Arizona Outdoor Pond???

"Underground provides an enormous amount of insulation from the heat."
I wil not argue that, especially if it is 3' deep.

"I can only put cacti there. I think your tank/pond would easily reach 100° by 9:00 a.m. at least."
But I will argue that, even when I had my pond in direct morning sun in June/July/August if never exceeded 95 F. Mine is 500 gallons and deep, yes it is above ground but it would still take a long time for it too reach the same temperatures as the air. I could be wrong, but that is my experience.
 
I had no cover on my 600G below-ground pond this summer and we typically have 100-105F in the day in the shade and my pond peaked at 84F and my pond is only 30" deep at its deepest point.

Then again, I had about 30% of the surface covered by lily pads which probably helped.
 
I would suggest having water lilies to provide help with bioload year round. The key here with heat is shade and large volume. If you have both, I can't imagine your pond getting over 85F on a hot day. I'm not from Phoenix, but I've spent a considerable amount of time there. I'd imagine you'll end up doing lots of water topping off due to evaporation though.
 
You should be fine with either a pond or aquarium on your patio. I have both in the same location of the house that you are talking about. But I'm in Casa Grande. The water there doesn't get too hot because of the aeration of the pond filters and it doesn't freeze in the winter because of the cover over head. We have lattice surrounding the area that way they get partial sun/shade in the summer. These ponds are the in ground type except we have them above ground with support. We also have ponds out in the open in the ground. They get algae real bad in the summer and freeze in the winter. (Except the algae isn't as bad with water lilies. However our water turtles ate the plants in our big pond so we get algae there.) The fish do fine as long as they aren't delicate. We even have Dojo's right now outside in the patio ponds. They huddle next to the filter for warmth. Even with the outer ponds being frozen this year, the goldfish are swimming around at the bottom of the ponds. (It's warmer at the bottom in winter and cooler in the summer.) Just make sure that whatever is supporting your pond is good and sturdy. We have Anacharis and Vallisneria in our patio ponds and in the summer time it goes crazy. Both types of plants bloom all summer long and they both get about 4 and 5 feet in length. We have Water Lilies in our smaller in ground ponds and they bloom all summer but it's just the white ones that have bloomed even though we have all different bloom colors. You'll want some sort of plants for your fish to hide in and under. They just get too hot in the summer without plants and water circulation. Hope I've been able to help.
 
Well, I've decided to put it in one of our bedrooms... thanks for all the input fellas
 
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