Tropical pond?

[Fruju]

I have seen a lot of tropical tanks in NZ, but haven't seen any tropical ponds with some nice large fish. Has anyone got one or seen one here?

[the-obstacle]

I was wondering the exact same thing. I was also dreaming of a tank big enough to have turtles and large tropical fish sharing the same space. But maybe I'm dreaming there.

[David R]

By pond do you mean something like a small pool or a DIY ply or concrete tank with no window designed to be viewed from above?

I've thought of doing the latter many times, not adding a window would make it a lot easier, but you lose out on so much by only being able to view from above.

[Fruju]

Well, I was mainly referring to a top view pond, either indoor or outdoor, concrete or plastic/sheet. anything pretty much, but of a large size to hold big fish 8) But I agree with you David, gotta have a side window too - although I think silver aros look better from above.

[Caryl]

Gets too cold down here unfortunately so would cost a fortune to heat. :-?

[David R]

although I think silver aros look better from above.

Could help prevent/reduce drop eye too. I contemplated building one to put my green aro in outside over jan-feb-march to see what effect the natural sunlight would have on its colour.

[JarrenB]

I've seen stuff on you tube where they just have cheap pools (like the ones they sell at the warehouse) in their garage.

[diver21]

wouldnt the running cost not me much diffrent from that of a spa pool?

[Fruju]

Heaps of the guys overseas have paddling pools in their garage which is IMO pretty crap, looks cheap and ugly.

wouldnt the running cost not me much diffrent from that of a spa pool?

Had this conversation with Henward the other day, just ask him to give you a lecture. :lol: but he said it was something like 2500L+ and the heating becomes an issue- normal jager heater just wont cut it. Filtration is somewhat easier. Assuming you have the space to build a pond constructing a simple trickle filter system wouldnt be too much hassle.

[Fruju]

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... 16&page=19 look at this link.

looks terrible, but this one...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... 18&page=88

Looks like a pool for people, but no, for some BIG fish

[henward]

spa poosl are designed to be covered most of the time, with extreme insulation

you can emulate a spa pool

aqua therm specializes in pools that are insulated it hink

but you would need a window. no good seeing it from above, youw ont even see whast there. might as well have a gold fish pond whcih is easy.

i think a large concrete type tank with a glass front.

you can insulate concrete. inside a basement, with sides insulated and top insulated - maybe a cover for the top where it has room for fish to jump would be good.

Heating something like that. 4000L plus... you would need, well i would use a gas to water external heater. very cost effective, you can get them for a good price considering they heat massive amounts of water.

filtration you would go ULTIMA i believe, was discussing wtih thsi david.... you need large scale filtration.

OR youc an do DIY drums etc,

but if you are gonna go all out, you want it to look nice, you want it to be good.

If i had something like this, i would most likely invest in putting several high grade arowanas in there..... so i wouldnt skip on anything in terms of cost.

but then again, NZ has such limited fish to keep.

what would one keep in there?

if not monsterfish i guess you can have a MEGA community tank.

but monster fish, we are limited in choice.

msut say, 100 plus clown loaches would look good schooling in that monster tank:D

[henward]

Google the SIAM PARAGON AMAZON THEME tank

its basically concret walls with a curved front glass in front.

though thts a HUGE tank... i mean commercial

you can create something that is smaller in scale but the same principle of having a rocky background, water fall and a glass viewing front.

maybe in the front, putting another layer of perspex that go higher to ensure the fish dont jump out.

[Insect Direct]

seen some neat indoor turtle ponds online. heating would be similar to heating a fish room id imagine. best to insulate and heat the entire room imo.

[Fruju]

seen some neat indoor turtle ponds online. heating would be similar to heating a fish room id imagine. best to insulate and heat the entire room imo.

Green House.

[spoon]

i seen a corner bath once with 40cm high glass panels attached all the way around the top so you could fill it up and see in there i dont know what it was used for but i had some ideas . ive kept guppies and barbs in a pond over summer they come back out with amazing colours but i think that has more to do with the live food than sunlight

[malevolentsparkle]

Green House.

yeah ive thought about a pond in a green house or conservatory but i wondered if the problem would be that it would get too hot in summer and the temp would plummet over night. double glazed maybe?

[David R]

yeah ive thought about a pond in a green house or conservatory but i wondered if the problem would be that it would get too hot in summer and the temp would plummet over night. double glazed maybe?

Got it in one, glass/greenhouses rely on the sun for heat, and the cost of the additional heat required during cool periods would probably exceed the amount you'd save but the solar heating during the day. Better off in an insulated room IMO, and heat the room with a heat pump to help maintain the temperature. Could possibly do a tropical pond in a glasshouse over summer, but would have to be wary of over-heating, not hard for a glass house to hit 40-50C on a sunny day if not well ventilated.

Heating something like that. 4000L plus... you would need, well i would use a gas to water external heater. very cost effective, you can get them for a good price considering they heat massive amounts of water.

filtration you would go ULTIMA i believe, was discussing wtih thsi david.... you need large scale filtration.

Yeah ultima would be a good option for mega filtration, not cheap but tidy, efficient and awesome.

Heating cable is another option for heating large tanks. I have a friend with a 3000L+ DIY tank (yes it has a window) heated with heating cable underneath the tank and it works really well.

The most realistic option by far is to move to Malaysia. When it comes to tropical ponds its pretty hard to top this guy: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=341560

Check out some of his threads, 13000g, 40" royal clown knives, aros, catfish etc. Madness!!

[malevolentsparkle]

Better off in an insulated room IMO, and heat the room with a heat pump to help maintain the temperature.

if the heat pump was set to 25degrees then would the water be the same temp?

[Insect Direct]

my turtle pond uncovered hardly ever gets under 18C over summer. if its a reasonably sized pond shouldnt drop in temp too much at night..

on sunny days upto 30 at a guess. top layer of water would be anyway, guppies survived summer and bred well, they appeared to bask alot. top layer of water gets warmest from the sun etc.

[Fruju]

my turtle pond uncovered hardly ever gets under 18C over summer. if its a reasonably sized pond shouldnt drop in temp too much at night..

on sunny days upto 30 at a guess. top layer of water would be anyway, guppies survived summer and bred well, they appeared to bask alot. top layer of water gets warmest from the sun etc.

Guppys are hardy as hell, pretty much dont die. Cooler, bigger tropicals wouldnt appreciate the majority of the water cold - spend more time at depth than at surface.

[ryanjury]

yeah ive thought about a pond in a green house or conservatory but i wondered if the problem would be that it would get too hot in summer and the temp would plummet over night. double glazed maybe?

I knew a guy who did this and he said you have to do a double layer green house one with inflated walls so you have the air layer as insulation this helps keep the warmth in at night. The single layer ones will just loose all the heat at night.

[David R]

even a double layered green house will lose most of its heat over night during the cooler months. When I worked at Coromandel Cacti we had a room in the middle of a big greenhouse with double skinned walls and roof and it would still require a fan heater to keep it above 5C during winter nights. It could be a possibility over summer, although with the double layers you'd need very good ventilation or it will cook the fish, and probably an additional heat source to be on the safe side at night.

[livingart]

can be done outdoors with solarwater heating, thermostats, pumps and supplement heating with underfloor cables

cost for 12,000 litres is 250 per month in power

[David R]

^ sounds like you're not speaking hypothetically? Is that power figure averaged out over the year? You'd want some pretty good safety mechanisms on it with solar heating, wouldn't take much for it to cook the fish if the thermostat failed and stuck open!

[livingart]

no not speaking hypothetically

power average over 3 months end of summer into autumn

if it had of been permanent would have probably set up with 2 backups to thermostat, one battery operated

amazing how much heat is generated in 50m of 25mm thick walled alkathene pipe

and how long sand retains heat for