Inground pool for water volume?

[joefitz]

Ok, so, let's just say I was going to buy a house with an inground pool. Let's also presume I don't want a pool and would have to fill it. What is the feasibility of using the pool as an enormous sump? I know how ridiculous this sounds...but I'm enough of an idiot to at least consider it and at least figure out the practical limitations of attempting to do so.

I'm not really talking about trying to grow coral or maintain fish or anything else in the pool -- I think the light requirements are cost prohibitive to provide. So we're looking at a sump (you could have live rock and I'm sure things that don't require light could grow).

So besides the actual cost to fill the thing with saltwater, which I imagine would be quite significant, you'd have to contend with the challenge of heating it.

How could you maintain temperature? Let's say it was enclosed by a structure (greenhouse)...what about insulating the ground surrounding it somehow? Are there large heaters (similar to those used for normal pools) that could be used in this type of environment (saltwater safe)?

And why even think about this? I don't know. I'm an idiot. I know it probably isn't feasible. But I think it would be cool to uncover the thing a five or ten years down the road and see what's in there....go for a dive. ;-)

 

[~Flighty~]

Why not build a greenhouse over it and put in a shark?

You might have some material incompatability with sw and the surface of the pool. I wonder if a pool filling company would do nsw?

 

[Armando]

I'd use all that money in several trips a year to Fiji and dive there

 

[joefitz]

a) Fiji is a looooong way away
b) who said anything about not diving Fiji a few times a year?

;-)

 

[PenMan]

Pool water is often trucked in anyways. It took three tank trucks to fill our pool rather than drain the well. I would think that they could truck in saltwater.

They are using low levels of salt water and silver electrodes out west instead of chlorine in the pools. 80 degees is not unusual for operating temperature. Keeping it there for the three summer months should not be problem. The problem is going to be in January. There are home style "winterized" pool house around here. We had a friend in Acton that kept their pool open all year.

 

[chuck]

why go to fiji when you could dive in your sump?

 

[Armando]

i think one of the main challenges will be getting enough water flow in there. you'll need maybe 50 tunzes?

 

[chuck]

probably get a wave machine like they use at the water park...

 

[MelodyDurham]

You could sell tickets all year round for snorkling in your sump! That could potentially fund the project. Just don't put the shark in there like Cindy suggested, if you do that.

Melody~

 

[gordonzoo]

Cool Idea. I think a greenhouse over top would take care of most of the problems of heating it. That way you could make it a tank, As long as the sun is out. Just think of the corals you could propagate. If it was a liner type it would probably tear. A concrete one would be perfect. Snorkeling would be awesome. The hot tub could be the sump then.

 

[chuck]

You could actually put a shark in AND have snorkeling... just have people sign waivers

oh, and keep the shark well fed

 

[~Flighty~]

Just get some wavemakers like here
http://otrc.tamu.edu/Pages/facilities.htm

 

[MelodyDurham]

Yeah!! EXTREME Suicide Snorkling! You could get people to pay for that!

 

[chuck]

Adrenaline Junkies...

I swam with sharks in Cancun, it was really cool...

Besides, if you did that maybe they would Film "Fear Factor" at your house

LOL

 

[nunofs]

Just hold a few BRS meetings at your place, and with the amount of people getting thrown into the pool I bet you'll have plenty of wave motion

On a more serious note, I think it's feasible, it all depends on the money you want to put into it and the returns you may get from it... besides the initial setup costs (water, salt, etc) it'll be terribly expensive to heat such a large volume of water in the winter, even with a covered greenhouse, and I don't think the temperature benefits in the summer will be that big... plus, you'll have to deal with the evaporation or you'll have salinity swings and there goes the stability that you wanted in the first place.

Nuno

 

[~Flighty~]

I think cost/benifit wise it would be cheeper to move next to the ocean and use that as a sump.

 

[Ray]

People keep hottubs heated all winter around here, how about those heaters? If they are SW safe. I think you could do it and if you built a greenhouse over it I think you will have more posibilities then you relize right now.

 

[Ray]

Oh and also you could use pool pump/filters for water movement

 

[NateHanson]

How about a dolphin?

 

[Jill & Brian]

What would be funny is if you had the pool as your sump and a 20 gallon display