Shark pond

[Ppoeschl]

You may want to consider blue spot diamond rays (D. kuhlii) instead of thr traditional blue spot rays (T. lymma)

 

[rayn]

As I said, research! Gonna have to figure this out. Do it once...do it right.

 

[cu455]

You got some good advise with the live stock. If you want to do something a little challenging and interesting get breeding groups of stingrays and sharks. If you provide good water quality, nutrition and room they should breed for you.

Build the biggest pond you can fit. For a sump all you really need is something to hold a skimmer, unless you can have the skimmer drain into the pond. For the other filtration run inline stuff like a bead filter. While you are building walls build a section with a door or something which you can put the sump in and keep it hidden.

 

[cu455]

I also want to add if the pond is low put the sump above the pond. You then pump water from the pond into the sump and then have it overflow back.

 

[rayn]

I figure the pond will be on the ground with some type of container built for it. I have thought of wood or land scaping blocks. I would like it to be 12" or more tall then figuring out the shape. Putting the sump up high would work. My only issue is the drain back into the tank, I just don't like the water fall sound.

 

[rayn]

Also, doesn't the sump need to be big enough to hold the live rock? Pond will have sand, but I figure not much rock work as to leave it open on the bottom. Maybe I could do a couple pillars of something.

 

[saltysilverado]

You might need a sump almost like a live rock bin that the lfs cures their live rock in. That would be good for live rock and still have room for a large protein skimmer and I recommend Chemi pure blue for extra filtration. What are the dimensions going to be?

 

[rayn]

I have thought a of one of those too. I can add bulkheads and all for plumbing.

I'm not sure of dimensions as of yet. I am planning roughly 12" tall, but then 6*6 or 8*8 in some sort of a shape.

 

[Ppoeschl]

I would look into sand/bead filters, biotowers and large protein skimmers for filtration... I wouldn't even bother with a sump, carbon can be run in a sand filter if need be, products like chemipure are much too inefficient to bother with on a system of this size and bioload you are going for.

 

[AlexG]

Sweet! That is my current plan once I finish my wall build.

Any recommendations on liner material? I was thinking something like rubber roofing material without the granular surface. May we there is something better though.

I would go with pond shield it can be found here http://www.pondarmor.com/. I used it to waterproof my plywood aquariums I am building. It works on a lot of different surfaces and it is non toxic.

 

[rayn]

@AlexG , I looked into the site a bit but work got in the way. Looks like it will seal rock as well. May be a doable option.

I did do some measuring last night. My maximum dimensions are 11' by 9'. I am figuring a 2' tall wall filled at about 1'6" of water. If I go at a rectangle I am figuring a volume of around 1200 gallons at that point. Once I figure out my front shape, as it is going to be in a corner, I am hoping the gallons will be in the 800-1000 range.