I got this feeding thing on lock down.

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Along with my general approach that bigger is always better.  I introduce the Fish mate 7000 (its real name.. which is kind of awesome).  Holds 30 cups of food.  LOL.   The ordinary clip on feeders would last me about 3 days 😞 

[markv]

So, you're making breakfast smoothies now.

[obrien.david.j]

Naah, he's finally setting up his salt water POND!

[pdxmonkeyboy]

There should be a number of gallons that puts you into the pond category! 

 

[obrien.david.j]

Now you're thinking too small.   It's not about number of gallons, it's about Depth.  (see Red below)

 

https://www.quora.com/When-is-a-pond-considered-big-enough-to-become-a-lake

When is a pond considered big enough to become a lake?

 

Definitions for lake range in minimum sizes for a body of water from 2 hectares (5 acres) to 8 hectares (20 acres) (see also the definition of "pond"). Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares (99 acres) or more.

Most would say it’s size, a lake is bigger, a pond is smaller. That’s actually wrong. From government websites to Wikipedia, the information is wrong. The difference is actually a result of the depth.

Ponds, according to limnology (the study of water bodies) are shallow enough where plants could conceivably grow across the entire surface. This area, where plants could grow is known as the “photic zone,” meaning where the sun’s rays can reach the bottom.

A lake, by contrast, has an “aphotic zone,” meaning there is an area deep enough that sunlight can’t reach the bottom.

As a result, there are some very small bodies of water, less than an acre that is deep enough to be called lakes. Conversely, there are some very large, but shallow water bodies, particularly in the south that are technically ponds, (though they’re called lakes) because their “photic zone” expands the entire length and width.

So, at least with lakes and ponds, size doesn’t really matter.

Now, what if a lake became infested with zebra mussels, which cleared the water to the point where lake weeds could grow in depths where they couldn’t before? The jury’s out, but I’d say if it was once a lake, it should continue to be an “honorary” lake.

Ponds and lakes are both inland bodies of freshwater that contain living creatures. At first glance, they seem very similar! To help determine the difference, both the depth and the surface area must be considered. Lakes are normally much deeper than ponds and have a larger surface area. All the water in a pond is in the photic zone, meaning ponds are shallow enough to allow sunlight to reach the bottom. This causes plants (sometimes too many) to grow at the bottom of ponds as well as on their surface. However, sunlight can’t reach the bottom of all areas of lakes. Lakes have aphotic zones, which are deep areas of water that receive no sunlight, preventing plants from growing.

In general, ponds have smaller waves than lakes. Waves smaller than 12 inches in height would generally be considered small. Water throughout ponds also tends to be more uniform in temperature, unlike water in lakes which can have a variety of water temperatures depending on the depth.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Ok, but you failed to mention the trophic and mictic differences between ponds and lakes. Now one could argue that ponds, by their shallow nature would would be oligimictic or dimictic but i know several lakes that have the same pattern based on annual temperature stratification. Perhaps then we look at lakes. By sheer size, lakes generally have low inputs and would be mesotrophic.  Ponds however, with their primary productivity generally eutrophic. 

 

Discuss...

[obrien.david.j]

I'll admit to a bit of research here, but there is a path back to the original question. 

We started with how much volume did it take to reclassify a tank as a pond.  But the difference between a pond and a lake is not about volume, apparently it's about light penetration.    Although not called out in such terms, the variation in penetration is both depth dependent and turbidity dependent.  Using the graph as general guideline, if your "tank" allows light penetration to 200 meters of depth - then we can move the conversation towards further classifying your tank as Open Ocean, verses merely costal waters.   

https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/6-5-light/

 

Once you move the discussion into classification of tropic levels of lake, you've moved us back to checking your tank against Lake considerations.   In classifications from Oligotropic to Mesotrophic to Eutrophic, all still maintain aphotic zones.    Side note, I swam in hypereutrophic lakes growing up in MN, although by the original pond vs lake criteria, I suspect they would always been classified as ponds with no aphotic zones in their history.  Further side question, is the evolutionarily next step of a hypereutrophic "lake" really called a Meadow? 

 

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Eutrophication-of-Lake-Reghaïa-Togola-Aljaouja-Liu/a6f6a9f7886ff11150372878fdef876ac549009a/figure/0

 

Further, tropic lake classifications have a strong relationship to thermocline existence.   I suspect your tank has never had a thermocline, we've moved our discussion back to checking your tank against Pond considerations.      Especially assuming your system is fully photic.  No matter how much temporary turbidity has increased from food fed, sand stirred up, or phytoplankton added.  (Temporary black out periods to fight dino's don't count as aphotic.)

 

So, what criteria would you like to use to differentiate a Tank from a Pond?  According to this reference, maybe its not about volume but size.   
Is your tank yet 10' x 15, Yet?

 

What Is The Size Of Your Average Pond?

The average size of most ponds is 10′ x 15′ (roughly 150 square feet) with the deepest point being 24″. If you have underwater shelves for plants they usually go 12″ down. 

https://premierpond.com/what-is-the-average-pond-size/

[spectra]

I feel sorry for my old fish if still alive...................... they were used to LRS and dont see that plastic thing spitting out LRS................

[pdxmonkeyboy]

You mean your herbivores that you were feeding meat to?  They are quite happy.  I actaully hear them talk [language filter] about you when i walk by the tank.  The yellow tangs..they are super chatty. 

[spectra]

10 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said:

You mean your herbivores that you were feeding meat to?  They are quite happy.  I actaully hear them talk [language filter] about you when i walk by the tank.  The yellow tangs..they are super chatty. 

Hows the Ich magnet ?