HELP! Huge Indoor Saltwater Lagoon on Beachfront Property?!?

[Lagoonytune]

I just bought some beachfront property on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. I'm going to dedicate the bottom floor of the 3-story house we are going to build to a HUGE indoor saltwater lagoon filled with all kinds of local critters. I can pump fresh ocean water directly into the lagoon. Does anyone have any ideas on how to put this all together? I see it in my mind quite clearly--just looking to make it REALITY!

 

[Lagoonytune]

Picture of the property

Picture of the property

I attached a picture of the future location of the beach house with the indoor lagoon--its in my gallery. P.S. This is not just a dream--I'm going to make it happen, within the next year and would really appreciate any help you could offer....

 

[spazz]

there is alot of things you can do here to save alot of money. the big one is water changes. if you do a 10% water change per day you might not need alot of support equiptment to run your system. you can also use that water to cool your system.

do you have a sketch of your design? will this be open to the sun or will this be inside and use un natural light?

also what size will this system be?

 

[Lagoonytune]

Hey Spazz, the only picture I have I posted to my gallery--not sure yet how to post them in the thread but I will try to figure it out. Suffice to say right now all I have is 5000 sq. ft lot on the beach, with permission to do whatever I want (like pumping water to and from the ocean). My wife says I have free reign with the ground floor level (I dont think she realizes yet what she's agreed to haha). I'm thinking maybe a 20-foot diameter circular or oval tank about 6 feet deep, but I'm flexible--just in the planning stage now. So we're talking, what--about 10,000 gallons? This will be an indoor lagoon, with a combination of natural sunlight and unnatural lighting (when it gets dark). The water from the Sea of Cortez is warm and clear--this should be an interesting project, no?

Some of the critters that will definitely be inhabiting the lagoon: lobsters, crabs, oysters, clams, shrimp, morey eels, seabass, halibut, corbina, puffer fish, sardines, needlefish, various rockfish, grouper and maybe a shark or two.... (dont get me started)

 

[Kemo484]

This store in Houston has a 40,000 gallon indoor lagoon. http://www.aquariumworld.net/ You might be able to get some insite from them. Anyway sounds like a great idea, keep us posted and take lots of pictures.

 

[sin05_omar]

Wow... Thats one major project...

Perhaps you could continiously pump fresh seawater to the tank and overflows out to the sea... that way you need not worry about water chemistry,Tempreture.. you can blast the tank with one megawatt worth of lights without worrying about heat. . . ?

Now that will be the ultimate tank... and you could proclaim that your tank has infinate volume.. Not many persons on earth can claim that....

Ps. I know its going to look super weird having two pipes going through your property... But perhaps going underground might solve it? then there is an issue of "might happen" pollution... I believe that can be solved by by simply shutting off the pumps i am sure the system is capable of supporting itself due to the sheer volume you are going for....

Last but not least... I am not sure this idea will get you into trouble with the authorities... do check on that ya...

Best Regards,
Omar

 

[djfrankie]

I got an idea.

Since the ocean is right outside your property why don't you buy some diving gear and you can have yourself a real fish tank ))

It should be fun!

djfrankie

 

[invincible569]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11309653#post11309653 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kemo484
This store in Houston has a 40,000 gallon indoor lagoon. http://www.aquariumworld.net/ You might be able to get some insite from them. Anyway sounds like a great idea, keep us posted and take lots of pictures.

The owner is a bit reserved so dont expect much out of him.

 

[Lagoonytune]

Yes, I've already scoped out putting the pipes underground--not a problem. Five miles north of here there is a shrimp farm that does the same thing recirculating their water--I got some of my ideas from them. And this is MEXICO, and my wife is high up in the government, so I can do whatever I want--no trouble with "authorities." You can tell by the picture that I don't have a lot of neighbors who are going to complain either.

I don't know why "invincible" says not to expect much because I'm a bit reserved--he doesn't know me. And someone who was a bit reserved would never take on a project like this, would they? Maybe I should get a avatar with a mohawk....

I will post pictures as this becomes reality. Keep the suggestions coming--I appreciate the help!

Greg

 

[steve the plumb]

He isn't talking about you he is talking about the owner of that store in Houston.I think invincible is from Houston.

 

[Lagoonytune]

Haha you're right Steve. That's funny. Sorry Invincible--just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that people AREN'T out to get me. I'm still going to get an avatar with a mohawk....

Next week when I go back out to the property I will take some pictures of some of the local critters that I catch in front of my house. Maybe a pic or two from the shrimp farm up the coast so you can see how they use the ocean water....

Greg

 

[steve the plumb]

well at least you are saving money on salt water changes.I would go to that farm and take a look at what size pumps they are using.I doubt you will need pumps as large as theres but it will give you an idea.I would however get a pump that can do your entire system in an hour(at least) this way you can pump and change out your entire tank if need be plus you can do easy water changes.You don't even have to do them if you are always pumping fresh sea water in and pumping old tank water out.your water will always be fresh from the sea.I don't think you would need to do that but it would be nice to have that option.No calcium reactor and kalk reactor along with no top off unit just pump and lights.

 

[hatfielj]

I'm jealous. Definitely just have continuously circulating water straight from the ocean. You will have the healthiest tank/lagoon anywhere! That is exactly how monterey bay aquarium in california does it. They have a couple of exhibits that gets their water directly from the ocean continuously. The only problem with doing something like that is you have to have a system designed for cleaning out the plumbing on a regular basis. It won't take long for the pipes to get cluttered up with all kinds of stuff and even clog up.
Monterey bay has this missle like thing they shoot through their pipe work from time to time to keep it clean. They also have to hire divers to go out into the bay where their intakes are and chisel away at all the barnacles and algae that grow on the pipes.
It seems like a lot of work, but considering you could get away with no skimmer, no calcium reactors, no heaters, no chillers, no additives or anything, it would still be a lot less work in the long run I think. Good luck and learn how to post pics quick so you can keep us all updated on this! Thanks for sharing!

 

[steve the plumb]

depending on the size of pipe and how long the run is you could use a drain cleaning machine.If you have some clean outs placed in certain parts of the run you can do the entire pipe.I don't think you would need larger than 3" pipe.You can probably get enough water in there with 2" pipe.You could use a pool pump to pump the water out back into the ocean since it doesn't require as much pressure.

 

[Lagoonytune]

The vertical rise from the ocean to lagoon will be about 25 feet, and the distance from the lagoon to where then intake valve will be underwater in the ocean will be about 80 feet I think--it has to be far enough out to get to the cooler, cleanest water. I don't know if there is some sort of formula on how big a pump or the what the diameter of the pipe will have to be. The outtake probably won't even need a pump--gravity ought to work pretty well. What do you think?

 

[seansx]

Hey there! I also live on the sea of cortez! I live in San Carlos..I collect corals, fish and Inverts all from the sea, WITH PERMISSION! Where do you live? Maybe we can work something out.

 

[Lagoonytune]

Permission spermission. I've always said that its easier to apologize later than get permission today. Like I said above, my wife is pretty high up in the Sonoran government so I'm not too worried about the "authorities." I'm building this in Kino Bay. (Drive north of San Carlos to Hermosillo, and then west to the Sea of Cortez.) Sure, we could meet up sometime Sean. I really love sportfishing and spearfishing too--I'd love to exchange notes with you. Send me your contact info offline. We're not going to start building this for about another six months--just in the planning stages right now. Take care.

Greg

 

[seansx]

Ok. jsut saw ur pictures...i live 2 hours north from me...i dont know what the criters are like up there but the water idea was an idea my father and i had when we lived on the beach here..but then summer came around..the water got churned up alot with the currents and the water was brown in some areas..I dont know how kino is like never been there. But I know the currents in the sea of cortez and you'll need a massive filteration system for the summer. I collect all my stuff scuba diving...all my live rock while diving..and inverts and some reef fish from some tide pools. It's easy and cheap! Should work well for you to. And you will be getting local fish so you wouldn't have to worry about cooling and heating unless you want the system heated during the winter. Which could cost a pretty penny. But over all thats an amazing idea. Maybe we can go diving together sometime collect some corals.

 

[seansx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11311943#post11311943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seansx
Ok. jsut saw ur pictures...i live 2 hours north from me...i dont know what the criters are like up there but the water idea was an idea my father and i had when we lived on the beach here..but then summer came around..the water got churned up alot with the currents and the water was brown in some areas..I dont know how kino is like never been there. But I know the currents in the sea of cortez and you'll need a massive filteration system for the summer. I collect all my stuff scuba diving...all my live rock while diving..and inverts and some reef fish from some tide pools. It's easy and cheap! Should work well for you to. And you will be getting local fish so you wouldn't have to worry about cooling and heating unless you want the system heated during the winter. Which could cost a pretty penny. But over all thats an amazing idea. Maybe we can go diving together sometime collect some corals.

" you live 2 hours north from me" sorry my bad

 

[Wryknow]

Well, this is just my $.02 but if it were me I would just build a dedicated greenhouse for this. Use natural sunlight for lighting. Filtration would primarily consist of massive amounts of fresh salt water pumped through the system. I would just run the incoming salt water through a mechanical filter and possibly a UV sterilizer. For the mechanical filter I would be looking at pool filters, probably a couple of very large ones used in line and plan on completely turning over the entire tank volume several times per day. I would then make a surge device for wave action and you'd be in business. This whole project will be relatively inexpensive if you take advantage of your great natural resources.