full room koi pond

[sherminshakealot]

I drew up a plan that i want to try and build, 15' x 15' room. the plan layout that i have is est~1470 gal pond, there will be a zen garden, a bed, door clearance with steps 3 windows, a waterfall, and stepping stones, i was thinking a 2x4 shell for everything in the room. this will be a small cabin to get away and relax. I figured the math to be about 1466.25 gals of water and it to weigh about 12228.5 #lbs total for water, i want it, 1.5 ft deep with everything in the room to be level with the water (besides waterfall). to solve the flow over problem was thinking 4 inch plexi glass around everything. around the bed i was thinking of a 2' wooden "dock" with water under the dock. I was thinking ceder tongue and grove.
what should i do about the pump, filtration, liner, and anything else. anything i will run into that maybe you have would really help. thanks. I'm sorry about the plan quality, it was just a idea sketch.

 

[sissy]

Why would you have a problem with over flow indoors .It would be like a cabin in the woods but with a pond .

 

[sherminshakealot]

Why would you have a problem with over flow indoors .It would be like a cabin in the woods but with a pond .

I'm going to have the bed and zen garden level with the water, if the waterfall or anything makes waves, i don't want to get water on the bed or in the sand.

 

[sissy]

ok so you are not having a floor inside then .Hard to figure something out you have never heard of before .sorry .You have one original idea there . :razz: I looked at you paper long and hard but still never quite got it .Cedar if it does get wet lets tannins go in the water .I think it was turtle mommy on here that had a cedar fence near her pond and nobody realized what would happen when it got wet .

 

[Mmathis]

ok so you are not having a floor inside then .Hard to figure something out you have never heard of before .sorry .You have one original idea there . :razz: I looked at you paper long and hard but still never quite got it .Cedar if it does get wet lets tannins go in the water .I think it was turtle mommy on here that had a cedar fence near her pond and nobody realized what would happen when it got wet .

Yep, that was me! But after the initial "drenching" via the rain gods, haven't had the tannin issue since. Guess they just needed time to leach out....

And WELCOME, BTW. Interesting idea you have there. Is this room a single room, to be lived in? I, too, was having trouble picturing it.

 

[sissy]

at least now I know it is not just me :razz: it sure is original .

 

[sherminshakealot]

Yep, that was me! But after the initial "drenching" via the rain gods, haven't had the tannin issue since. Guess they just needed time to leach out....

And WELCOME, BTW. Interesting idea you have there. Is this room a single room, to be lived in? I, too, was having trouble picturing it.

i will try to draw a better pic. this will be a get away place, weekend sleeps etc. if i soak the ceder do you think that will clear the wood? small cabin . single room down stairs (pond room) with a walkway for a wind break, and a loft with small bath and bed. i was hoping to get the pond stable enough for koi's. no basement but a concrete foundation. know any sites that will help with the materials, preferably one that specializes in ponds/water fountains? oh and will have a regular floor, but there will be 2x4's, 16 on center across the bottom for enough room for the PVC piping for the drain and the filtration system. Are koi's durable fish? or will i have to worry about a high temp range and perfect filtration?

 

[sissy]

koi get large mine were a couple of inches long 9 years ago and now are over 2 feet long

 

[Mmathis]

Sherm, your drawing is actually quite good, it's just that my brain was having trouble thinking "outside the box." Wow, this sounds like a great idea! As far as soaking the cedar, can't really say if that would work or not. I just know that when I built the fence for my box turtles, my thoughts were on cedar as an insect-and rot-resistant wood. The "tannin" issue never entered my mind [nor anyone else's on the forum at that point] until we had a huge downpour that almost flooded the pond. Not only did the wood get drenched, but there was a period where a couple of inches were submerged. What happened was that overnight, the pond turned the color of cola (or strong tea). The water wasn't particularly cloudy (that I recall....), just grossly discolored. No ill effects on the fish. I used activated charcoal to get rid of the tannins. With the exception of that first rain, haven't had the "cola-water" problem again (pond is just under a year old) so I figured the offensive chemicals DID get leached out then. I used cedar fence planks. Maybe use "The GOOGLE" and read up on it....

As with most things, when I was doing research, trying to figure out what happened, what effect it would have on my fish, and how to treat it: found responses ranging from the "OMG, ALL YOUR FISH ARE DOOMED!" "ALL WOOD IS TOXIC -- WHY WOULD YOU EVER EVEN THINK OF USING WOOD....AND CEDAR!! OMG!...." etc, etc, etc., to the "It's no big deal -- throw some activated charcoal in...." Just letting you know what's out there . Next time, I'm gonna soak my wood ahead of time, after I lay in a supply of activated charcoal !

 

[sissy]

I just bought bags of activated charcoal from pet mountain .com .3 lbs for less than 5 dollars and free shipping on 50 dollars no tax and have been getting this brand of acurel for 4 years now from them .They had a sale for valentines day.I always buy 5 or 6 bags at a time '

 

[markd]

Pretty cool!

If you have to pass an inspection (ie this has to be to code), you'd better start talking to the code authority before doing anything else. There are all kinds of potential issues, from structural to safety.

If you don't, for whatever reason, the next thing I would be worried about is moisture. You are going to have some pretty serious water vapor in that space, and it will need to be constructed to handle it, as well as vent it to the outside. Your location says Green Bay- as in home of the Packers? If so, what are your plans for winter? If you are going to keep the pond going over the winter, you will probably need a heat exchanging ventilation system, or maybe just lots of money. ;-)

 

[sissy]

very true vent up near the roof or opening skylights .Never thought about how hot it may get in there ,be like a green house .Gotta admit well watered plants would grow great .He does have a ceiling fan to help circulate air and with the windows open it may stay somewhat cooler but come those long 100 degree days it could get mighty bad fast .May even over heat the water and deprive it of oxygen .Building codes are there for a reason and neighbors may say something .

 

[callingcolleen1]

I would not go to big for an indoor pond, you won't grow very good plants and it could make mold grow on walls. I used to have a 100 gallon pond indoors and the room got damp and am glad to have gotton rid of it, mold not good. I have seen some nice indoor streams and ponds in large buildings, some people can make it work good.

 

[sissy]

My neighbor has an indoor pond in a huge metal building but slab is heated and the building was insulated and he has those vent fans that pull air out and ceiling fans but he did pay over 50 thousand dollars on just the building and insulation ,vents and fans .It is his work shop get away man cave .
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[sherminshakealot]

My neighbor has an indoor pond in a huge metal building but slab is heated and the building was insulated and he has those vent fans that pull air out and ceiling fans but he did pay over 50 thousand dollars on just the building and insulation ,vents and fans .It is his work shop get away man cave .

Pretty cool!

If you have to pass an inspection (ie this has to be to code), you'd better start talking to the code authority before doing anything else. There are all kinds of potential issues, from structural to safety.

If you don't, for whatever reason, the next thing I would be worried about is moisture. You are going to have some pretty serious water vapor in that space, and it will need to be constructed to handle it, as well as vent it to the outside. Your location says Green Bay- as in home of the Packers? If so, what are your plans for winter? If you are going to keep the pond going over the winter, you will probably need a heat exchanging ventilation system, or maybe just lots of money. ;-)

I thought of the inspection after i was on the design program. Im thinking of taking the bath out and just make it the wind break, pond room and a half loft just as a supplies area. i will run electric off of a solar panel, with a battery system. so i will be off the grid. for the insulation having it set up like a sauna (without the heat), wood burner for the winter and that should keep the heat in. im going to look up and make some call about how big i can get away with so i dont need a building permit, it should be classified under a shed.