Fish tank

[Nathan]

Hey all,

 

What do you use for your fish tanks and where did you get them? Particularly if you tank is over 300 gallons.  I can't find anything except really expensive ones.

I am currently using an open top 300 gallon poly tank for my fish.  A friend gave it to me for free.  It appears to have been some kind of warehouse container or something.  I would love to find another one somewhere.

 

Thanks!

[TCLynx]

to get em for free ya gotta be lucky and have good friends.

 

Stock tanks are nice but a touch on the shallow side for fish tanks.

I've got a blue poly aquaculture tank and can sell similar in FL or further if you can afford to pay the freight.

 

Or I've built a big tank using cattle panels from tractor supply and pond liner along with some banding and a tarp and thin blue board to protect the liner.

[George]

I didn't find any cheap, round tanks and eventually ordered a 440 gal from Dolphin Fiberglass Products.  It is expensive but nothing about my plan has been cheap thus far.  Good luck.

[TCLynx]

High quality tanks of the desired shape and size may tend to be a bit costly to start but I expect you will be happy to have a good tank in the long run.

[George]

That is exactly the experience I expect to have.  This is an investment in food quality, food security and entertainment (mine).

TCLynx said:

High quality tanks of the desired shape and size may tend to be a bit costly to start but I expect you will be happy to have a good tank in the long run.

[jim mckee]

Maybe look at wood frame with pond liner inside.  The pond liner is available in many and custom sizes.  I'd just fold the corners instead of trying to cut off the excess and glue it back.

jim

[RW]

Anyone consider or currently doing in-ground ponds?  Liner is cheaper than tanks and you could go quite big - into the thousands of gallons. What are the pro's and con's? 

[George]

You'll definitely need a backhoe.  My tank is going in the ground and a 400 gallon hole is a lot of digging.  It just wasn't feasible to get heavy equipment into my backyard so I loaded a wheelbarrow, loaded my truck and unloaded my truck, handling all the dirt three times - not something I want to do again anytime soon.  I'm grateful that I went with a relatively small tank.  It seems an advantage to me to have the stability in temperature that tanks in the ground tend to have.  Too, I want to drain back to the tank in case the pump dies.   I wanted to operate without a sump but now I can see that I still might end up with one sometime, a clean water sump to pump to towers and then drain back to the tank.  The ground at my place is as solid as a form so a liner would work but I've heard of sandy soils that won't hold shape and tend to collapse.  I'm a little leery of puncturing a liner somehow. 

good luck

G

RW said:

Anyone consider or currently doing in-ground ponds?  Liner is cheaper than tanks and you could go quite big - into the thousands of gallons. What are the pro's and con's? 

[RW]

Thanks for the info. I like your idea of draining to the tank in case the pump dies. So if i picture it correctly, that would put the sump above ground.

I'm still planning, but my thought so far is to rent a backhoe. I can get it into my backyard and my ground is very much clay so should hold it's form well.  I have some dirt raised beds i plan on converting one to raft and one to media. I just need to figure out if i should integrate a sump and how the water will flow. I will also have to go offgrid so am researching solar panel/battery/inverter.  Suggestions and lessons learned from others doing a similar setup are very much appreciated.

[George]

The Mad German is running from solar without inverter-12 volt.  I intend to run from solar/inverter (battery, of course)  with a 50-watt pump.  There are a couple of threads on the subject, one in an Off Grid Group and the other elsewhere but I don't recall where.  When the time comes for tower install my clean water sump will be partially above ground with an overflow to the fish tank.  I know what you mean about still planning.  I've thought about this stuff for a couple of years and I'm still planning but at least the install is underway.

RW said:

Thanks for the info. I like your idea of draining to the tank in case the pump dies. So if i picture it correctly, that would put the sump above ground.

 

[George]

With a big tank you'll needs lots of filtering, either that or light stocking. 

RW said:

  you could go quite big - into the thousands of gallons. What are the pro's and con's? 

[Jon Parr]

K-mart wading pools 8' diameter x 18" deep hold 500 gallons each, $10-20 each depending on season, I just bought some for $13.95.  They have flimsy bottoms, semi ridgid sides, and my kids have yet to damage them in two full seasons of summer swimming on our rough asphalt driveway, so I would imagine they will last for years with fish.  I robbed a picture off of Stick-Fin website, which means they are tough enough for redclaw claws too. The siding is to prevent walk-abouts. The other photo is mine with tilapia under thick cover of water lettuce.



[TCLynx]

With an In ground pond, you need to make sure the top edge of the pond is arranged such that you won't be getting water flowing from the ground into your system during a heavy storm event.  I second the filtration reminder, Remember that you need lots of ffiltration if you have lots of water.  The minimal stocking only goes so far.  If you have 10,000 gallons of pond but only 300 gallons of media filled grow bed, even stocking lightly may not keep the water quality good.  Remember that a huge pool is difficult to cover from sun and leaves/debris.

 

I've dug some big holes, No problem.  My soil is sand.  However, you don't get to make a vertical sided tank in ground without worry about the sides collapsing in.  This is especially true with sand but any other soil can collapse or give you problems if there is a major rain event.  Getting in and out of a lined pond can be an issue once the sloped sides become slippery and netting fish out of a huge pond can be a challenge too.

 

As to those kiddie pools.  I'm using some for pond plants and duckweed but they are a bit shallow for many types of fish but may work for some types in a pinch so long as you can keep them from jumping out.