large saltwater pond

[predatorpassion]

Okay here is the thing. My brother and I are converting an are in our garage. It will be 25*13*10 ft. Well I am going to build a pond. The animals in it are either going to be a whitespotted bamboo and epaulette shark. Or a wards wobbegong. The Pond is going to be either 700-1000 gallons. Well we have looked at different ways of building it. Either using liner and plywood or going to a local atwoods and buying a large rubbermaid stock pond. Well I was wondering what kind of pond will be the best.

Sorry if there are errors I have to leave. lol.

thanks,
shane

 

[radone]

I'm thinking your calculations are a little off my Koi pond is 28X14X6.5 and is around 8,000 gallons.
Might want to reconsider the size needed to keep those type animals JMHO

 

[predatorpassion]

oh no. I am saying the size of our fish room is that big. The pond itself is going to be around 7-8 ft in diameter and around 3 ft deep.

 

[OC00l]

I would ponder going deeper....

Will

 

[TTU_Reefer]

looked into evap yet?

 

[Roland Jacques]

3' is way to deep IMO epaulette sharks dont swim much. they sit on things mostly the bottom, and they like to hide. 18" was about perfect.

i kept i some sharks in a pond the water was 8' dia X 18" deep. it worked great. only thing the epaulette shark crawled out more than once, at night.

your humidity in thier may be a issue. auto top off a must.

thanks for remindinding me, i still have that pond, i need to get rid of it.

 

[elliotklinger]

Great idea there, bud. However, with large scale SW set-up, we all must consider so many factors. I'm going to name a few factors.

Evaporation is number one problem and to cover a pond that size would require huge cover. Also, you'll need ample supply of water to keep the level up.

Sharks would need at leat 4' depth to thrive, 3' is bit too shallow and suitable only for short time such as quaratine hold.

You have right concept of having pond for shark because they need circular environment.

Now, how are you intending to get enough salt to be mixed into that pond? Cost would be prohibitive. I've seen some coastal houses with sw that are being ducted from bay but there's a lot of work to establish a such pond.

Maybe you could try smaller pond first and see how it takes off? Try 4x4x2 pond, which is common pre-fabricated pond base sold at any home improvement store.

 

[elliotklinger]

Here's another problem... Whatcha gonna do when family cat goes missing?

Having sharks means taking extra precaution, too

 

[elliotklinger]

Forgot to add 2 more big factors. You'll need big filter because sharks are messy eaters and produce a lot wastes. So bioload'll be insane.

Also, you'll need 4,000 watts of heater to keep the pond at appropiate temperature range.

YIKE! Talk about how much money you'll have to invest in this project.

 

[Laakmann]

with that much space to work with I say you build a tank big enough to keep at least one black tip in and then a couple other smaller sharks and a few large groupers. That would be a home aquarium worthy of history.

 

[WarDaddy]

RAYS! if you are going wth a pond like that, a nice shallow area where Rays can swim up and interact with you.

 

[predatorpassion]

okay. I will start off smaller. In the other end of the room we are going to have an RODI system constantly (or most of the time) on and creating water for top-off. The filtration for the pond I was thinking another smaller tub for a sump. With a large skimmer. And a canister pond filter. Honestly I really would just like a wards wobbegong. I know they are on the more aggressive side (wobbegongs in general) meaning they won't hesitate to eat tankmates. Ones even larger then themselves. I have been researching off and on for about 3 yrs now on how to build a shark pond. The "pet precaution" is why we are making a seperate room for the reptiles and fish.

thanks for all the replys

 

[drunktank]

You can build ur pond w/ concreate blocks, water proof it and lay rubber around it- gives you more flexibility w/ shape (and very cheap) I've set stuff up like this before and never had problems.

I'd def go w/ a large skimmer- probably the best investment on a system this large. a few rays and harmless sharks to start off with. if at all possible, try to get the area connected to an A/c or central air to reduce evaporation

as long as you realize the cost of creating a system this large and can afford it, u'll be fine

 

[predatorpassion]

right thanks. I have been working a lot and very hard on a project like this.