moriarty, what do you think about if this was done with a 12 foot pond versus the 10 foot? Would it be pretty much the same stuff? Also, how is that skimmer working out for you? It seems pretty tiny for a 1400 gallon pond, lol. Thought about DIY'ing one yet? How much rock do you have in the system? What RODI are you running? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just really interested lol
10' Pond Build
- Thread starter moriarty
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moriarty
New member
In hindsight, I wish that I would have gone with the 12' Intex. My reason for going with the 10' is that I wanted it to fit comfortably in a certain space in my basement (under the south facing egress window) and still have room to build something from brick, stone, tile... etc... to surround the pool. Still need to get going on this. I also wanted to be able to walk around the entire pool to limit the amount of times that I have to get in.
The skimmer has been working out very well so far! I was concerned that it wouldn't be large enough at first, but so far so good. The majority of my fish are still far from fully grown, so it's definitely something that I'll need to consider as they grow.
I would guess that I have somewhere between 800 and 900 lbs of rock in the pool. I added it over time. Some was base rock, some LR, and I picked up a couple hundred pounds from a buddy who was breaking down his reef.
As for RO/DI, I have the BRS 6 Stage RO/DI system. I use RO water for topping off, and tap for water changes.
Have been considering adding a large algae scrubber over the sump, but I would be concerned about it adding an odor to my basement, so I haven't attempted doing so yet. I've also been planning to upgrade the refugium from 50 gallons to 300 gallons to add water volume along with additional macro growth for my angels/tangs.
Nice! The reason I ask is because there is a school that I will be building an aquarium for this summer, and this could be pretty interesting to do with natives like a few tiny sharks for growing out, a stingray, and tons of other natives. Do you have your eyes set on any protein skimmers yet for once your fish load get huge (obviously it's going to need a bigger skimmer soon 
) If you don't mind me asking, what do you have into the project thus far? Not including livestock, foods, meds, etc.
) If you don't mind me asking, what do you have into the project thus far? Not including livestock, foods, meds, etc.
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Genera
Blink and you're dead.
Thank you! Yeah, the salt definitely adds up! Fortunately, my LFS sells 200 lb boxes for a very reasonable price. I usually go this route versus buying online to save my delivery guys back
I grow a few different types of macro in my refugium for the tangs/angels which I feed a couple times/week as a treat. It does not last long! I also feed a couple large sheets of nori per day, which is also gone in about 30 seconds.
How is your Atlantic tank coming along? Started a 120 "Florida" tank not too long ago myself. No fish yet, but there is so much life on the aquacultured LR, that I'm not missing them too much.
Well, there's way too many mollies for me to count, I'm estimating about 130? I don't know. But sponges, snails/slugs/etc, brittle stars, feather worms, and lots of other things just pop up out of nowhere. Botryocladia is popping up all over too, but Caulerpa lentillifera is the most abundant organism in terms of biomass. I'm thinking of removing about 3/5 of it and replacing it with some other kinds of caulerpa, i.e. prolifera, taxifolia, etc, and maybe some gracilaria, halymenia, laurencia, etc. I might install a new, more powerful light and try some gorgonians and ricordeas. Maybe even a few rock/flower nems. I'm thinking about getting a few blennies, specifically Malacoctenus triangulatus and M. aurolineatus. A bunch of inverts would be cool too. I only keep the tank about 1/2 full, as sometime soon I'd like to purchase a bunch of mangroves & let them grow all over. Actually, sometime soon I'd like to get a bigger tank, longer and wider, but not as tall as the 90. Something along the lines of 72" x 24" x 17". I'm also planning to make a bunch of ponds, indoor/outdoor. Not relating to the fish theme, also an aviary, vivariums (frog/toad, salamander, gecko, etc), chickens, and budgies. I think I'll do these in the spring, when the weather is better. It's the middle of November in MN and it's raining... The other day it was upwards of 60F! Snow is expected for next week though.
SoloChromis
New member
Well, there's way too many mollies for me to count, I'm estimating about 130? I don't know. But sponges, snails/slugs/etc, brittle stars, feather worms, and lots of other things just pop up out of nowhere. Botryocladia is popping up all over too, but Caulerpa lentillifera is the most abundant organism in terms of biomass. I'm thinking of removing about 3/5 of it and replacing it with some other kinds of caulerpa, i.e. prolifera, taxifolia, etc, and maybe some gracilaria, halymenia, laurencia, etc. I might install a new, more powerful light and try some gorgonians and ricordeas. Maybe even a few rock/flower nems. I'm thinking about getting a few blennies, specifically Malacoctenus triangulatus and M. aurolineatus. A bunch of inverts would be cool too. I only keep the tank about 1/2 full, as sometime soon I'd like to purchase a bunch of mangroves & let them grow all over. Actually, sometime soon I'd like to get a bigger tank, longer and wider, but not as tall as the 90. Something along the lines of 72" x 24" x 17". I'm also planning to make a bunch of ponds, indoor/outdoor. Not relating to the fish theme, also an aviary, vivariums (frog/toad, salamander, gecko, etc), chickens, and budgies. I think I'll do these in the spring, when the weather is better. It's the middle of November in MN and it's raining... The other day it was upwards of 60F! Snow is expected for next week though.
Do you have any pics of the tank? Sounds awesome :bum: Do you have any idea where to get wild-type ("agouti") sailfin mollies? Pretty much everywhere I've looked just carry the typical blacks, dalmatians, goldens etc.
Aqua_expert19
New member
So you did end up getting sharks!!!!!!!!!!
What the fudge? Look 9 and 14 posts up... Even if on tapatalk... come on...
Go to Swamp River Aquatics and they've got some wild-type ones for sale (online store)
Aqua_expert19
New member
I asked him when he first started stocking the pond if he was going to, and he said no, haven't followed it for a while.
moriarty
New member
LoL! The sharks weren't part of my original plan, but I always had the idea in the back of my mind. I did quite a bit of reading up over the past half-year or so and when these 3 were returned to my LFS, I thought I'd give it a shot. All three were hatched/raised in captivity so I figured that they would be a better option for my system than something wild caught. I still keep a 300g rubbermaid and some extra equipment at the ready should I have any compatibility issues. Would keep them in there until I could get a second pool up and running that would be dedicated to the sharks.
moriarty
New member
Nice! The reason I ask is because there is a school that I will be building an aquarium for this summer, and this could be pretty interesting to do with natives like a few tiny sharks for growing out, a stingray, and tons of other natives. Do you have your eyes set on any protein skimmers yet for once your fish load get huge (obviously it's going to need a bigger skimmer soon
Very cool! I haven't looked into a larger skimmer since my last upgrade, but I really like the idea of building my own. If for whatever reason that doesn't work out, I will likely look into skimmers intended for commercial applications. Just depends on what type of time commitment I'd be looking at to build. As to what I have invested in terms of equipment (pool, liner, insulation, filtration/pumps, skimmer, lighting, dehumidifier - probably the most necessary piece of equipment that I have - etc...), it really wasn't bad... to take a quick guess, I would say somewhere between $3-4k.
moriarty
New member
Well, there's way too many mollies for me to count, I'm estimating about 130? I don't know. But sponges, snails/slugs/etc, brittle stars, feather worms, and lots of other things just pop up out of nowhere. Botryocladia is popping up all over too, but Caulerpa lentillifera is the most abundant organism in terms of biomass. I'm thinking of removing about 3/5 of it and replacing it with some other kinds of caulerpa, i.e. prolifera, taxifolia, etc, and maybe some gracilaria, halymenia, laurencia, etc. I might install a new, more powerful light and try some gorgonians and ricordeas. Maybe even a few rock/flower nems. I'm thinking about getting a few blennies, specifically Malacoctenus triangulatus and M. aurolineatus. A bunch of inverts would be cool too. I only keep the tank about 1/2 full, as sometime soon I'd like to purchase a bunch of mangroves & let them grow all over. Actually, sometime soon I'd like to get a bigger tank, longer and wider, but not as tall as the 90. Something along the lines of 72" x 24" x 17". I'm also planning to make a bunch of ponds, indoor/outdoor. Not relating to the fish theme, also an aviary, vivariums (frog/toad, salamander, gecko, etc), chickens, and budgies. I think I'll do these in the spring, when the weather is better. It's the middle of November in MN and it's raining... The other day it was upwards of 60F! Snow is expected for next week though.
Sounds like a really nice system! Would love to see a build thread if you have one! If you haven't looked into it already, I recommend rubbermaid tubs for indoor ponds up to 300 gallons. If you are looking for something bigger, you really can't go wrong with an intex pool and pond liner!
That's a really low price for such a big system! I'm thinking of building an 8", 6 foot high skimmer for this tank. I can't really tell from the build - would this be an internal or external skimmer? Hopefully a 6 foot skimmer is enough to keep up with a big bioload lol. But it should be fine considering it holds around 63 gallons of water inside it - plenty enough.
ThRoewer
New member
Those are some nice looking skimmers... must cost a pretty penny though
Edit: just looked and I found one for a tad over $4K
moriarty
New member
Looks from the diagram that this design is intended for external use. Could likely be modified to work either way however.
moriarty
New member
Had to do a double take when I saw the little man in the figure to provide a sense of size/scale! The model with the near 10' diameter is something else! For a living, I own a company that specializes in the design, installation, and maintenance of industrial equipment (mostly industrial refrigeration systems, but we do quite a few projects where large amounts of water movement is involved). Was very cool to see an example of equipment that we use in our hobby on a much larger scale! Thanks for posting!!
Yeah, no problem man! Those skimmers are massive though - if I end up doing my huge Shark pond, I might have to look into those
moriarty
New member
Tried taking a few pics of the pool this morning, but my niger decided that he wasn't going to let me photograph anything but him... Tough taking pics with this guy because he likes to swim/beg at the water's surface whenever I'm near the pool, causing a lot of surface agitation. Will try to get some of the other fish later (trigger permitting of course)
Caught him mid-squirt in this one.
Caught him mid-squirt in this one.
ThRoewer
New member
I still have 2 old air operated versions of them back in Germany. I got them for free but never got to hook them up because I didn't have the pump to get the water that high or the compressor to provide the air.
I also didn't look forward to use a ladder every time I would have to clean them or do maintenance.
And those were the smallest models of their time...
