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eventually thinking of building a indoor concrete pond for my caiman. My question is how think the concrete so don't leak and what do you coat with to stop it from making water acidic. I thought the stuff used in koi ponds but thought he would scratch through that? Also any ideas on good ideas for making platforms stronger and water proof for preformed ponds? Good ideas for filtering? This is for a spectacled caimans future cage. Right now he is about 2-3 feet so this is his future home working on planning. Right now I use fluval fx5 self priming pressurised canister filter to filter right now. Thanx
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Tom
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Lots Of Fish

Making a concrete pond thicker will not make it leakproof. Eventually no matter how thick it will leak unless sealed. The best sealant would be the stuff they use on swimming pools. It's very durable, easy to clean and if it does get scratch easy to repair by applying more. This sealant will also prevent the alkalis from leaching into the water.

Most important is reinforcing the concrete to support the weight of the water. Without some sort of reinforcing wire structure you could park an elephant on top of the walls but the force of the water pressing outward will knock them down. Turkey fencing would work well for your application. It 2"x4" wire fencing available at any home improvement center. Make sure you put some in the floor and attach the walls to the floor wiring with baling wire.

For platforms and ledges you could use rebar bent to a free form outline shape and then wire some of your fencing to the rebar to create the platform the pour on the concrete. The rebar should be attached to the wire for your walls.

I'm not sure how big you're planning on making this but from the sounds of it your fluval is not going to turn over enough water per hour to do the job. Figure out how many gallons this will be and look into a bigger filter used for koi ponds.

Hope this helps at least a little.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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