10' Pond Build

[mnkykng77]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Can't have an atoll without a few Tridacnid clams. Here is my 1st attempt at a juvenile T. gigas.

Nice! How big is the T. Gigas?

[moriarty]

Oops, I guess I should have clarified better... Was my first attempt at making a gigas clam from polymer clay, not at keeping a living one. I actually modeled this one from an old pic of mine that I kept years ago. As far as I'm aware, T. gigas haven't been imported for some time, plus with my fish selection and lack of appropriate lighting, I doubt that a living clam would stay that way for long.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Betta132

Are those blue damsels around there?

Yeah, There are around a dozen blue/yellowtail damsels in the pool so far. They add lots of color and movement, so I do plan to add a good amount more (along with other damsel species). They can be a little pushy toward each other but for the most part leave the other fish alone.

[pinnatus]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Oops, I guess I should have clarified better... Was my first attempt at making a gigas clam from polymer clay, not at keeping a living one. I actually modeled this one from an old pic of mine that I kept years ago. As far as I'm aware, T. gigas haven't been imported for some time, plus with my fish selection and lack of appropriate lighting, I doubt that a living clam would stay that way for long.

Well, you had us all fooled!

[nirvanaandtool]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Yeah, my guy definitely gets his share of food! When I feed LRS fish frenzy, he will grab a huge piece and disappear into the rocks with it, only to come out a few seconds later and grab another. That O. digramma on NYA was very cool, and definitely not a fish you see every day! If I was going to do a set up with a Maori and some goatfish, I think this is the one I would choose.
I would suspect that my current fish population would be seriously thinned out however! So your C. oxycephalus is about 6" then? Much bigger than my little guy! How long have you had him? If I happen to come across an O. bimaculatus available online, I'll be sure to send you a PM!

Mine is over 5" at least but maybe not quite 6" yet. He's definitely a big boy though. Had him since June when I got him from DD. Next time he's asleep on the sandbed up front I'll have to measure him.

Yea if you got that diagramma, your fish population would thin out really fast. Tripletail is probably the safer way to go. Joe's is pretty chill with anything it can't directly eat. And like you said, it would be awesome to get one to pair up to a large goatfish and watch them search the sandbed for noms.

Would definitely appreciate that! If I see any other maoris in my searches, I'll PM you as well

[Betta132]

Well, that's a decent number of votes in favor of your clam there! Nice job.
Yellowtail damsels are cowards when it comes to larger fish that might possibly fight back. They do have personality, though. I love mine.

[HPark]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Oops, I guess I should have clarified better... Was my first attempt at making a gigas clam from polymer clay, not at keeping a living one. I actually modeled this one from an old pic of mine that I kept years ago. As far as I'm aware, T. gigas haven't been imported for some time, plus with my fish selection and lack of appropriate lighting, I doubt that a living clam would stay that way for long.

hahah...totally fooled. I was like, how is he lighting it? lol

[moriarty]

Thank you for the compliments on the clam!

In the process of changing my QT/hospital tanks around so I can make better use of the space in my basement. Added the 20g long, and 29g to the refugium stand (my original intent when i built it). Going to have to figure something else out for the 75g QT, but can't do much with it until it's occupants are ready for the pool (still have a few weeks).

[clekchau]

this pond is freaking amazing good job.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by clekchau

this pond is freaking amazing good job.

Thank you! Love the Naso vlamingii in your avatar btw!



Made some ledge type rocks a while back which just finished curing. I have a few more in another container that should be ready in month or so. I'm considering making quite a few more to bulk up the atoll a bit, and to give the fishes more places to hide/feel secure. Would like to do some different colors to give the impression of plating/tabling corals assuming I can find some aquarium and/or food safe cement dyes.

Am also going to replace the two Kessil A150s with a single A360we. Am hoping that a single point-source light will add more shimmer, plus I like the control features that come with the A360 series.

Please excuse the diatom bloom. Makes it pretty obvious which side of the pool has been getting the most natural sunlight this fall/winter. Am thinking that I could probably add a few sand sifters now that the sand bed has had a chance to mature a little.

[Mark9]

Have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when i started reading this thread, but it has turned into one of the coolest tanks i have seen.
That atoll idea was genius.
Love this tank, keep it going!

[HPark]

Love this build!

Maybe you could add some rock around the edges to obscure the wall and give small damsels and fish another place to congregate?

Unsure if that would disrupt the flow too much or the movement of the larger fish.

Again, love this -- I definitely plan to copy you when able!

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Mark9

Have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when i started reading this thread, but it has turned into one of the coolest tanks i have seen.
That atoll idea was genius.
Love this tank, keep it going!

Thank you! I appreciate the compliments! +1 on the skepticism. When I first started planning for this build, I was a little concerned that I may be getting in over my head with a large volume of water in a non-traditional tank but it's been working out so far I would likely not have attempted going this route had it not been for a few others on RC with pond style tanks.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by HPark

Love this build!

Maybe you could add some rock around the edges to obscure the wall and give small damsels and fish another place to congregate?

Unsure if that would disrupt the flow too much or the movement of the larger fish.

Again, love this -- I definitely plan to copy you when able!

Thank you!! Yeah, definitely need to do something around the edges. I had originally planned to go with PVC sheeting, but really wasn't happy with the way it was turning out. I also would have needed to modify it a little too much for it to be functional. I may try experimenting with making a sectional "wall" from egg crate, pond foam, and dry rock to go around the edges. Could make it porous so water can pass through, add some ledges, etc... for smaller fish to hang out (good suggestion btw), and would also work to hide the Koralias, while keeping up the flow.

[Betta132]

Update on the yellowtail damsels in the ray tank at the local aquarium, if it's helpful: there are fewer. I haven't seen aggression between them, so I suspect the missing ones were eaten. You may want to get larger ones.
Also, there are peaceful damsel species. Perhaps try a few? They're cool.

[bristle]

Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.

[ConnorG]

Originally Posted by bristle

Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.

That sounds like such a cool idea! I want to try that! If only I had a larger tank...hmmm...

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Betta132

Update on the yellowtail damsels in the ray tank at the local aquarium, if it's helpful: there are fewer. I haven't seen aggression between them, so I suspect the missing ones were eaten. You may want to get larger ones.
Also, there are peaceful damsel species. Perhaps try a few? They're cool.

Thank you for the update! I haven't been seeing too much aggression from my blue or yellowtails at all. Both of the conch shells have been claimed by the largest two blue damsels, which live inside and will chase the others away when they come within a foot, but aside from that, there really hasn't been much aggression. My pair of three stripe Dascyllus are probably the worst that I have in terms of territoriality, but even they aren't too bad (defending an area of about 2 square feet). I'm a big fan of the Pomacentridae family in general, and have kept at least one member of the family in most of my past and present systems. I definitely plan to add a few groups of other (smaller) species to the pool.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by bristle

Have you considered a wave dump/surge box (there's probably a better word for it).

Basically a pump fills a container with water. When the container gets full enough it tips over and creates a wave. As it empties it rights itself and the pump fills it back up again. You could use any size of pump and as many surge boxes in whatever size as you'd like to recreate a wave as extra flow. I think it would be pretty cool and you'd get some more random flow in the tank.

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. Building/plumbing it in wouldn't be a problem at all, and I could probably do a gravity fed container from the sump without having to add any additional pumps. If/when I do attempt something like this, I would probably go with a longer, more shallow dump container (say 3' in length by a few inches in depth) so that it creates a light wave across the pool. I'd be concerned that If I go too big with this, the force of the wave would compromise the pool's frame over time.

[SDguy]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. Building/plumbing it in wouldn't be a problem at all, and I could probably do a gravity fed container from the sump without having to add any additional pumps. If/when I do attempt something like this, I would probably go with a longer, more shallow dump container (say 3' in length by a few inches in depth) so that it creates a light wave across the pool. I'd be concerned that If I go too big with this, the force of the wave would compromise the pool's frame over time.

Plus, would you be able to see anything through the rippling water?

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by SDguy

Plus, would you be able to see anything through the rippling water?

Very good point. I love this idea, wouldn't want to do so at the expense of visibility. Another drawback would be the added noise. I guess I'd have to play around with dumping water in to see how it effects things. Fortunately, with my 200 gallon monthly water changes (will likely increase as more fish are added) I have plenty of opportunities to do so!

[ConnorG]

You could experiment with a slower filling rate for the container (that will dump the water.) So that it isn't constant. Maybe 1 time every 10 minutes, that would allow the surface to settle in between dumps to provide viewing time.

[bigsink]

This is a sick build.

[Betta132]

Ooh- there are damsels that farm algae, ones that aren't very large and defend a small area of rockwork. Perhaps you should get one or two once your algae builds up a bit, they're really cool to watch.

I have a way to reduce/almost eliminate surface disturbance from water pouring back into the tank. I've done this with my freshwater tank. You just hang a sponge in the outlet so that the water is in the sponge all the way down to the tank level, thereby reducing the noise. Since it's at the end of the filter, it doesn't build much gunk up. You just have to rinse it out a bit every month-ish.

[reefermike1]

Wow that is a really cool setup, looks like a little piece of ocean. Congrats! I'd love to see some video especially at feeding time.