Our patio and stock tank pool is our outdoor oasis. We have spent 99% of our time while home this summer out on the patio and in the pool. I’ve had a ton of questions about our stock tank pool set up so I thought I would include it in our full patio reveal today.

When we moved into our home nearly 2.5 years ago the patio was a real eyesore. It had obviously been neglected for years (maybe a even decade) and needed some real help. If you know me, you know i’m frugal and so when we were planning for this project I wanted to reuse the brick that had been a part of the old patio and whatever other natural materials we could find around the property. This included a lot of stone and boulders and thankfully my husband is a very talented stone mason. With that said the entire patio/pool project was very minimal in costs. I’ll break down the set up of the pool first since I receive so many questions about it.

Stock Tank Pool
We purchased this galvanized stock tank from Tractor Supply. I did a lot of research because initially I was skeptical about an 8×2 foot “pool” but after having it for a few months now I can say it is perfect, especially for our two young children. You’ll even catch me and my husband floating around in it, it’s been a great decision to install one!

Here is how we set it up: After purchasing the tank from tractor supply (you’ll need a trailer to get it home) my husband dug out part of our patio and leveled the ground beneath it for the pool to sit perfectly flat. The tank itself is pretty light and can be rolled around while you move it to its spot, so you don’t really need any extra hands to get it set up. After we put the tank on level ground we set up the filter. We had a filter from a previous intex pool so we chose to use that, but if you’re starting from scratch you can purchase the same filter here. You then need to drill two holes, one near the top and one near the bottom of the pool to connect the hoses. The tricky part was finding a gasket that fit the hose sizes to stop water from leaking from the pool. Just head to your local hardware or pool store to find the size you need. To maintain clean, safe swimming water we have a floating chlorine dispenser (this one is under $4!) and we test the pool water with this kit.  In total the whole pool set up costs less than $480!


I am often asked if the water gets too hot and the answer is no! I had the same worry, that we would constantly be draining and refilling the water to keep it cool but we actually have not had to do that once. Because the tub is metal it really cools the water down at night so it’s perfectly refreshing during the next hot day. We live in New Jersey so we get plenty of above 90 degree days, in fact we recently had an entire week of 90+ degree days and the pool still felt amazing.


Scroll to the bottom for an update on how the pool held up all summer.

 Blackstone Griddle
This is another highlight of our patio. We recently discovered Blackstone griddles while on vacation and instantly knew we needed one. Ours is the 36″ griddle and it is the perfect size for our family of 4 who loves to entertain. I had never thought of cooking burgers on a griddle but they are soooo good. You can literally cook anything on the griddle, including breakfast, side dishes and yummy fruit for dessert. We use it every single day and I really can’t recommend it enough! Be sure to purchase the tools and cover too, to get the most out of your griddle.



One of my favorite features of the patio are the string lights we hung up. There is nothing better than sitting outside with a fire and the patio lights on.



We really love our patio set up. Between the pool, the grill and the built in fire pit it’s just perfect for out family and for entertaining. We get use out of it in every season, in the winter we boil our maple syrup right on the fire pit and it’s so much fun.

Stock Tank Pool Update after One Summer

Water Temperature: The pool has held up so well! After an entire summer of use we can happily report that we did not have to drain the water once.  The metal tub regulates the temperature perfectly, even during those incredibly hot weeks of 90+ degrees the pool was still quite refreshing.

Rust:  There are no signs of rust at all.  We didn’t ever seal the tank like some other stock tank pool owners did and it’s still in perfect condition. We prefer less chemicals and sealants so we are happy to report this!

Do we regret getting such a small pool? NOPE!  We’ve loved every second of it, especially with young kids it just feels like less of a burden to have a smaller pool.  We’ve had friends over all summer long and they’ve all enjoyed is as well.  We are so happy we installed the stock tank pool and couldn’t recommend it more.  In fact we know several people who went on to install their own pools after seeing and reading about ours.  Eventually when we do get an in ground pool we will recycle the tank into a hot tub, at least that’s the plan for now.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about the pool set up!  You can follow us on Instagram to see more picture of it in use.