Hi, I was interested in building a large outdoor pond/lake that's saltwater with a marine ecosystem (mostly so I could farm marine food or just to fish). Eventually down the line, I'd be interested in buying a lot of cheap remote land in the mojave/sonoran desert regions to homestead in. I've read a couple threads here about this topic, where water vaporizing and rain water could mess with salinity and other important water parameters (plus the ground water in those areas if I were to supply this pond/lake with that water, is heavy with minerals so no doubt a filtration system from the supply system would be crucial).
I've come up with a couple ideas to work around these issues. In regards to rainwater, I thought about building an adjacent runoff canal connecting to an empty large hole that would collect excess runoff water which once the excess water drains in and vaporizes away, I could recollect the salt again. As for water levels falling due to vaporizing, I could have a floater that activates the pump automatically and shuts off until it reaches a certain level. Of course I would add pavement underneath all of this so the surrounding minerals dont imbalance the water's parameters as well as the salt water sinking through the dirt and contaminating the ground water.
These are basic ideas that of course I need to develop further, but in regards to establishing a self sustainable ecosystem that cleans itself (without waves nor currents since this would be a lake/pond) what sort of fauna and flora would be essential to this? Like algae eaters, coral, perhaps mangroves? How much water, space, and depth would be important to actually make a self-sustainable ecosystem work? In terms of marine life adapted to the southwestern climate, I thought about those from the Sea of Cortez or Baja California since they are adapted to the warm desert tropical climate (there's also mangroves from said region as well). Just a few thoughts, but I'm seriously interested in thinking this thru to make this more possible.
I've come up with a couple ideas to work around these issues. In regards to rainwater, I thought about building an adjacent runoff canal connecting to an empty large hole that would collect excess runoff water which once the excess water drains in and vaporizes away, I could recollect the salt again. As for water levels falling due to vaporizing, I could have a floater that activates the pump automatically and shuts off until it reaches a certain level. Of course I would add pavement underneath all of this so the surrounding minerals dont imbalance the water's parameters as well as the salt water sinking through the dirt and contaminating the ground water.
These are basic ideas that of course I need to develop further, but in regards to establishing a self sustainable ecosystem that cleans itself (without waves nor currents since this would be a lake/pond) what sort of fauna and flora would be essential to this? Like algae eaters, coral, perhaps mangroves? How much water, space, and depth would be important to actually make a self-sustainable ecosystem work? In terms of marine life adapted to the southwestern climate, I thought about those from the Sea of Cortez or Baja California since they are adapted to the warm desert tropical climate (there's also mangroves from said region as well). Just a few thoughts, but I'm seriously interested in thinking this thru to make this more possible.
