450+ gal outdoor marine pond/lagoon

[whitelightning77]

So this is officially happening. Finally decided to pull the trigger on something I've been wanting to do for a while. Then dimensions, as of now are 96x48x26. Its going to be a lagoon type ecosystem with (mostly) locally found tropicals. It's not going to have any side view panels and will be 100% top down. It's going to be built out of plywood and pond liner. Inside of the framing will be filled with residential home fiberglass insulation to help with temp fluctuations. Going to have rock bomies and some will be protruding above the watwr level. Considering having some mangroves growing on the protruding rock piles.

Still working out the filtration details but I'm leaning towards a smaller tank or container above that will house some mechanical filtration and mayne some macro algea. Im trying to make it fit in a nicely as possible on the lanai and not make it look like a Frankenstein project.

At the moment I'm open suggestions.

 

[Francoreef]

Ive been thinking about this As well but living in florida gets so hot i dont know how i would be able to manage it

 

[|Tom the Bomb|]

So this is officially happening. Finally decided to pull the trigger on something I've been wanting to do for a while. Then dimensions, as of now are 96x48x26. Its going to be a lagoon type ecosystem with (mostly) locally found tropicals. It's not going to have any side view panels and will be 100% top down. It's going to be built out of plywood and pond liner. Inside of the framing will be filled with residential home fiberglass insulation to help with temp fluctuations. Going to have rock bomies and some will be protruding above the watwr level. Considering having some mangroves growing on the protruding rock piles.

Still working out the filtration details but I'm leaning towards a smaller tank or container above that will house some mechanical filtration and mayne some macro algea. Im trying to make it fit in a nicely as possible on the lanai and not make it look like a Frankenstein project.

At the moment I'm open suggestions.

its outdoors??? it looks indoors from pic so is it indoor or out
u should "drill" holes in the liner and use pool bulkheads and hard plumb all the way (no overflow just 4 bulkhead/holes)
and plumb to a gigantic sump in a separate room inside and have skimmer, rollers, fuge, reactors there this applies to bother indoor or out door (personally keeping the pond indoors is better since you don't get all the falling leaves dirt and debris and the chance of animals interfering)

 

[|Tom the Bomb|]

u should keeps stingrays and eppie sharks they look better from the top

 

[whitelightning77]

its outdoors??? it looks indoors from pic so is it indoor or out
u should "drill" holes in the liner and use pool bulkheads and hard plumb all the way (no overflow just 4 bulkhead/holes)
and plumb to a gigantic sump in a separate room inside and have skimmer, rollers, fuge, reactors there this applies to bother indoor or out door (personally keeping the pond indoors is better since you don't get all the falling leaves dirt and debris and the chance of animals interfering)

Its on a covered patio/ lanai. So its outdoors but not in direct sunlight.

 

[whitelightning77]

I'm open to suggestions for a shallow water trough. Was looking at the rubbermaid 50 gal troughs but they are 31" wide. I'd like to stay somewhere closer to 20" wide

 

[Francoreef]

Idk but my favorite view of corals is top down like in nature. Im loving this idea i think, most if not all corals colony size look much better top down

 

[whitelightning77]

Got a little more framing done over the weekend. Going to also add some horizontal braces for a little more support for the plywood.

 

[porterreef]

following for sure. I can't wait to see what happens!

 

[whitelightning77]

Also picked up some pods, hoping they sprout. I'd like to have a mangrove island in there.

 

[whitelightning77]

And here are a few of the guys from the main reef tank...

 

[ca1ore]

No opinion on the ‘pond’, but you’ve a nice collection of fish. Black back wrasse is one I have yet to be sucessful with, despite a couple of attempts.

 

[whitelightning77]

No opinion on the ‘pond’, but you’ve a nice collection of fish. Black back wrasse is one I have yet to be sucessful with, despite a couple of attempts.

What issues have you been running into?

 

[ca1ore]

Just won’t eat ..... despite trying just about everything.

 

[whitelightning77]

Just won’t eat ..... despite trying just about everything.

Gotcha. Yea I lucked out on mine. It ate brine pretty readily and then transitioned it to frozen mysis and blood worms. However even when eating sometimes they still don't make it. Especially the tamarin varieties. I think they come in with internal parasites and just eventually waste away.

 

[whitelightning77]

got some strong backing in to help when the plywood goes in and help tie everything together.

 

[Devaji]

Nice! I am gonna enjoy seeing this come together!

 

[whitelightning77]

Been taking forever, but Finally got around to getting some progress done on the pond. Finished the basic structure and added some foam sheets for more insulation as well as some protection between the liner and the plywood. Liner is scheduled to be delivered Saturday.

 

[whitelightning77]

Also added insulation underneath.

 

[KevPool]

What an awesome concept if it wasn't -40 here in the winter I would love to do something like that in the yard