# Forum Home Renovation Water Saving Garden Ideas  30x20 ft, cincrete swimming pool how to make into self sustaining fish pond

## fixit

_g,day all. the chap that does a bit of gardening for us says that he can turn our unused s/pool into a fully self sustaining enviroment for goldfish etc by just throwing water lilies etc. into it,the pool is about a third full of brackish rainwater...sounds a bit to simple to me any ideas out there concrete pool about 10.5x 5mtrs.  thanks_

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## SilentButDeadly

My goldfish live in a bath in the garden with water lillies and other water plants.   Very happily.  In a swimming pool....they'd have a marvellous time.  No need for pumps and other jiggers.  Although a little solar powered pump from Jaycar would be pretty. 
Personally....I'd stock it with native fish rather than environmental pests like goldfish....but whatever floats your boat. Speaking of which....

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## The Bleeder

Why would you want to grow goldfish. A mate of mine changed his pool into a trout growing farm. No they don't spawn they just grow and you eat them. This was in Balmain in Sydney. You just get fingerlings and feed them and they grow. I'll try and find out from him the what had to happen.

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## Gaza

try not to drain the pool as the shell make crack from the ground pressure, if you do drain release the pressure valve in the bottom.

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## Draffa

To be fully self-sustaining, you'd want, imo, a range of fish, so that you have a food chain (ideally, the top predator will also be delicious to us, in sustainable quantities  :Biggrin:  ).  You'll also need something that eats algae, and you'll need to regularly 'prune' the lillies, or they'll completely cover the surface and deprive the water of oxygen.

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## Danny

What you describe is called aquaponics and there is a wealth of information available online.  Aquaponics Australia  backyardaquaponics.com  aquaponics shop : Home  
Most systems rely on fish that continue to grow in a small environment and the most popular include silver perch and barramundi. You could make a great system with your pool and it would become a feature of the backyard and a great hobby. 
Vegetables, herbs, flowers etc grow hydroponically in circulated water and extract the nutrients provided by the fish, filtering the water. Organic waste is recycled into a worm farm and the worms are fed to the fish. Mr fixit and his dinner guests then banquet on fresh barramundi. 
I checked your profile to (unsuccessfully) see what part of Victoria you are in as there are several places that have these systems on display. Googling will quickly bring one up that is close to you and they could advise as where to purchase the fingerlings etc.

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