you may have noticed... we got a pool!
In my last post I hinted at something new... well not really new anymore... but we got a pool! A stock tank pool!
Perhaps you've seen this idea on Facebook or Instagram? I even saw a few magazine articles. And I knew I wanted one! Finding one was a whole different ballgame. In our corner of the country, the upper left corner, finding a stock tank over 8 feet wasn't even possible and in fact the 8 footer was difficult to find too!
Once we had researched stock tanks, we headed to our local Tractor Supply to see what they had in stock. They had a couple of 8 foot pools and I even had my husband take my picture in front of one that was resting on it's side... I wanted to be sure that I could float comfortably after all!
Fast forward a couple of months, to July 2018, and my husband bought me one and we were able to just fit it onto our trailer to bring it home.
8 feet is a lot wider than one would think. For some of you that live in more rural parts of the country and have 10 or 11 foot stock tanks, I'm not sure how you even get them home!
I had researched pretty extensively on how to set up a stock tank pool, both "how" it would sit and be level, and how we would actually keep it clean. (See the end for a few ideas if you're looking to set up your own stock tank pool).
Summer 2018 view!
The answer for leveling was actually pretty easy. Our spot was pretty level and with our sandy loam soil we got it pretty perfect in no time.
The clean part was easy in theory, a fairly inexpensive Intex pool pump from Amazon would keep the stock tank pool clean. An 8 foot tank holds less than 800 gallons of water and the basic above ground pool pump can circulate that amount of water pretty quickly.
Continued maintenance includes chlorine tablets in a floating dispenser, a net to skim the surface and a fun stick like spa vacuum (from Amazon again) that works through some sort of physics magic... you plug a little hole, submerge the vacuum end and it sucks up dirt and debris from the bottom... although it only works over a short area at a time it is fine for this 8 foot tank!
As you can imagine, the grand littles LOVED the pool during the July and August months of 2018!
The little guy stuck around the rim as it was still pretty deep for him!
My blue pool float fits in the pool perfectly, the little bit of water movement from the pool filter means you slowly rotate around and around. A great way to cloud watch on a summer day!
For the summer of 2018 we went out with a bang and a picnic for Labor Day. (And you can see our filter set up on the left - the hoses were "protected" by a couple of wire plant stands to be sure no body stepped on them or dislodged them).
In my last post I talked about the brick patio installation... and frankly the push to get it done in June was to be able to set up the stock tank pool on one end! That pool would have felt quite nice on some of those long brick laying days!
Here you can just make out the filter/pump/hose set up on the left side. My husband added an outdoor electrical outlet on the corner of the garage (the building there) so the pump needed to be in this area for the cord to reach.
Eventually I would like to build a bench that curves around the portion of the pool where the hoses are and just beyond on the far side, which is the north side, for actual seating as well... nothing better after a long day working in the summer to be able to sit and have your feet dangling in a pool!
A favorite spot to sit and dry off after "swimming."
This summer was so awesome with the brick patio and the pool! The little guy is so much bigger (as you can see) and really, really enjoyed the pool this year!
This summer, 2020, my goal for the pool and patio area is to have that seating around the stock tank pool. And to set up a heater to take the edge off in the early and late months of summer.
Hopefully, with everything else that is going on in the world right now, this is just a fun project to follow along.
Take care,
Chris
These two were some of the places we used for our set up research:
The blog Hey Wanderer is awesome! They even have updates as they've changed things up.
Lucent Productions on YouTube... they even built a decking around theirs!
Hi there, I love your stock tank pool and would love one. I remember swimming in one of my uncles that actually was used for his herd of cattle and it was pretty awful and green. LOL! Yours looks much nicer. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
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