The best aquarium ever! Thinkin bout a intex pool aquarium. Any suggestions?

[stumpovrtyme]

Thinkin about using an intex pool like the ones from walmart for an aquarium. Think this is a good idea? What are some aspects I need to know? With that large a volume do I need A skimmer? How long would it have to cycle/or would it? Could I swim in it if it works? Could I use the pool filter as a mechanical filter/would it work alright? Would the pool get brittle?

I forgot to mention not the blow up ones but the one with the poles and a solid liner.

Please give me some info. this is not so much an inquery but a how to do it site.

[rgentry123]

if your talking about the same type of pool im thinking about i personally wouldnt do it.. from what i can remember they dont seem that sturdy and to have something like that collapse on you and potentially lose thousands of dollars in livestock all over your front yard would be too much of a risk for me. if your serious about somthing that bigyou may want to look into somthing thats custom built for this type of application. this unfortunately would put it out of most peoples budget but hey..maybe you've got deep pockets :D. somthing else too think about, a swimming pool like that is basically just a standing body of water where as a full blown reef aquarium requires a lot of flow for it's inhabitants to thrive, this would put a lot of extra pressure on the walls of the pool that the makers probably did not intend on. just food for though.

[Pacific Reefs]

wonder if those things leach phosphates.

[stumpovrtyme]

I pretty sure I got the flow figured out and the pool takes people jumping in it. The One I want to use would be in my basement with plenty of ventilation of course. I even have a top designed out of plexy. As far as a reef goes it would probly just be fish. Maybe some low light softies definatly no hard corals. I was thinking for lights useing flood lights.

[stumpovrtyme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15371686#post15371686 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pacific Reefs
wonder if those things leach phosphates.

The plastic or the filter?

[woodiecrafts]

I would imagine over time it would leak or even burst with the fulltime pressure it would have inside of it. You might get by with it if you braced it all the way around with lumber or something of the sort and made like a deck or walkway around it. the wood would handle the bracing of it.

If outside, what type of protection from the weather and all would you have for it?

[flyhigh123]

someone did this a while back... it was a full blow reef in their basement with a swimming pool like tank... dont know where the thread went...

[crooks]

How big is the pool your looking at? I have seen a 300 gallon rubermaid tub as a reef tank and it was pretty cool. Also some of the LFS around here make their own look down tanks out of wood and pond liner. One place had two 10' x 2' x 4' frag tanks next to each other. Making your own might not be that bad if you only do a look down.

[thecichlidpleco]

Along the lines of what crooks said, but use cinder blocks and pond lining, similar to the way reef systems does it out of C-bus

[Rich D]

keep in mind that none of the pool equipment including pumps and filters would work. The salt water would make them corrode. I am guessing that the plastics are coated with an antibacterial also so it would have to be rinsed thoroughly. Also, keep in mind that above ground pools and inflatable pools were not made to hold water for years at a time. I would give it a couple years before deteriorating. It would be easier to build a wood tank...

[dudley moray]

also they aren't made to hold the weight of salt water about 8 lbs per gallon where as fresh is 6.5 you could look into one that is made for salt water newest thing in swimming pools i hear!