Swimming Pool to an Aquarium

[gormetlady]

Has anyone converted an in ground swimming pool for marine life? I have a newer in ground pool in TX which is currently being used as a regular cholorine swimming pool. When I retire I would like to completely convert the hardware in order to have a reef pool. I also have a spa which waterfalls into the pool. I would like to use this as a filter pool for vegetation. I would like to have a filter bed installed in the bottom of my pool and then have live marine sand on top of that. To start with, I would just have clown fish, anemones, damsels and invertebrates (especially cleaners for algae. But I would like to build up to more exotic fish and corals after the water is stable. I can run an aerator and filter as needed. Have any of you ever done this? I am also a scuba diver and would like to enter the water for observation, although I would probably rig some air supply tube to run down to me from the surface rather than wear tanks which I might bump on something. My pool goes from about 4' to 6' and is about 30' long by about 12' wide.

 

[jeps]

wow.. that would be awesome.. good luck with your plans.

 

[aw2eod]

It's definately do-able, but the hundreds to thousands of dollars, PER MONTH, it would take to run usually turns people off.
Let's just say you're inground pool (like mine) is 30,000gal. That's 3000gal. water changes per 1 - 2 months. Let's say a bucket of salt will do 200gal. and the bucket costs $50...that's $7500 in salt alone. Live rock...let's say you just went with 1/2lb per gallon...15,000lb, at an average of $6 per pound...$90,000. You'd have to have artificial lighting, because no matter how big your cleaner crew was, they'd never be able to keep up with the algea...you'd end up with a swimming pool full of hair algea. Let's say 1000W metal halides - $300 each...15 lighting units...$4500. And that's not even getting into the $1000+ elec. bill, every month.
I wont even get into the massive pumps you'd have to have in an environment like that...moving thousands of gallons of water per MINUTE, not hour.

 

[gormetlady]

Thanks for the reply. I definetly do not want to spend hundreds of thousands per month. But do you really think that I would need to do the conventional amount of water change when there is so much more water per fish than in a regular aquarium? And I was hoping to not have to do artificial lighting since the bright TX sun might be sufficient. I was contemplating building shelves about two feet from the water surface around the perimeter in order to keep things that need a lot of light and strong waterflow (where the pool pumps the water in). I am aware that the initial setup would be costly for the equipment and live sand. But I was hoping that the monthly cost would be reasonable. My biggest concern is water quality, as you mentioned. In the Spring it is a battle fighting algea with chlorine, let alone without it. I would be happy to get hundreds or even thousands of algea eaters (as in the reef pkgs sold here). But other than that, I don't know what to do. Also, does anyone know how hot can the water get without being harmful? I can heat it to be as warm as need be in the winter. But cooling it in the summer is a different story.

 

[emmitt]

That would take quite a chiller. Also, I'd guess it would be VERY expensive to keep it at least 76 degrees for months in the winter. I dont see how it could be do-able, outdoors, in a state with that massive of a temperature fluctuation by season. You are talking about temp. swings of literally 80 degrees from january to august. Heating and cooling seems nearly impossible unless you have unlimited funds :notsure:

 

[hagfish]

There is a person who lives near me who has a 4 to 5 thousand gallon aquarium. Our local club just toured his house. He has a 500 gallon wooden tank just for mixing fresh saltwater, and yes he does do water changes like any other aquarium would. He does mix his own salt to save some money. This runs out of his basement so he has pretty good control of the ambient temperature. But I think he had either some chillers or extra AC units in the basement to help keep it under control.
It's possible to do, I mean the public aquariums are pretty similar. As mentioned, the major problem is money. The LR alone would cost a fortune. Luckily, the guy I mentioned was able to get his LR for free before it became illegal to take from the ocean.

 

[emmitt]

Originally Posted by hagfish
There is a person who lives near me who has a 4 to 5 thousand gallon aquarium. Our local club just toured his house. He has a 500 gallon wooden tank just for mixing fresh saltwater, and yes he does do water changes like any other aquarium would. He does mix his own salt to save some money. This runs out of his basement so he has pretty good control of the ambient temperature. But I think he had either some chillers or extra AC units in the basement to help keep it under control.
It's possible to do, I mean the public aquariums are pretty similar. As mentioned, the major problem is money. The LR alone would cost a fortune. Luckily, the guy I mentioned was able to get his LR for free before it became illegal to take from the ocean.
You must be talking about an indoor aquarium. How could you heat or chill that much water for that long without spending a ton of $ ??? Winters are colder than you'd think in Texas and in the summer the tank would need a mostrous chiller by June at the latest.

 

[gormetlady]

Well, I've heated my pool to about 80 over the Christmas holidays for my family and friends from the North to swim when they visit me. It's about an extra $30- $50/week. The water would only be lower than 75 about 3 months out of the year -- or 4 months at the most, where it would need to be heated. So, I think less than $800 a year for heating. But there are times in the hottest part of the summer when the water temp gets over 90. Maybe two weeks out of the summer it might even approach 100. That's why I was wondering how hot is too hot? I don't even know how to cool it. The only way that I can think of would be to put bags of ice in the spa, so that when the water circulates through the system it would mix with the other water to gradually cool the pool. But I don't think that is very feasible as it would probably melt faster than I could replenish it and controlling it to an exact temperature would be pretty unlikely. I don't have a basement because where I live we cannot have them. Our altitude is too close to sea level.

 

[lion_crazz]

Unfortunately, I don't think it is possible unless you have unlimited funds. Like already explained, all of those things would be neccessary in my opinion. A huge chiller would be required to keep the temp under 86, and a huge heater would be needed to keep it above 74. And the cost of live rock would be absolutely ridiculous.

 

[tnt]

This sounds like an amazing project! :jumping: I think it would be do-able, but expensive.
I read somewhere on here that someone made their own chiller by running their return hose from the sump through a small refrigerator. What about running hoses through, like say, a chest freezer in the summer? If the water was continuously moving it wouldn't freeze, but it would cool the water faster and with more exposure than an upright refrigerator.
Have you thought about converting it into a freshwater pond with koi? I have a 450 gallon pond in my backyard that I love just as much as my salt. You could have HUGE koi in that many gallons, not to mention it would be much cheaper to set up initially and to maintain. Koi are very personable and just as much fun to swim with. Just a thought. :happyfish

 

[forcrz6]

I would look at getting some type of government grant for that. Like a Habitat grant for Special fish. Or endangered. :thinking: HUMMM that would realy bring down the cost. And im sure that you could get money from local Fish and wildlife foundations. And to build a shelter would be noproblem then for that pool. But that is just an Idea.

 

[turningtim]

Honestly besides all the above which I totally agree with. My first thought was water quaility. How would you insure that contamiants didn't get in to the water? You would have rain, wind, dust, pesticides and other air bourne things going into a closed reef system. The filtration would have to be unreal.
On top of that you would have to make sure that your pool could handle SW.
If you have that kinda money just have a custom 5000 built in your house................
JMO
Tim

 

[emmitt]

Also, what would really be the point?? You wouldnt even be able to see anything except from above which is a bad view 99% of the time. To really enjoy it, youd have to snorkel in it. For the money it would cost it would seem that you would get very little actual enjoyment out of it. Much better off with a 400+ gallon custom tank inside the house.
p.s.- gormetlady, ice is very ineffective. Every year before the 4th of july i put ice in the pool to lower the temp so we can actually enjoy it on the 4th same as your plan in the sauna to circulate. Last year i was up to 600 lbs of ice and that only lowered it to 82 and that only lasted 2 days before it was over 85 again. This year, im doing 750 lbs to try for 78 degrees.

 

[gormetlady]

I really appreciate all of your replies, pro and con. The suggestions on refrigeration and warnings about particulates getting in, and getting a grant are all great things to think about. I am still a couple years away from doing this... which is about how long I think it will take. So, based on all of your suggestions, I will first attempt to control the water temperature this summer to no hotter than 86 just as a swimming pool. That seems to be the biggest caveat so far. I know that I can heat it to 76 without a problem, as I have done that in the coldest of our winters. I even can heat the spa to over 100 in the coldest weather. If I can keep the temp below 86, then I will price building a net one story high to cover my pool. There are pools in my area with them, so I know finding a contractor to do it should not be difficult. Then I will keep my landscaping within the net area limited to sand, gunite, rock, and palm trees. There are pine trees just outside of my property which shed their needles into my pool. So, the net will be a must. But I want to see through the top of it from my second story windows, because I will want to watch over it. All of this I can do and still use it as a swimming pool if any of these things fail. If they succeed, then I can move on to developing a filtration system and pricing live rock. I also appreciate the suggestion of Koi. I lived in OH most of my life, and I did have a Koi pond there. It was beautiful, and definitely a backup plan if this doesn't work. But I just love saltwater creatures, and this is still my dream. PS. If anyone on here is a certified scuba diver and ever needs a buddy, please let me know.

 

[emmitt]

My wifes a certified scuba intructor and dive master, If you ever get that thing into a 30,000 gallon reef i'll have my wife teach ya as long as i get to dive it.

 

[gormetlady]

Thanks for your offer of your wife teaching me to Scuba. I am actually certified myself and dive at every opportunity. That's what sparked my interested on doing this with my pool. I just can't seem to get enough of being with the sea creatures. I have a few friends who dive, but no one that I know is addicted like I am. So, I figured I would just make my own paradise in my backyard and go hover underwater with my sea friends whenever I like. Not wearing tanks, though, because it would be too easy to injure something. I think that I would just rig up an air supply on the surface to feed down to me. After learning cave diving last year, which has really strong currents as well as silt outs and no overhead escape, I have become pretty good at buoyancy control. So, I think that if I am nearly motionless in the water, it will not stress the fish by doing this. Oh, and you will be most welcome to dive in my pool anytime you like anyway.

 

[hagfish]

Originally Posted by emmitt
You must be talking about an indoor aquarium. How could you heat or chill that much water for that long without spending a ton of $ ??? Winters are colder than you'd think in Texas and in the summer the tank would need a mostrous chiller by June at the latest.
If you read my post more carefully you'll see that I said this was in his basement.

 

[isistius]

i know that pool filters can be used. when i interned at the national aquarium in baltimre, they were running pool filters with sand in them for their filtration on most of their tanks. but then again, most of their tanks were in the 5000 gal and under category. also, the pipework they had was massive. i'm talking of 18" diameter pipes to handle the waterflow, and they weren't using pvc!!! of course it can be done. just alot of time, money and research......if you're rally interested, you might want to contact some aquariums and find out what type of equipment they're running. jmho.....

 

[emmitt]

Originally Posted by hagfish
If you read my post more carefully you'll see that I said this was in his basement.
I know but we were talking about heating and cooling a OUTSIDE aqauarium in Texas, so what did cooling a basement aqaurium have to do with anything??

 

[sagxman]

If you go to Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World you can swim in a large, outdoor, (pool type) area where they have sharks and rays. I think it could be done, but I don't have the foggiest as where to begin.