dirk_brijs
Active member
we have adjusted the drawing in making it a bit more Asian looking.
Swimming pool conversion into Reef Aquarium
- Thread starter dirk_brijs
- Start date
DivingTheWorld
Active member
Looking nice, but you're in Thailand so it needs more gold! 
tidus10
New member
Confused about this...it seems even the fish swimming by would mix it!
Oh, nice, yes I think you are probably onto something there! As you said, it is not as important for the fish to have a stable temp and salinity - way less risk for the elements messing you up.
With big enough and expensive enough equipment you could even make coral work...but with what you have planned I think you would have good success with fish. I would recommend a white or light blue resin...reflecting the sun.
Yes, I know that hotel in Palau! Just what I was thinking of when I saw this drawing also!
It's actually to do with the water weights.
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/estuaries05_circulation.html
HumphreyBear
New member
Volume and Rainfall
Volume and Rainfall
Hi Dirk,
You are an order of magnitude too large with the volume.
If you've drawn it up in SketchUp (which it looks like??) then the most accurate way to measure will be to get the surface area of the water and multiply by the depth. Select the water's surface object in SketchUp, go to Window > Entity Info and then look at the Area of the water object. Convert it to square metres if it isn't already in that measure and then multiply that by 1.45 (the uniform depth) to get the volume in cubic metres. 1 m^3 = 1000l so that gives you the total volume.
If you can't get the surface area from the program, then a rough ballpark measure is the rectangular prism that describes those measurements:
length * breadth * depth = 8.4 * 4 * 1.45 = 48.720m^3
converted to litres = 48 720l
or US gallons: ~12 600gal
or UK gallons: ~10 800gal
If you worked out the surface area of the pond, then you can also work out the ballpark amount of water that will fall into the pond over an average year. Look up the average rainfall for your area (Pattaya is roughly 750mm per year) and multiply that by the surface area of the pond to get the total literage of 'freshwater' per year that will enter the pond. Each mm of rainfall on 1m^2 will result in 1l of freshwater in the pond.
Using the rough numbers above:
SA= length * breadth = 8.4 * 4 = 33.6m^2
Vol = 33.6 * 750 = 25 200l of rainwater will enter your pool over a year.
Therefore approx half the volume of your pond per year will be added by rainfall. Unfortunately it will almost all be added over your wet season, and not much in your dry season so your parameters would fluctuate greatly. Obviously the roofline of your huts/shelters could influence this if it directs rainfall away from the pond.
I'm sure you could work out the expected evaporation based on the ambient temperature and humidity levels - post up your calcs if you do!
Good Luck! I'm going to follow with interest.
Cheers
'Bear
Volume and Rainfall
Hi Dirk,
You are an order of magnitude too large with the volume.
If you've drawn it up in SketchUp (which it looks like??) then the most accurate way to measure will be to get the surface area of the water and multiply by the depth. Select the water's surface object in SketchUp, go to Window > Entity Info and then look at the Area of the water object. Convert it to square metres if it isn't already in that measure and then multiply that by 1.45 (the uniform depth) to get the volume in cubic metres. 1 m^3 = 1000l so that gives you the total volume.
If you can't get the surface area from the program, then a rough ballpark measure is the rectangular prism that describes those measurements:
length * breadth * depth = 8.4 * 4 * 1.45 = 48.720m^3
converted to litres = 48 720l
or US gallons: ~12 600gal
or UK gallons: ~10 800gal
If you worked out the surface area of the pond, then you can also work out the ballpark amount of water that will fall into the pond over an average year. Look up the average rainfall for your area (Pattaya is roughly 750mm per year) and multiply that by the surface area of the pond to get the total literage of 'freshwater' per year that will enter the pond. Each mm of rainfall on 1m^2 will result in 1l of freshwater in the pond.
Using the rough numbers above:
SA= length * breadth = 8.4 * 4 = 33.6m^2
Vol = 33.6 * 750 = 25 200l of rainwater will enter your pool over a year.
Therefore approx half the volume of your pond per year will be added by rainfall. Unfortunately it will almost all be added over your wet season, and not much in your dry season so your parameters would fluctuate greatly. Obviously the roofline of your huts/shelters could influence this if it directs rainfall away from the pond.
I'm sure you could work out the expected evaporation based on the ambient temperature and humidity levels - post up your calcs if you do!
Good Luck! I'm going to follow with interest.
Cheers
'Bear
HumphreyBear
New member
You are suggesting that a halocline will establish in a dynamic aquarium/pond setting with active inhabitants and the rainwater from a Thai monsoon lashing a small pond, all at tropical temperatures? (Highly highly) unlikely, even without the additional filtration and turnover that would be required to maintain inhabitants in healthy condition.
Last edited:
dirk_brijs
Active member
thanks for that and I did just your thingy on sketchup
I figured out I added 1 zero too much lol for the rest I wasn't off that much as per this drawing its 41740Lt
surface are was 28.6m2
so as for the typo with the zero too much I wasn't off that much with 47.000
thanks for pointing that out to me though
client does not like the idea of the houses by the way so back to the drawing board. He actually does not want to have any sort of covering over the pool so I guess that eliminates the salt or fresh water fish and leaves us to work making it into a fresh water pond with Koi in it I guess lol
still leaves the issue of extreme heat on the pool
dave.m
Active member
What about water lilies/lotus to shade the pool? If the owner will accept a planted pool and if it is deep enough that may ameliorate the temperatures somewhat. As well, you might get permission to plant tall shade trees near the pool to decrease sun exposure. Otherwise you are looking at running expensive chillers full time.
Dave.M
Dave.M
DivingTheWorld
Active member
If you're just building a Koi pond, I don't think you have to worry too much about temperature. Our Koi pond is 2.5' deep and in August in Cali it will get up to 100 degrees out and our pond never gets above about 65 degrees. With the depth you have you'll be fine. Plus carp are super adaptable with regard to temperature.
Lillis are nice looking and we use them mostly for astetics and hiding spots from predators. I don't think they're help much for temperature control. You'll have trouble adding plants with your depth though. You'll need to build some kind of shelf 1-2' below the surface.
Lillis are nice looking and we use them mostly for astetics and hiding spots from predators. I don't think they're help much for temperature control. You'll have trouble adding plants with your depth though. You'll need to build some kind of shelf 1-2' below the surface.
dirk_brijs
Active member
Idea would be is to build several shelves with an elevate shelve too through the center of the pool so pond will hold some water plants for sure.
Idea would be is to build shelves with sand bags and cover those with HDPE liner and add boulders after.
lifeoffaith
Member
With a koi pond the temp swing won't be as big an issue. They can handle really cold and quite warm temps too. Water plants are a great idea, but make sure any shelves still are fairly deep and that they drop off immediately instead of gradually. Any predators that you have could use a gradual drop to get to the fish. I have a three foot deep koi pond that drops straight off which avoided a heron that was hanging around from getting my koi.
kkittredge
New member
Does he still want the acrylic viewing panes? Now you need to switch over to a koi forum for the best practices for them. A large floor drain is recommended for Koi as well as UV, skimmers etc. I would assume he would add a waterfall?
dirk_brijs
Active member
ok now as it would stay saltwater and the issue with the monsoon rains we encounter here would it be possible to connect some sort of salinity controller to a storage tank of high salinity water with a pump connected as salinity drops below a set point and stops running when the set high point is restored?
nanoreefer1000
Active member
You could do a tropical predator pond, they tend to be more popular in Thailand anyways because you don't need heaters! They're great for big catfish and Arowanas!
screamingibis
New member
I believe Thailand has snakeheads. Hate to see one crawl in your pool and wipe out all your koi
dirk_brijs
Active member
OK the project has been accepted and will turn into a fresh water pond with still the same design as started.
dirk_brijs
Active member
Pool has been emptied and is ready to start.
HDPE Liner will be placed over the tiles to avoid any chemicals eventualy leached into the tiles etc to leach back into the pool.
HDPE Liner will be placed over the tiles to avoid any chemicals eventualy leached into the tiles etc to leach back into the pool.
