I decided on using 4x4 pieces of wood, 8 feet and 4 feet pieces, 7 pieces high.
i measured each wood and made marks along each wood, predrilling holes in each wood to insert 14 pieces of rebar. drilling took a while, but putting it together was like playing with LEGOS.

When we bought the liner from home depot, we bought the epdm liner, which costs $13 compared to $8 pvc liner, but the workers are stupid and wrote down the item number for the pvc liner, so we saved quite alot!

(this premeasurement didn't turn out quite as i thought though, it ended up with about .25 gaps, as you can see in the pics). also, some pieces of wood seem to be jutting out, this is because i did not center the drill bit perfectly.


there are four small turtles in there with 10 feeder fish i have had for a while that now look like mini koi.

Thanks for all the answers to the few of my previous questions.
I am on my way to aquire some pond plants now.

How many gallons do you think it is? It's looking nice! :)

Looks good. My calculation puts it right around 400 gallons. Nice job capping the top. :)
What is the square object in the center of the pond?

The water hyacinth is looking healthy. How long before the fish go in?

It appears that you might have to hang the laundry somewhere else now. ;)

PG

Very nice! I have an above-ground pond constructed just like it, only it is smaller (4 x 3'). It was my first experience with an outdoor goldfish pond and a few years experience got me brave enough to tackle a larger, in the ground pond.

Thats the same set up that I want to put in the basement but the DH is not taking to the idea due to the moisture :-(

You extreme ponders are so crazy! Mine stay outside!

KK
If it's just going to be used in the winter, it makes a wonderful humidefier. I keep a 75 gallon plastic horse trough in the basement in the winter for various critters and plants and then empty it in the spring. Really does help with dry winter air.

Don

Very nice!

I bought a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank from the farm store yesterday to use this year instead of my 20 gallon plastic tub pond in the basement. That way, I can put in more tropical marginals. I'm also going to a koi show next weekend and might dare to get a small koi or two and quarantine them in the basement pond until spring. Of course, when I told my father, he said, "Great, all we need is more crap in the basement!" My worry is that the terrestrial house plants who also use the two four foot fluorescent plant lights won't have enough light to share what with this bigger pond in the way.

If you want my opinion Robyn, (which you might not!) I think you should get the Koi! They are SO cute!

I am thinking about getting an indoor pond for my BIG aquarium fish (Clown Loaches) and maybe a few others? I doubt my parents would let me do it though due to the house is more important than another pond!

Hey Robyn what tropical marginals do you keep over winter? I would think it would have to be set up for quite a few to make worth it? Do you keep any fish in the same tank?

Fm3

Here is Robyn's (old) indoor pond setup. It tells what equiptment she uses, along with fish (if any) and what plants.

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/myfish/basepond.htm

Thanks Don, that sounds really reasonable to me! Maybe the DH and I could compromise and I could bring in the 140 gallon stock tank for the winter since the filter is already well establised? It is VERY, very dry here so maybe it would be good for the house! Hhhmmm, I am going to propose this when he gets home from hunting today. Do you think I should put a sheet of plexi glass partially over the tub to help keep the moisture in, more like an aqurium or just leave it open? I know when I had this set up in the shop over winter it produces wayyyyyyy too much moisture in there but that would be because of the cold air in there wouldn't it? Hhhmm this is good stuff to work on on a cool Sunday morning ;)

ALSO*** I have a 4 foot long aqurium light that I could put over top of the stock tank :D This is sounding better all the time, lol!

KK

Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, so water in a cold room would tend to reach saturation quickly and condense on objects. Conversely, when you heat air during the winter, the relatively dry winter air becomes even drier. Some measurements have shown heated indoor air during the winter to be drier that the Sahara Desert. That dry air is not good for things like furniture as it dries out the glued joints, causing chairs rungs and such to become loose. The changes from high summer humidity to low winter humidity also contributes to cracking of plaster and drywall joints, nail pops in drywall, and squeaking floors. As for humans, one of the major reasons there are more colds and flu during the winter is that mucous membranes dry out and leave the body much more susceptible to infection. Static charges also build up to higher potentials in dry environments, increaing the chances of damaging sensitive electronic equipment such as computers and causing the dreaded "STATIC CLING" and the "FRIZZIES". There are any number of valid reasons for maintaining a constant humidity, especially by adding moisture during the winter.

There, how's that for some arguments to use with the DH?

Don

Don, since both of our indoor ponds are in the basement, how much of that moisture really makes it in to the rest of the house? I surround my indoor pond with house plants in the winter as they're all sharing the light. It becomes a little ecosystem including tons of insects we'd rather not have inside! But, it makes the cats' day!

I filled up the 50 gallon stock tank today. It's only a foot deep (I put in about 10" as 12" is to the very tippy top) so it has a nice surface area. This year, I have the following tropical marginals to bring in: dwarf papyrus, dwarf umbrella plant, tropical water hibiscus, bluebells, tropical waterlily, and yellow water canna. Did I forget any? Kenny would know! My old 20 gallon indoor tub pond only holds three pots (one 2 gallon and two 1 gallons). Plus, if I get a koi or two, I didn't want to keep them in just a 20 gallon tub pond (that was half full with pots) even if done for a short quarantine.

I pulled out my old Emperor 400 filter from my old 40 gallon aquarium. It fit over the straight end of the stock tank as predicted but the intake tube couldn't be attached because the tank isn't straight down; it curves in and has a humpy thing. I considered a few things and even rigged up some tubing from the pond to where the filter sucks. But, when I turned it on, all I got was a lot of chugging. It looks like I have to order a pond filter instead. Tinkie (my 9 month kitten) thinks the pond is just for her! She loves water. I give it two days before she falls in. I'll have to net the pond if I get fish to keep them in and her out. I have to close the laundry room door when I clean those tanks now. Two weeks in a row with her jumping in to the 20 gallon tank and water and duckweed sprayed all over the place was enough! She likes to lay on the aquariums and can't tell that the lid is off. She also drinks from the dirty toilet!

Robyn

As long as there is a cold air return vent in the basement, the furnace will pull air in and circulate it to the entire house. If the basement is heated, it will also need moisture added in the winter.

Sounds like the cat is a nut case. We used to have at least one cat, along with our dogs, but the last one died of feline leukemia, which is of viral origin and the vet advised us not to get another cat for several years, as the virus can linger for quite some time and infect a new animal. there is a vaccine to prevent the disease, but the vet said to wait anyway. It's been several years since we've had a cat and I think I'm getting too old to try to introduce a kitty to our dogs, who think cats are for chasing. I miss having a cat, though. I hope when you said "dirty toilet" that it has at least been flushed

Don

Tinkie sounds like my Little Dickens. He loves the water and the fish. When I go at night to feed the babies in the clay pond, he comes right out on the wharf I made and lays at my feet and dangles his tail over one side into the water and hangs his paws over the other side in the water! He is obsessed with water in the bathtub too, when you are having a bath, he puts his paws up and likes to have them and his nose "painted" with water. Weird how some cats like water isn't it!

Don, Thanks for the explanation of condensation and air temperatures, you always make it easy to understand and now if I do it I won't worry about too much moisture! LOL, I will give my speech to the DH and see if he buys it or not :D

You never have to right down any notes for yourself again! All you have to do is ask me. LOL! Do you have a page up for the stock tank yet as I'm too tired to try looking. Oh, and I think your tropical list is correct but don't ask me because I don't have to bring in any tropical plants! In fact, I recently brought home some new duckweed (smaller than what I have), Frogbit?, Water Hyacinth and a Yellow Canna. Next year, I'm hoping to buy some more plants as well!

I know, I just keep talking and talking, but, today I seen one of the saddest things! Where the "river" flows, it was drying up as the river is going down and there was THOUSANDS of mosquitofish just gasping at the top of the water and drying up. I felt so bad because I shouldn't mess with wildlife and let nature take it's course but what happens to all of those fish? Ugh. :(

That is so sad kENNY :( I wouldn't like to see that at all. I was thinking that was going to happen to the clay pond but it is still about 7-8 inches deep in the deepest spot and hopefully it stays that way until it ices over so I don't have to "see" the carnage. I feel good in knowing I will NEVER put another fish in there and that helps me feel a tiny bit better about what is going to happen down there this winter, but not much :(

Don, the basement has no vents (in or out). It's pretty big so I've not had problems with condensation from the pond (but that was the smaller 20 gallon pond). You really should get another cat; I can't live without them! The FeLV virus should be gone within a few weeks from the house (as far as I know).

Um, do you know the environmental motto, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down." My mother does that which means, when Tinkie goes for a drink, she's getting more than water. I keep telling her to at least put the seat down! I'll come home, and the toilet will be half full of toilet paper and barely flush. But, what can I do; mother is always right. She blames the cat.

Kenny, I don't have a page up on the new basement pond yet. For now, all that's in it is some bricks, an empty pot, two air stones, probably some cat litter by now, and Tinkie. I did take a few photos last night (not processed). Seeing those dying fish must have been awful.

LOL! My outside cat, Helo, has fallen in the pond before. I was scared that he couldn't get out the second I seen it but he got out REAL fast. The worst thing about seeing all of those dying fish & Plants, was I couldn't rescue any of them! They all just "had" to die. I wish I could have saved a few net-fulls of them and some of the plants (very lush, blooming, water hyacinth). They are all dead by now! :( No one could ever understand how sad all of that makes me feel. I guess I just have to rescue the world, huh?