Indoors turtle pond build *future project discussion and help*

[College fishman]

hey yall! I have 3 turtles and i feel like in an aquarium they arnt happy! sooooo I want to build them a little pond in my basement this summer ! plenty of room for them to move around and grow.

Im thinking something along the lines of 75gallons. like the black pond ones they make that people put in their back yards. I really want a nice wood box around it, very almost like it was ment to be there.

now what im asking is:

- can i get some links to some online sites with these black pond type deals
- what filtration for this beast?? something not loud and obnoxious but still concealable in the box id build.
- with turtles could I do some koi also?

thanks in advanced fellas

 

[MyFishEatYourFish]

what kind of turtles? i would go bigger!

 

[College fishman]

ones an eastern painted and then i have 2 map turtles (these are in VIRGINIA btw)

and i dont have a ton of room. im more of a fish person though and want a big tank for like 4 or so oscars

 

[College fishman]

bumppp?

 

[epond83]

75 gal seems really small. My 7.5" RES is in a 75 gal. tank and as soon as i have money/room i'm upgrading.

 

[Kcameron]

I keep my 2 RES in a 100gallon stock tank. I'm planning on building a plywood frame around it with shelves for potting plants or even some cattails (if i put the shelves underwater. Stock tanks are cheap and so is playwood so if youre just looking for a pond, thats tthe way I'd go.

 

[dragonsong]

I'd go bigger, especially if you want koi they need a large pond to be happy.

 

[College fishman]

yea im thinking something along the lines of a 5' long 1.5' wide plywood with little shelves and nooks for little koi

im really wondering what filtration would be best

 

[epond83]

That sounds pretty good on size, wider is always better so it's not a lap pool, but hey gotta work with what you have.

You could make the back corner a basking area for the turtles and have soil for plants (which will probably get eaten, but also allow for digging. Under this area could be a sump type area for filtration. Water splis over a divider or something. Goes through filter socks or filter pad of some sort. The bio media, then pumped back to the tank. A UV filter for algea might help depending on how well lit the area is.

 

[dragonsong]

yea im thinking something along the lines of a 5' long 1.5' wide plywood with little shelves and nooks for little koi

im really wondering what filtration would be best

5' is a good start, but I had a 13" koi in a 2' wide tank once and he had problems turning around, there's no way you can make it maybe 3' wide?

As for filters, there's a lot of diy options you have using trash cans or 55g barrels, theres lots of good ideas on the forums.