Tropical Fish Forums

nikelodeon79 · Regulars Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A.

We've been wanting to put a pond in for quite some time now, but it's never really been in the budget. Now that we have the dogs, we realize we can't put in one of those soft plastic pond liners, because the dogs will likely go into the pond and put holes in it.

We're stuck with the pre-form ponds, and the prices are pretty high for very low gallonage. We bought a large hard plastic kiddie swimming pool for the dogs yesterday, and that got me thinking. It's a lot larger than any of the preform ponds I've seen, and it's super cheap: around $10.00. Granted it would be perfectly round, and therefore not as "natural" looking, but I'm okay with it. We could landscape around the pool to make it look better.

I'm wondering if there's some sort of non-toxic waterproof paint I could use to spraypaint the brightly colored pool black (not sure if it would be a pond with fish in it, due to the dogs, but the dogs would likely drink out of it so it has to be safe). Even if I can't find paint... it's still not a dealbreaker since I'd probably put sand/rocks on the bottom and the sides would eventually get algae covered.

Has anyone ever tried this before? Thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Smile

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rales12 · Regulars Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Location: Wyoming

I'm curious as well, actually. The LFS here has koi inside in a kiddie swim pool (as well as enormous indoor pond running throughout the building... but I digress), and it looks like its been up and running for quite some time. When I saw that they had it, I decided that if I ever get around to putting in a pond, that's probably how I'd do it.

They make several different shapes for kiddie pools anymore, don't they? I mean, a perfect square isn't any more natural looking than a circle, but, still.

nikelodeon79 · Regulars Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A.

I checked out the paint and it's pretty dang expensive... which is probably why the liners are so much more expensive than the kiddie pools.

I found quite a few pre-form liners for sale on CL, so I'm going to figure out what my best option (I want to go with the one that has the most gallonage for the best price) and go from there.

If I did add any fish, it would just be a few goldfish. There's no way I'd be able to put a pre-form pond up that would even be large enough for a single koi.
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Fern · Regulars Joined: 26 May 2009 Location: SW Florida

Well here's a thought to disguise the blue, get some sand and silicone and smear the silicone on and sprinkle it heavily with sand, that will help and the algae would grow on that and complete the covering.
Just check that the silicone will hold to the plastic before you start, some plastics won't hold silicone well.
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nikelodeon79 · Regulars Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Fern · Regulars Joined: 26 May 2009 Location: SW Florida

Glad to help!
If the silicone won't stick look into other tank safe goopy adhesives, scuffing up the plastic will help with the adhesion as well. You may also be able to stick some small gravel on it as well.
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MrJames2785 · New Members Joined: 05 May 2011

jamesbrowning · New Members Joined: 08 Mar 2012