above ground pond with bottom drain?

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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?
 
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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.
 
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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 :banana: They're dirty little buggers!
 
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to further clarify:

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

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

untitled.jpg
 
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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.
 
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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.
 

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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.
 
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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....
 
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ah well, moot point, at least for now: I stumbled across a deal I couldn't pass up today, which has changed the plan. Picked up a brand new Laguna PowerJet 900 on clearance for 54.99. It's a submersible pump that handles solids and pumps up to 900gph. So, I'll just sit that on the bottom - should keep things clean. Now to decide between a water fall filter, a submersed box filter, or a homemade external pressurized filter...

Likely one of the first two.
 
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doc, perhaps we are thinking of two different things and calling 'em unions. A union simply allows you to unscrew/separate a pipe that has been glued so that you can get access to it. So, in my case, I have a union on each side of my pump so I can remove it from my system should anything go awry. To do this, I would not need to drain my pond. I simply have a ball valve before the union so, I would turn it to keep all my water in my pond and then service my pump if the situation came about, and then return it to it's spot without having to undo anything in the pond.

You can put a union wherever you want in your pipin to gain access to a drain or pipe portion in your pond filttration. I have one right after my drain so that if I get gunk or a clog there, I can simply unscrew it and separate it from my drain to clean out the clog. I have another one by my check valve in case that gets clogged, etc.

As long as there are ball valves before these unions, which is how I have my system set up--you can close the valves to hold all the water in the pond and then fix whatever needs to be fixed without draining the pond.

For example, if my external pump dies, I'd turn the ball valve to stop water flow to that pump. I'd throw in my emergency Laguna pump and reattach it to my pressure filter. It would keep my entire pond set up going without any need for draining the pond or shutting the whole thing down. I'd then open my unions to check for any clogs and open the unions flanking my external pump to see what he problem was.
 

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A cleanout would allow you to snake all the way to the drain itself without having to drain the pond. My assumption was the drain gets clogged not the pump. That seems to be where the confusion lies.

Cleanouts are located higher than the water level of the pond and have a screw cap that protects it from animals, insects and dirt from getting into your sewer. They are in every home that was ever built that has plumbing.

Having unions at the pump is a good idea for all the other reasons you gave. While you were thinking pump, I was thinking the drain inlet at the bottom of the pond.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
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Yep, i thought we were talking about two different things. Obviously we are.

I also have a union right where my drain inlet is at the bottom of my 55 gallon barrel (and this user can do the same at the drain inlet). Simply put a union right there in case something gets stuck. That way, you just open the union and separate the pipe to clear the clog. But, you need to have a ball valve first so you can prevent the water from flowing out when you separate your pipe, of course. This has no need to be above water level either. It's simple. You need to put it very close to the drain tho.

If you have a clog between the drain and the ball valve, you can fish it out from the top; and if you have a clog beyond the ball valve, you close the valve and fish out your clog from the back. Here's a photo as best as I can show it. Forgive my horrible drawings:

drains.jpg


You can see that the pipe lengths are so short at this part that you can snake out a clog no matter where they are: waste pipe, below ball valve, above ball valve, etc. And by shutting the valve, the water stays in the tank if it is below the union. If it's above the union right under the shower drain, you just stick pliers or whatever in to yank the clog from the top. WIth ball valves in all the right places and unions, you sort of compartmentalize your system in enough places that you can service it without having to drain the whole darned thing.

This was the set up I was thinking for chillgirl, which includes the waste pipe that can hook up to a flexpipe so that she can lead it out of her garage so that the turtle poop will just flow out when needed. I'm not sure if she's using a filter/pump, but included that just in case. But someone keeping fish in a hospital tank can do it this way, too.

Of course, this was based on her initial design of an inline pump. This would work with a standard external too.

With her new plans for a submersible, she's just needs a bottom drain heading to waste so that she can force out the turtle poop when she needs to flush it out the bottom. So, a simple short pipe and ball valve will suffice.
 

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