Water tank? Swimming pool? both?

[SimpleMark]

I've been looking into ways to build a 30,000 gal tank for my garden. I live in a rural Texas area. Water from our well tends to slowly kill my plants. I use rainwater instead of the well, but my 4000 gal tank can't handle a Texas drought. A 30,000 gal tank would have gotten me through this summer.

I don't want to spend $20,000 to $30,000 on an industrial tank, though. This is a hobby, not a business.

I've looked at a lot of options. Today, I decided to look into 'above ground pools'. 20,000 gallon 'pools' seem to be available for less than $10,000.

I talked to DW. She said it would be ok, but only if the dogs could swim in it.

Am I on the wrong track?

[PoolDoc]

The question is . . . do you want to maintain a swimming pool just so you can water your plants? At best, it will be a weekly 30 minute chore to maintain.

Also, during drought you'll need to cover the pool to avoid evaporative loss, but if you do, the dogs can't swim, unless you remove the cover. And, if you try to put the cover on and off, you'll have to worry about them getting into the pool when you're not watching, ending up UNDER the cover, and drowning.

You might want to get a 25,000 gallon pool for the plants and a 5,000 gallon Intex pool for the dogs.

[SimpleMark]

PoolDoc,

>You might want to get a 25,000 gallon pool for the plants and a 5,000 gallon Intex pool for the dogs.

Right. I suspect 2 or 3 pools would work nicely. With multiple tanks, the problem of one leak draining everything goes down.

I've been worried about the chlorine issue. I don't want to run a 'chlorine' purified pool. If possible, I'd do a lot of circulation and keep fish and plants in the water, too. We live on a river that flows except for August - October, so we all are used to swimming with fish. I have a 4 pond water garden system. One pond is a just a filter, another is full of plants. Fish roam around in all but the filter pond. The water in the fourth tank stays pretty clear.

SimpleMark

[PoolDoc]

OK, you've now totally changed the game: your post was a bit off-topic for this forum to begin with, but now it's utterly off-topic.

Swimming pool chemistry is predicated on attempting to prevent ALL microbial growth and activity in a pool. What you are talking about is a modified version of aquarium chemistry, where you are trying to ENCOURAGE some kinds of microbial growth, but DISCOURAGE others.

We do sanitation, which in brutal form, means we try to kill all invertebrate life in pools as quickly, effectively, cheaply and efficiently as possible, all without putting non-aquatic vertebrate life at risk or even discomfort.

What you want requires different chemistry; different chemicals; different equipment; different mindset . . . from anything here. Nothing wrong with that but it also means that there's nothing for you here.

You should check out aquarium, pond management, or "watershaping" sites.

Good luck!

Ben
Ben

[BigDave]

Understandably not Pool Forum stuff, but interesting to me...

A half dozen Intex 18'x48" donuts (Easy Set) would provide 33,000 gallons of temporary water storage. These pools support themselves and don't require construction (you do need flat ground - Really flat, less than an inch off flat - flat - flat - no cheating). When each one is depleted it could be folded up and put away. Traditional AG pools don't do well when they're empty - they need the water to keep the walls up but the donuts are supported by an inflateable ring and are OK when partially filled.

These pools are usually sold as a kit for about $500 including ground cloth, cover, filter pump, ladder, and maintenance kit. The pumps aren't much good as pool pumps but will move the water around for you - just not far and not up. You could probably attach some 2x lumber to a ladder to make a ramp for the pups.

You could even run one (last one to use for water) as a clean chlorine pool ( Pool Solutions / Pool Forum will teach you how ) and let the chlorine burn off before you need to use the water.

If you've got the flat ground, you could hang on to 33,000 gallons of water for about $3G. They won't last forever. I ran a 15' Intex donut pool for 3 years and gave it to my neighbor who's just finishing it's 4th year and it still looks good to me. I had a smaller cheaper brand before that and it showed signs of wear after two years ( the ports for the circulation were starting to come apart ).

Good luck! I, for one, would like to know what you do and how it works out.