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I have fish tanks in the house, but now I'm tempted to do one in the yard. We have been given a very large old style octagon shaped hot tub. It's in pretty bad shape to use as a hot tub (we would have to bulid a cabinet to put it in and more), but it could be buried and used as a pond.

My question is....are there any articles I can look at to help me get started. Articles about filtering this thing and fish I could put in there? How do you keep dogs and cats out of it, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Wow... that's an interesting project...
One of the major things to consider before even starting the project is whether any of the chemicals used to keep the water cleen during it's life as a hot tub will continue to leech into the "pond" water. Common pool chemicals include high concentrations of chlorine and other nastiness that will kill fish and plants. I'm not sure even several thorough rinses using vast quantities of dechlorinator would permanently solve the potential problem. You may have to re-line the tub.

Since it's a hot tub, you should have no problem heating the water.

Filtration also wouldn't be such a big problem, as you can use normal pond filters rated for however many gallons the hot tub holds. Or you could look into converting the existing filter, but it may be too powerful even for large fish. You will also probably have to plug up the jets.

There are probably a lot of other little things that will crop up during the project that only experience can teach you. It would not be a cheap project, and may ultimately be unsustainable. However, if it works out, it could be very rewarding, indeed.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...