Building an indoor pond in the near future

[shallowreef]

Hey,

I am going to be getting my own place soon and when the time comes i am thinking about ditching the tank scene and going with an indoor pond. I read an article on wet web media about a indoor pond how to that i believe Anthony Calfo wrote that was very interesting and informative but i need to learn the pros and cons.

At the moment i would be duing this tank for rays and a shark and maybe a school of fish but mostly the sharks and rays. The shape would most likely be a rectangle and only about 2'-3' deep.

Now my Questions:

Are these Ponds expensive to run/maintain?
Does the pond liner ever need to be replaced?
is there any way to do three sides liner and one side liner and a viewing window?

If any of you know anything about this and could give me some pointers i would appreciate it. Also if any of you know any links that would be good for me to check out please let me know.

Thanks a lot,

Nick

 

[Krish]

Cool! My friend set up an outdoor pond for a customer of his (saltwater) and it came out really nice (installation wise). He just used the regular plastic bean shaped pond which means you can only view from above. Kinda hard to look in the pond with all the surface aggitation though...He had a sump made that was put in a shed and all in all was a decent idea. I don't know much about them though because I've never personally had one, but I wish you the best with it

 

[shallowreef]

Thanks Krish,

I might try PMing Anthony since he did the write up and maybe he can give me some insight.

 

[jetaero]

You can manage to do one of these tanks as a concrete tank much easier... You just seal the concrete, and then you can seal a viewing window in as well.

I've seen a couple tanks like this.

-Josh-

 

[syddakyd]

my lfs down the block did it with a brick wall and cement and liner a weird shape he made. so far just has moray eel but hes doing sharks/rays as well

 

[mmkeeper]

If you are going to build an indoor pond here is a very helpful forum like reef frontiers, no as active, however there some very knowledgable people there as there are here.

 

[shallowreef]

I was thinking about doing the concrete idea But if i go to move that is going to be a real pain to get that flat again.

 

[burning2nd]

well concrete will be better, but its gonna to be a permited tank.

the add when you seel that house will sound like this

"1500sq foot house, 2 bed 2 bath, on 1.2 achers, with 2 car garage and indoor ocean" asking

lOl
the concrete will be probley a better idea

 

[shallowreef]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only reason i was going to stay away from Concrete is because its a lot easier and quicker to construct the pond out of a wooden frame. If i were to do a concrete design though it would be deeper than the other. I think 3' would be awesome.

So do you guys know if i would need a permit? What type of permit would i need?

 

[zacjeff]

In general, wood/cinderblocks and liners are mainly used for freshwater, as live rock (or any rock) can puncture thin lower-quality liners. However, people in earthquake-prone areas generally use wood & liners, as concrete will crack with settling and earthquakes. (And rebar will mess with sharks navigation.)

 

[Maxx]

Here's a link for you.

It's finally finished, the 1000 gallon lagoon/sump/fuge?

He built his with a wooden frame and used a pond liner. It eventually failed and began to leak. Plan accordingly.

Nick