Considering a Tropical Pond

I have an inground swimming pool that we don't use and it has been an ugly green mess for about two years since the pumps went out. I've just been keeping comets in it to eat the mosquito larva. My wife wants to get the backyard fixed up at the end of the year and is okay with the idea of turning it into a pond as long as it looks nice, otherwise she wants it filled in since we have never used it.

So I am thinking about trying to turn it into a tropical pond. The pool is shaped like a kidney bean and is 35' long x 16' wide and is 3 1/2' deep at the shallow end and goes down to 10' on the deep end. It has a large sand filter as well as a polaris for sucking up leaves and stuff. That did a pretty good job keeping the pool clean before the pumps went out.

So now the questions...

Would the sand filter be enough filtration if I make it a pond?

What do people do to maintain temps on tropical ponds? I'm in south texas so our winters our usually fairly mild but we do get cold fronts that can drop the temps as low as the 20's for periods of time (week or so). I was thinking if I turn off the filter, cover most of it with a clear plastic tarp and then keep drop a large heater in the deep end that I could maintain a warm area for the fish during the cold spells. Do you think that would work?

Any type of advice is appreciated. I don't know anything about ponds.

This is the filter that on it...
http://www.poolsupplies.com/cgi-bin...n&gdftrk=gdfV2589_a_7c692_a_7c2676_a_7c287026

It holds 350lbs of sand and is easily backflushed with a turn of the handle. Should make a good biological/mechanical pond filter right?

Muske;3342840; said:

Any pics. of the pool?

How handy are you?
Throw some more skimmers and run them to aux. filtration, bog maybe...

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I'm pretty handy but I want to hire out to get the major work done. Then I think I can setup any type of DIY bog filter myself if it needs one. I need to get the deck rebuilt and I also wanted to get the plaster resurfaced since it's old ugly white plaster. I wanted to keep it so it could be easily turnd back into a pool in case we ever decide to sell the house. I was thinking of either Quartzscapes or Stonescapes surfaces. Here's link's to the color/suface choices. Any thoughts on color dark/light?
http://www.nptgonline.com/nptg_national/quartzscapes_main.html
http://www.nptgonline.com/nptg_national/stonescapes_main.html

I think the uv is a good idea. I saw on Emporer Aquatics website that they make big inline ones for pools.

If I get the same type pump or get this one rebuilt it's 2hp and 5700 gph.

Here's pics of the current mess I have...

njackson;3342892; said:

what fish are you getting for the pond.

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I don't really know yet since I've just started thinking about this. I've been researching some posibilities.

Some hypostomus plecos for sure since they will keep the plaster clean. They are living in the San Antonio river so I know they can make it through our winters.

I found an article on lower temperature tolerance of Pacu for aquaculture in temperature areas. They said after Pacu are 2 years old they could tolerate overwintering down to 45F for short periods. So they might be a good choice.

I really wanted some cichla but I aaccording to an article on their lower temperature tolerance they're pretty sensitive to cooler temps. I think it said they started dying when the tempps got down to the mid 60's. So I probably should stay away from them. Maybe substitute some largemouth bass instead.

I'm still need to search for info on temp tolerance of some of the bigger catfish TSN, RT's etc. Wels might be a bit much though, I don't want anything that could eat my dog if he gets in the pool lol.

Oh, any ideas on how to keep fish out of the surface skimmer? How do you do it on regular ponds?