Hello from NE Texas!

[SHARON55]

Hi everyone! I just found this forum tonight while trying to find instructions on setting up a stock tank pond and DIY bio-filter. I'm a retired R.N. that has been married to my long-suffering husband George for almost 32 years and we have three grown children. We live east of Dallas, Texas on 10 acres. I am new to fish ponds but not new to fish. I have a 'fish room' with several tanks and I breed bristle-nosed plecos(algae-eaters). I am attaching a photo of one of my fish tanks with a custom background.
Since we do live out in the sticks, I am interested in buying a galvanized stock tank to convert to a fish pond. I welcome any advice and look forward to learning a lot from this forum!

 

[addy1]

To our group Sharon

Beautiful fish tank btw, I used to have indoor tanks, now just the pond.

I would dig a hole and line it. You will probably find the stock tank to be too small when you get done, unless you can get a huge one. Texas gets hot, you need depth to keep the water cool for the fish.

 

[taherrmann4]

Welcome to the forum..

 

[sissy]

welcome and not sure about galvinized but iI have a 150 gallon and 300 gallon stock tank from rubber made and they work great and are not to expensive .i bought mine at a house auction .

 

[j.w]

Sharon
I'd vote to dig a hole about 5 or 6' deep, put the liner in and go from there. You have 10 acres so you have tons of room. The bigger the better! You will be glad you did. Or you could try the tank thing and then dig it up next year and then do the hole/liner thingy,lol!

 

[SHARON55]

Thanks for the nice welcome! I am going with a 6ft.x 2ft. round stock tank due to funds right now and don't know if I want to invest more until I am sure outdoor fish ponds are for me. Also, I have dogs that would probably tear up a liner unless I put a good fence around it. I also have 50ft.x 70ft. natural pond that I enjoy and would love to stock with some Gambusia. Would a 2ft. deep stock tank get too hot out in the open if I added plenty of plants and a fountain? I have lots of shade but don't like the idea of netting leaves all the time. Temps. soar to over 100 degrees in Texas during the summer. Like I said, I am a complete newbie at outdoor ponds but at least I know about keeping up fish. I have really enjoyed drooling over all of the pond photos this forum has posted and
have read several DIY tutorials that I believe I am capable of re-creating. This is a great forum!

 

[HARO]

Welcome to the forum, Sharon55, and good luck with your project. You seem ready to do the planning, and I'm sure you can succeed!
John

 

[SHARON55]

Thanks John!

 

[sissy]

2 feet deep would get really hot in the sun and even hotter since it is metal .I have 2 smaller ones and the water gets really hot and they are not in the sun all day .I can understand about your dogs they like to cool off to when it is hot out .I check out auctions on auction zip .com and they go by state maybe you could find one there .I paid 35 dollars for my 150 gallon one at auction .rubber made .I love the metal ones looks better ,looks more rustic ,but would need more shade if you have the shade you could do it .

 

[SHARON55]

Thanks for the tip Sissy! I will check that out. I talked with my husband about maybe building an above ground one made out of landscape timbers and 45 mil. liner. I hate throwing another ' honey-do' at him, but I am seriously considering doing that so I can dig down a couple of feet for extra depth.

 

[sissy]

retaining wall block is easier ,may be a little more in money though .I have my pond done that way and liner is over concrete block as the inner wall and outside wall has the retaining wall block .There is dirt between the 2 walls .I know here those large metal ones come in 300 gallon also .I saw one also made out of one of those big ditch pipes cut in half and half was underground and half was above ground and then liner was put in and was just layed over the outside and they did not even have anything holding the liner on the outside .They told me they want to get a larger ditch pipe for outside that one and put dirt and plantings in there .At some of the farms here they do some interesting building of stuff out of left overs

 

[Becky]

Hi Sharon, welcome to the forums! I love your avatar

 

[SHARON55]

Thanks Sissy and Becky! Well, the idea of using a stock tank got shot down by my hubby. He thinks a stock tank would not be a good idea in the Texas heat. Guess I will have to wait until he has time to dig me a pond. I know I would want at least two feet above ground to keep the dogs out of it. Now I need to go rent a back-hoe......

 

[j.w]

Don't wait for him to do it girl! Get busy on that back hoe or pick axe, shovel or whatever you can find to dig with. We will root you on as you slave away.......................we are good at it,lol!

 

[sissy]

If you are building a small pond a shovel and aching back will do it .I dug mine out and the retaining wall block is easy to do as long as you get it level