TURTLEMOMMY'S POND IDEA, SO FAR -- WHADAYATHINK?

[Mmathis]

OK, I've been playing around with my polymer clay -- this is a new little mock-up I made, based on my latest (of many) drawings. LOL, it isn't to scale, but isn't it CUTE! The model is about a foot long to give an idea of size, but am thinking the actual pond will be about 17' long. The drawing I made has more of a curved side on the left (white line), with the whole pond a little more jelly-bean shaped, or "mitten-shaped" to be more accurate: the "mitten's" thumb doesn't really show up well, but would be the satilite area, lower right, and "boy turtle" place.. The waterfall isn't exactly right, either, but I was just having some fun, so..... I included close-ups of my little faux turtles and the little faux goldies (again, so NOT to scale ).

Now, this is an idea I have come up with for fencing -- recall that my turtles aren't aquatics and also that boys & girls will need to be separated. In the first pic I have put in lines to show where the separations would be. The diagram (I hope) shows how I plan to carry it out. For my turtle habitat I use pressure-treated wood (no comments, please), but for any "pond" fencing that will be close to the water, plan to use cedar pickets. The fence would be 2'- 3' tall, and would curve upward over the water (like a bridge), leaving a space between the bottom of the fence and water level. The cedar fence would acutally be a double fence 'cause I need space between the layers of picket to place & secure PVC pipe. The elevated areas of the cedar fencing would have PVC pipe (maybe painted) running the length of the fence (see diagram). The purpose here is 1) turtle escape barrier (can't climb it), and 2) to keep the turtles from seeing what's on the other side of the fence. Then attached to the lengths of PVC I will have a curtain of PVC pipe discs (pieces of PVC pipe cut to whatever lengths will be necessary, but about 1"- 2" long -- they'll be short little fish tunnels) that go from water level and are attached to the "grid" that will be the "false bottom." These discs will be the underwater portion of the fence wall. Again, turtle escape proof. I'll use pipe that is wide enough that fishies can swim through and have access to the "turtle" areas (want the fish to have access to the whole pond), but the turtles won't be able to go through them. To support the fencing underwater, will use PVC pipes (painted) in the fence construction. The pipes will extend to the bottom and I'll make them into a support structure (I'll use extra pieces of liner underneath for added security against holes). Also thought I could have some of the cedar fencing be curved rather than in straight lines -- might be more pleasing to the eye.

I got hubby a metal dragon scupture for Chrsitmas, and we have another "hanging" dragon. Thought we'd come up with a "dragon" theme that would take into account the cedar fencing: "HERE THERE BE DRAGONS," or something like that.

 

[addy1]

Love it, you do very nice clay models. I like the thoughts you have, and can't see an obvious problem at this time.

 

[sissy]

gosh if your you put that much detail into that you turtles will be in turtle heaven when your done

 

[Mmathis]

ADDY -- Thanks! The pond shape may change before I'm through, but have been "working" on a barrier design idea from day 1. Keeping the turtles safe, happy, & healthy has been the driving force that brought me to consider a pond. Want it to be pleasant from the turtles' viewpoint, but also from OUR viewpoint. :claphands:

SISSY -- These little guys don't know how lucky they are!

 

[j.w]

Looks great, like the garden of eden for turtles!

 

[Mmathis]

I played around with my photo software and "manipulated" the photo a little -- compare it to the one in my OP. Easier to go that approach than trying to remake the clay model

Anyway, made the "pond" a little wider and gave the turtles a little more space. Red dotted lines indicate cedar fencing & PVC and yellow solid lines are the habitat fencing (turtle boundaries). The white arrow indicated line-of-site from the house. Making it wider will give us [people] a better view as well as enlarge the space for fish & plants.

Once our backyard dries out from some much-needed rain, I'll go out with a hose or rope and see what the dimensions would be.


Looking at this shape, any comments or suggestions about pump placement and water flow issues? One thought I'd had (to help with water flow and side benefit of oxygenation) was to put air stones in or close to where the "turtle" parts join the main body of water. Just to be sure that the "turtle" water gets circulated. Bio-filter (type, yet undetermined) will be behind the waterfall somewhere.

 

[Mmathis]

I copied my last comment over to the "construction" section :bye2: . Hoping for some comments and/or suggestions regarding the shape, etc.


:fechten2:

:heartpump: In honor of my wonderful son, the fencer!! :heartpump: Junior Olympics in 31/2 weeks!! :usa:

 

[fishin4cars]

I know you thought about bog gardens for a while, the areas you have marked out would be perfect for two small to med size bogs, the water coming up through them would be about a inch or two BUT they could dig some in the gravel if they wanted to get deeper in the water. you could hide a small fence between the bog and the primary pond to help contain the turtles. More filter is always better, and with the turtles I would think more would be better.
A skimmer placed in the area where the white arrow would be the perfect location for it, this would be easy to hide the cover and the water from the falls would help push leaves dust etc, toward the skimmer. the bog could be built with the same piece of liner as the pond, and you wouldn't have to build a shelf.

 

[Mmathis]

FISHIN -- You know, for a while I had abandoned the idea of the bog. And another member even suggested doing the same thing as you mention. Just wonder though, with the turtle poop that would be deposited on a regular basis, how quickly would the veggie filter be able to handle it? Would some of the poop wash out into the main pond area (where the pump would catch it), or would it stay in the bog part? Thinking about sanitation.....

 

[fishin4cars]

IMO, you would get more removed from the bog filter than without. NOW, I would also use a skimmer that removes as much as possible before getting to the pond, and either a good filter fall system or DYI filter also. I wouldn't rely soley on the bog filter. But my thinking is this would help flush the turtle waste more easily and if you have a good prefilter and a large enough BIO chamber to handle the load I think it could really work in your advantage. No matter what, your going to have to closely monitor water quality until YOU know where the balance point is. I would keep in the back of my mind a few things that you may want to add at a later date, Possibly a DYI skippy or drum filter, a sieve unit, or possibly some other type of mechanical filter. With this in mind a external filter might be a good idea and may give you more possiblities IF you need to add more later on. With the size pond a bottom drain plumbed to a large skimmer like the Savio Std. or Atlantic 4500 or larger would prefilter all the water of large debris and it would remove waste from the bottom to help compensate for the extra load of the turtles. I know thats a lot of added expense but I also know you have been thinking and seriously looking at your options for some time now. I feel you have a good plan and you've read enough that you at least aren't going into this project without knowing what options you do have.

 

[fishin4cars]

Oh, and I was also thinking, You very well may get by if you keep a low fish load and high plant load with the bogs and a filter fall unit as the actual Bio filter. I would start off with those in mind right off until I had the chance to see if that would be enough. The more fish and the more waste of course the more filter you'll need. The skimmer of course is for large debris removal, Plumbing the bottom drain to them isn't hard and in fact the instructions that will come with the savio shows details how to do it.

 

[Mmathis]

Wow! You've really thought this through, FISHIN! I do plan to have a bio filter, though haven't decided which kind, and would still have it even with a bog. Was thinking about a solids-handling pump, and a settling chamber. Would love to have a sieve, but it's not in my immediate budget. Not too sure about a skimmer.

Glad you found good homes for your turtles! My boxies were the result of a female EBT that was given to me. I'd read that females can store sperm, and fertilize eggs for about 4 or 5 years after mating. Well, "Zippo" proved that right! I would periodically dig up her clutches -- accidentally @ first, but once I realized she was laying, I looked for her nests. Brought the eggs inside & incubated them after 2 years of seeing them destroyed by overly dry soil or insects. My babies are from 2 consecutive years, and are about 4 & 5 years old. I positively know the genders (male, naturally) of some, think a couple are females, and not sure about the others (though probably males). This is the year I separate them as don't want them to breed. Not to mention that the guys can get aggressive with each other (their posturing is almost comical, from a human's view) and don't give the girls any peace!

 

[fishin4cars]

Skimmer I highly recommend! seriously, Since day one that I installed my first one I have been 100% happy with the results I get from it, For money spent versus removing junk out of the water it's hard to beat a good skimmer.
like I was saying, sieve or seperator chamber is always a option as time goes by, Good thing is they can always be added later if you kind of plan ahead for just in case. Skimmer is hard to add after the fact for a good effective one with a large leaf basket and solids trapping area. savio comes with the prefilters that are simple to was out and will remove 75% of most solid waste they just need to be cleaned regularly. (During heavy feeding((summer)) I may have to clean mine twice a day! Right now, once a week if that. I cetus sieve would eliminate that but is it worth $1300 out of your pocket book??? The prefilters I use are green matala and cost $25.00 a set plus the $350 I paid for the complete skimmer. I'm already at the pond checking each day so the little manual labor was well worth the saving to me.

 

[addy1]

Totally agree on the skimmer. We finally got the plumbing finished mid summer, what a difference it made in our clarity in just a few days. The added filtration and water movement really made a difference.

I am tickled with my bog, the water stays in great shape.