Hi im steffen and im from the uk. Im fairly new to keeping turtles, I have got 3 Yellow Belly sliders one is roughtly 6 years old it wasnt looked after that well the people who had it before me was given bad advice and were keeping it in a cold water tank 2ft by 2ft with another turtle the same age with it with no basking area uvb, or heat bulb so shell was in really bad condition when i got the turtle plus there was no filter in there. Anyway 6 months down the line i was given another 2 turtles from someone who didnt realise how hard they can be to look after with all the cleaning, But since i have had them they are growing fast and i now need to upgrade the size of the tank they are in. At the minute they are in a 5ft x 1.5ft and 10" deep fish tank. Im looking to build an indoor pond i have got 8ft by 5ft in my living room to use im not sure about the depth from the advice I have been given 2ft high they have said any bigger and it would look out of place in the living room but i do have dogs so i was a bit worried about the height but i guess i could use an Acrylic screen around two of the sides to stop the dogs getting to the pond the other two sides are against the interior walls so they are ok. Also from advice i have been given 2X3 timber frame with 12mm Ply sheets on the inside of the frame and then a sheet of 12mm polystyrene because you can not get Styrofoam in the uk. Hopefully this will still protect the liner.The liner i will be using is firestone EPDM 1.02mm thick i have heard this is the best one to use when keeping turtles. I just wasnt to sure about the 2x3 timber frame would hold 500+ gallons of water or if i would need to go thicker on the wood. i know in Ralphdavis pond demo on youtube they used 6x2 timber frame. But i have been told to forget 6x2 timber use 3x2 its more than enough i just dont fancy coming home to a flooded house. its already happened once when dogs learned how to turn taps on in bathroom and flooded us 
. Im not to sure yet on a waterfall i know turtles love them so will need one eventually. for filter im thinking home made black plastic tub or a clear one and paint outside so light cant get to it that will be in one corner of the pond with diffrent filter foams and my charcoal and bio balls from my current turtle filter which is a Fluval 404 and in the other corner of pond maybe a plastic open tub filled with Al***rog and some gravel and a few plants growing from it as the Eco filter. I now just need to get the pond sorted asap as turtle water not as clear as it used to be in tank and im doing 30% water changes ever other day and its just not getting any clearer never had the problem when it was just the big turtle so hopefully once ponds built and its got better pumps and filters and more space it should be a lot better for them and hopefully should be able to start keeping fish in same pond as long as fish are bigger than turtles i should be ok. for now ill be using a 160w basking UVB bulb above there basking island in middle of pond but eventually ill be looking into getting a 3 x 150w metal halide pendant that they use above marine tanks so i can grow some plants in and around pond. Ive also been offered the other turtle that was kept with my big turtle before i had it as they can no longer keep up with cleaning tank every week not sure how they got away with once a week with out filter in there so need to get this built quick to give the turtles a good home. So any suggestions or advice would be great.
Thanks Steffen
. Im not to sure yet on a waterfall i know turtles love them so will need one eventually. for filter im thinking home made black plastic tub or a clear one and paint outside so light cant get to it that will be in one corner of the pond with diffrent filter foams and my charcoal and bio balls from my current turtle filter which is a Fluval 404 and in the other corner of pond maybe a plastic open tub filled with Al***rog and some gravel and a few plants growing from it as the Eco filter. I now just need to get the pond sorted asap as turtle water not as clear as it used to be in tank and im doing 30% water changes ever other day and its just not getting any clearer never had the problem when it was just the big turtle so hopefully once ponds built and its got better pumps and filters and more space it should be a lot better for them and hopefully should be able to start keeping fish in same pond as long as fish are bigger than turtles i should be ok. for now ill be using a 160w basking UVB bulb above there basking island in middle of pond but eventually ill be looking into getting a 3 x 150w metal halide pendant that they use above marine tanks so i can grow some plants in and around pond. Ive also been offered the other turtle that was kept with my big turtle before i had it as they can no longer keep up with cleaning tank every week not sure how they got away with once a week with out filter in there so need to get this built quick to give the turtles a good home. So any suggestions or advice would be great.Thanks Steffen
