above ground pond with bottom drain?

I need a little help.

I want to put together an indoor (in my garage) pond for my semi-aquatic turtle (a yellow-bellied slider). I'm thinking stock-tank pond, above ground obviously. Most importantly, I want a bottom drain, or something else with wicked mechanical filtration.

"Cash", my little turtle, is currently in a 30 gallon turtle tank (holds 15 gallons of water), with two filters running on it. While the biological filtration is ample, mechanical filtration is woefully inadequate. He produces an incredible amount of waste, which sits on the bottom of the tank. It looks gross, is a PITA to clean, and can't be very good for him either.

I'm thinking if I hook a bottom drain up to a solids-handling-pump, then run the water to a biofalls with mechanical filtration ahead of the bio media, that should do the trick?

Anyone done anything like this? How difficult is it?

Any alternative suggestions?

Perhaps I'm not clear on what you're describing....

Do you mean a bottom drain, like a shower drain that you can just open and dump the gunk or are you talking about like a retro bottom drain like the aqua-art or the tetra drain that sits on the bottom of the pond/tank? If so, these really aren't meant to be used with a submersible pump, if that's what you're describing.

I'm assuming the tank your're describing is a winter tank and will be made of some form of plastic. If so, you can just drill a 2" hole in the bottom and put in a shower drain that is kept back with a ball valve--and you can just hook up a soft pipe to it to dump the icky water.

But, help clarify what it is you're really trying to do. I'm unclear.

I mean a bottom drain, not a retro one.

What I'm describing is a pond made from a livestock tank. They already have a drain hole in the bottom.

Instead of just hooking up the drain as a dump, I was wanting to hook it up as the intake to the filter, so that there's constant suction off the bottom.

Otherwise, I'd have to dump some water every day to try and keep the turtle poo off the pond bottom They're dirty little buggers!

to further clarify:

I'm thinking in-line pump, not submersible.

Here's a quick paint pic of what I'm thinking:

I see where you're going with it. Yes, this can all be done exactly as your photo. Instead of all those 90 degree sharp elbows, I would use sweep/rounded elbows so you create less friction.

But basically you would stand your stock tank on cinder blocks to get the lift you need and allow for your piping, you put in a regular shower drain or a bulhead on the bottom of the stock tank and do the rest just as you describe.

You need two things which you are missing in the photo--for one, you should put a ball valve in so you can stop water flow when you need to service the system. The other thing you should put in is a swing check valve to prevent backflow of the crud in the filter falls from heading back into your tank if the power happens to go off or something happens.

You will need to get a very powerful inline pump to push up in that manner. Be warned that many of these inline pumps use a lot of energy, so check out their wattage consumption. With this plan, you'd be better off with a small external filter better. It will be very easy to set up in this configuration and will save you lots of $ in energy costs. Also, you can probably find one that will cost about as much as an inline pump, yet save you more $ in monthly costs--so it will be cheaper for you all around.

Put a cleanout in it or you may be sorry when it cloggs.

I agree. I'd tee off a short pipe with a ball valve you can open and close to let waste the side. Put it in right before your pump. And also make sure to use pvc unions before and after your pump (if external) so that you can easily remove it should something get clogged or need servicing.

A cleanout when properly placed, allows you to use a plumbers snake to open clogged lines. Unions would force you to drain your pond first. They are nice to have for pump replacement.

I respectfully disagree, if you have a unions with a properly placed ball valve--you siimply close the ball valve to prevent water flow and open the unions and any clog is easily removed. Sort of like a p-trap in your sink. No need to drain the pond at all. If the ball valve is placed right after the shower drain, it's all fine....

Would the plumbers on this forum please speak up! What are cleanouts in every house in the world used for???