40 replies to this topic

[Skuts]

Hey all

Just wanting to draw on some experience

What's the best material to construct an above ground pond from?.

I was thinking of brick and render the inside and out will this work or is the concrete / render band for the fishes?.

Should I fiberglass or use a liner

Any suggestions would be helpful

Cheers

Chris

[Ivan Sng]

Concrete alone without any sealant will push pH up, possibly above 8. If this is meant to be part of an aquaponics system, then you might find that you will have problems cycling your system and have bad plant growths. Plants prefer close to pH 7.

[Skuts]

So is the idea to maybe make it out of brick and render with a concrete base and then what can you buy a pond sealer?? The reason for choosing brick is that it will be about 1m high also I want to put a viewing window in it I haven't really looked into the feasibility of this yet so should I fiberglass or some sort of pond sealer or line with plastic??

[Bowdy]

When you say bricks what kind were you thinking. I wouldn't think your standard house brick would handle all that water pressure. Just a thort.
Cheers.

[Ivan Sng]

Something like this??

http://www.backyarda...i...p;sk=t&sd=a

[Skuts]

I was thinking of those big bricks that are hollow and enforcing it with steel bar and concrete

[Ivan Sng]

Yeah, I think you might need to speak to someone who actually knows about building this sort of tank... PM the guy for the link I posted.. I believe he is also in Perth...

[Skuts]

Will do thanks for that Ivan

[Graeme]

There was a guy on aquariumlife that recently built a massive indoor aquarium using those style of bricks
Maybe look there and see if you can find it?? ( is well worth a look )

Graeme

[Skuts]

Can you post the link for it please I had a quick look but there are lots of threads

There was a guy on aquariumlife that recently built a massive indoor aquarium using those style of bricks
Maybe look there and see if you can find it?? ( is well worth a look )

Graeme

[bigjohnnofish]

being a brickie for nearly 8 years - i would recommend using a standard brick and steer well clear of fastwall, verticles and maxis... they are the bricks pictured in the link.... they are only 90mm wide whereas standard brick is 110mm wide which gives it heaps more strength horizontally and vertically.... the solid concrete lintels over and under the opening is good.... single brick thickness should be fine up to waist height for an average person....

most important thing is the footings and slab.... make sure you have a good size sand pad also... thats if you want it too last and not crack... good thing being full of water helps regulate the temperature of the bricks during hotter months as well as cooler months... which reduces expansion and shrinkage of the brickwork and slab... nothing lasts forever but if you do it properly first time it'll last your lifetime...

also theres a wire reinforcement you can use and you lay it between brick courses (layers or levels) its 4 strands long and has crossovers every few inches... often referred to chicken wire in the industry although its definitely not chicken wire.... it comes in a roll.... if you ever have to knock down some brickwork with this in it you'll see why its so good....

im not a plasterer but you can mix bondcrete and sealers in with the plaster to water proof it... plus a good final sealer once its all dry and it should never leak....

good bit of advice you may like to build in a drain and plug into one side of the pond....

[Skuts]

I think I will take that advice johno, one thought I did have was to try to get a frameless look on the top side of the glass so I was thinking rather that a concrete lintel on the top using a 40mm x 40mm angled steel so there will be less non see through material up the top of the pond (hope this makes sense).

When you said the attached link I assume you mean the backyardaquonics link??

I was thinking of makine it about 1200mm above ground will that be ok at one brick thickness??

When you put the first course down do you put it onto of the pad or next to it?? I suppose what I'm asking is what is the order of doing things?. Pad then bricks on top of that or coarse of bricks then pad is floated inside that??

Cheers for the help

[Barf]

http://www.aquariuml...t=insanity fair



worth a look

[bigjohnnofish]

pad down first... but make pad 100mm thick... but around the edges where you'll start laying the bricks make it double 200mm....

so to explain it easier - sand pad approx 200mm thick/deep compacted and levelled... now dig footing 200mm wide and 100mm deep around the edge where the walls will go.... board up round the outside 100mm high so when you pour the slab it will be 200mm thick on the outside edge (200mm in) and 100mm thick through the middle... level it all up before putting concrete in and use some concrete mesh in the slab as well.... make the mesh sit 50mm down in the slab.... ie) dont drop mesh down and pour concrete on top... lol....

to be extra sure use concrete with a 40mpa rating..... prob not necessary!!! better over kill then under killed...

[Skuts]

Ok got that so the next question is when laying the bricks do the bottom layer just sit on the concrete pad or do you put down some cement on the pad then put the brick on?.

When it comes to waterproofing I was going to render it all the use a waterproofing type paint so how will the join between the brick work and the pad go, should I cover the join with render to take the 90 deg bend out of it??

[mattt]

probably easier to clean if you ever need to with smooth curved edges when you render? not sure what waterproof paints there are. we used pond sealer, or you could use a liner.

[SIXFOOTLONG]

you use scrim on all the internal corners bead of silicone first scrim then another bead of silicone then you use water proof dont render the inside of the tank just water proof straight onto the brick work use an ardex product called wpm002 i think from memory what are the dimensions of the tank because you may kneed a thickening through the middle depending on the width if your going 1200mm high
or use a concrete bessa block concrete filled as you said with a horizontal 12mm reo bar and a vertical 12mm reo bar through the cores
you would want to stay away from steel lintels and brick together as they cool and heat at different heat exchange property's that will cause cracks OK for non water tight applications but not for water tight applications as the joint from masonry to steel will crack

depending on what you want to spend you can now get spray on fibre glass if i was doing it i would go this way
yellow sand compacted black plastic mesh on 60mm chairs 100mm slab no thickning (no downward pressure @1200mm high )
12mm cranked reo @ every 2nd bessa block core bessa block walls with brick lintels for viewing panel silicone and scrim to corners black jack(dampcrete/dampcorse) to internal block work fiberglass liner ... now i think that will do for your sump ......................................

[bigjohnnofish]

Ok got that so the next question is when laying the bricks do the bottom layer just sit on the concrete pad or do you put down some cement on the pad then put the brick on?.

When it comes to waterproofing I was going to render it all the use a waterproofing type paint so how will the join between the brick work and the pad go, should I cover the join with render to take the 90 deg bend out of it??

yes when your slab is dry and cured (at least a week minimum) just start laying your bricks on slab.... yes with a beed of mortar between brick and concrete... just the same as between the bricks...

1200 high should be fine with single brick (standard bricks not fastwall)

any ideas how your glass panel will be fixed into place ???

[Skuts]

I was thinking of cutting out a recess in the brick work 40mm deep x 50mm wide on the sides, the bottom I was going to make a concrete lintel with the recess in it and the same with the top I think I mighit stay clear of the steel for the top, this would allow for a 20mm thick window to be installed and have plenty of room for silicone and still be recessed in the brick work. Once that was cut out I was going to fill in the holes to make it all flat pond seal it then install it with heaps of silicone
Hope this makes sence.

How small could the top lintel be do you think I'm trying to steer away from a big chunky frame at the top where the galss will be of I reenforced the concrete lintel with bar could it be say 100mm high x the standard brick size deep??

Edited by Skuts, 06 June 2011 - 08:27 AM.

[SIXFOOTLONG]

how big would the glass be if your pond height is 1200?
you can lay commons on there side together and run reo through the holes in the middle and then grout to make your own.