The Pondman's 560 Gallon Adventure

TessGlo · Sep 14, 2018

Love that we get to watch you go big! Also interested to see if your knowledge of pond filtration works its way into your reef tank setup in some unique way. I can't be the only one who owns a couple of tanks but is fascinated by how large pond systems work.

The Pondman · Sep 14, 2018

TessGlo said:
Love that we get to watch you go big! Also interested to see if your knowledge of pond filtration works its way into your reef tank setup in some unique way. I can't be the only one who owns a couple of tanks but is fascinated by how large pond systems work.

Maybe I'll throw in 3 stainless-steel 400 watt AquaUV Viper sterilizers and 3 30k pressurized media filters. This should do it pretty good, right? Lol

TessGlo · Sep 14, 2018

The Pondman said:
Maybe I'll throw in 3 stainless-steel 400 watt AquaUV Viper sterilizers and 3 30k pressurized media filters. This should do it pretty good, right? Lol

YES!!! Omg and I almost said something about a huge UV, because I've seen some big ones on ponds.

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

And the filling begins.......

TatorTaco · Sep 17, 2018

Oh, this is going to be epic!

How big of a what is the GPH on your RODI? 560 gallons might take a few days.

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

TatorTaco said:
Oh, this is going to be epic!

How big of a what is the GPH on your RODI? 560 gallons might take a few days.

100 GPD. (Gallons Per Day) Wishing now I had purchased the 200 GPD. I might just upgrade the membrane down the road.

mch1984 · Sep 17, 2018

I've watched plenty of your videos on youtube and seen other videos of your work. It will be fun to watch what you do with a salt water tank. I have every intention of putting in a pond one day in my back yard. As much as I would love for you to do it, I'm sure it will be all DIY for me lol. You do great work and I have no doubt your saltwater will be just as nice.

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

mch1984 said:
I've watched plenty of your videos on youtube and seen other videos of your work. It will be fun to watch what you do with a salt water tank. I have every intention of putting in a pond one day in my back yard. As much as I would love for you to do it, I'm sure it will be all DIY for me lol. You do great work and I have no doubt your saltwater will be just as nice.

Thank you for the kind words. Once you're ready for your DIY pond make sure you reach out to me before you get started and I'll help you in any way I can.

mch1984 · Sep 17, 2018

The Pondman said:
Thank you for the kind words. Once you're ready for your DIY pond make sure you reach out to me before you get started and I'll help you in any way I can.

I appreciate that, and for one particular issue I will be hitting you up when it comes time.

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

mch1984 said:
I appreciate that, and for one particular issue I will be hitting you up when it comes time.

Cool, I look forward to it.

luis carreiro · Sep 17, 2018

Those back yard and front yard pictures are absolutely gorgeous.

dragon99 · Sep 17, 2018

I'm following along!

Did you completely pull the glass apart and re-silicone the joints? That's seems like an crazy amount of work.
I've been told that rock should be added before sand so that later if the sand shifts (because of snails, gobies, etc) the rocks don't move.

My mom has a ~1500gal koi pond. Which by extension means I maintain a koi pond...

Muttley000 · Sep 17, 2018

Nice work so far. I love your dimensions btw. What is the stocking plan?

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

luis carreiro said:
Those back yard and front yard pictures are absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you!

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

dragon99 said:
I'm following along!

Did you completely pull the glass apart and re-silicone the joints? That's seems like an crazy amount of work.
I've been told that rock should be added before sand so that later if the sand shifts (because of snails, gobies, etc) the rocks don't move.

My mom has a ~1500gal koi pond. Which by extension means I maintain a koi pond...

No, I only removed and replaced the silicone inside the tank, not the silicone that holds glass panels together. With the right tools it wasn't hard.

Still working on collecting rocks here and there so when I'm ready to place rock I'll shift sand around to make sure rock is stable. Rocks will be drilled and a clear acrylic rod will be slid through holes to lock them in like is done with concrete and rebar. It won't be seen once inserted but will allow for changing rock/reef design down the road if needed.

This is all just a thought at this point though.

4FordFamily · Sep 17, 2018

Awesome water features!! Can’t wait to see your progress!

Dsnakes · Sep 17, 2018

Incredible work on both the tank and yard. I can’t wait to see this progress!

Wrangy · Sep 17, 2018

Wow, just wow mate. I'm absolutely in love with the work that you and your crew do. The pictures you've posted are just stunning and please feel free to post more of them too!! I'm an immense water-feature and pond lover as well but unfortunately we live in an apartment so I just have to settle for a reef! lol

I'm loving the idea of the massive pressurised filters and the UV's! That should give you some pretty amazing capacity! lol I can't wait to watch your tank grow and come together and if your exterior water works are anything to go by this tank is going to be amazing!

The Pondman · Sep 17, 2018

Muttley000 said:
Nice work so far. I love your dimensions btw. What is the stocking plan?

Don't know 100% yet but more than likely it'll be overkill. Lol!

I'm still visiting every reef store I can and also researching online making a list of all the fish & corals I would like to have. Once I complete the list I'll put them in order from favorite to least favorite and scratch out from the bottom up the ones that won't cohabit with the ones on top of the list.

The Pondman · Sep 18, 2018

Wrangy said:
Wow, just wow mate. I'm absolutely in love with the work that you and your crew do. The pictures you've posted are just stunning and please feel free to post more of them too!! I'm an immense water-feature and pond lover as well but unfortunately we live in an apartment so I just have to settle for a reef! lol

I'm loving the idea of the massive pressurised filters and the UV's! That should give you some pretty amazing capacity! lol I can't wait to watch your tank grow and come together and if your exterior water works are anything to go by this tank is going to be amazing!

Thank you Wrangy. I have 700 lbs of rock on the way so I'll be playing with that for a while. I'm sketching out a few rock structure designs. The design will include a few floating reefs, caves, swim-arounds, etc. (These are my descriptions, don't know if the designs actually have a name. Lol). Thinking about one of the rock structures to look like a waterfall so when I put some blue soft corals in that structure they will look like flowing water with their movement. It'll be my first underwater waterfall. Lol.

Who knows? I'm just having fun at this point coming up with one idea after another and changing my mind as soon as I think I had my mind made up. Lol. Anyways, here are a few more pond and waterfall project pics for you. Enjoy!