for the refugium which was my original intention) with a single Kessil A360WE. I also decided to go with the Kessil Spectral Controller, as standing in a pool of saltwater to adjust an electrical device didn't sound like the best of ideas. I still have to play around with programming to get a dusk/daylight/dawn cycle, and also to figure out which color settings I like best.

I am really liking the shimmer from using a single point-source light, and no longer have the light spillage and blue tinted floor around the pool that I had with my previous light set up. The A360 really brings out the color of the fish as well.

Here are a few pics with the new lighting (Water is still a little cloudy, as I decided to stir up the sand bed since I already had to enter the pool to set up the light).

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Queen almost looks like she's out of the water in this one because she is right near the surface and the water is a bit cloudy.

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This one is from right after I finished playing with the light spectrum, so most of the fish are in hiding.

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"FPS"

Will try to get a video or two soon, as the shimmer effect really doesn't come through in pics.
 
Very nice! And your clam still looks realistic, though you may want to hide the base with something.
Have you noticed any interesting behavior from the damsels?
 
Betta132 said:
Very nice! And your clam still looks realistic, though you may want to hide the base with something.
Have you noticed any interesting behavior from the damsels?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I didn't make the maxima clam, but rather found it online from a company that makes artificial corals. Am considering ordering a few corals from them as well.

As for the damsels, the two largest Chrysiptera cyanea will leave their conch shells and will swim together for several minutes (they stay about 3" from each other the whole time, and flair their fins). Almost looks like a courtship display, but as far as I know, both are female (no orange coloration on either). There is no outright aggression between them in terms of nipping/chasing, and when they finish their synchronized swim, they both go back to their shells. Pretty cool to watch actually!
 
A calm-ish display like that could be some kind of display thing in an attempt to figure out who's dominant. Can you tell if they go back to the same shells every time, or what?
 
Betta132 said:
A calm-ish display like that could be some kind of display thing in an attempt to figure out who's dominant. Can you tell if they go back to the same shells every time, or what?
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking as well. Yeah, they go back to their respective shell every time. I've moved the shells while re-doing the rock work, and they still manage to find their own (one fish is about a half inch larger than the other, so I can tell them apart). I plan on adding a male Chrysiptera cyanea eventually, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Will likely add a few more females at the same time in hopes that it will curb aggression from the 2 largest established females.
 
Also could use hot water heater to heat pond, if temps swing that low and need hardcore heaters. Saw a guy so this with thermostats and circulation pumps to the drain of hot water. And then use titanium coils in sump fed with the hot water. Like the setup
 
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