New member intro

[joesandy1822]

Hi all. To answer a few questions, first of all, I have lived in Southeast Michigan for 25 years, and I don't ever remember it getting down to 40 below zero. In the Upper Peninsula, yes. Once in awhile, it will go to 15 or 20 below for a day or two, but very seldom. I am planning on keeping an open area with a large air pump in the deep end. Although most of the pool is above ground, about 1 1/2 or 2 feet of the deep end are underground. That will offer some amount of insulation. As far as I can remember, the ice on the pool rarely gets deeper than about 15"-18", so there is plenty of liquid water for the fish, and with the open hole with the air pump, there will be room for gas exchange (this is the plan anyway). Of course, how you think things will go and how they end up going sometimes are not the same thing. But we all learn, and from my best guessing and asking, it should be fine.

As far as what to do with plants in the 6.5' area, it is actually pretty cool because all around the inside perimeter of the pool, there is a "ledge" of sorts that is only 4' deep. Meaning the area of 6.5' water is surrounded by an area all around the perimeter that is only 4' deep. I can walk around the entire perimeter of my pool, and not go into the deep water. Four feet is still too deep for most plants though, so I am planning on stacking some milk crates or other plastic things on the ledge to get the plants to the right height.

Thanks for all the feedback. I have decided to do a lot of homework over the fall and winter, and be able to hit the ground running in the Spring rather than trying to start it up now. I had thought about putting some plants into the pool right now and getting the biofilter built and running, but will probably just close the pool early and call it quits for now. By the time my filter got going well and the water cleared, it would be time to close the pond for the winter.

Thank again everybody,

Sandy

 

[joesandy1822]

I am a new member too and your coversion sound great. Just off the top of my head, are you able to build shelves around your pool/pond with the current liner. I read where you want a lot of plants and assume your 6' plus deep areas will be to deep. You may want to consider building a large platform inside your pool to have a 3' deep uniform throughtout. This could be done easly with some plastic pallets and pond liner.

Curious to see what you do.:lol:

Where do you get plastic pallets? I've only seen the wooden ones.

Thanks for the idea!

Sandy

 

[addy1]

Where do you get plastic pallets? I've only seen the wooden ones.

Thanks for the idea!

Sandy

I used pvc to build stands for plants in the past. Also have used the milk crates that are around.

Here is a link of containers for exchange, looks like you can search by area.

http://www.containerexchanger.com/subcategory/Plastic_Pallets/6

did a quick search, there are a lot of plastic pallets around, didn't know about them either.lol