building my first pond... what do i need to know?

[monkeypie102]

Hello all as you can tell I am new here and, as the title says, will be building a pond! The back story is I went to my lfs, local fish shop, to buy some barley pellets for my shrimp when I walked into the fish room and saw a tank with two full grown Oscars picking at a rock... needless to say that rock was a 4.5in red ear slider... I took her home for $20 now i am setting up a pond for her, going to start construction when the weather clears enough... the plan is for a 12ftx12ft space where 1/3 is left dry land for her to coe out and sun bath. We are going to buy 4ft picket fencing and concrete it down 1ft for possible digging by the turtle. The pond will be between 500-1,000g and will house 2, soon to be rescued, common plecos, the turtle, a group of clams, and either rosy red minnows or mosquito fish (I will include the horrible sketch below of the plan xD)

Now the fish forum I have been a member of for a while suggested I do a DIY filter but i am lost as to how or even what to buy... I have some plants I want to use, duckweed, amazon frogbit, hornwort, pennywort but not sure what else I could get that is turtle friendly if she happens to want a snack...

Other than that I need all the advice I can get... help please

 

[sissy]

There is lots of great info on you tube how to build for turtles .Turtle mommie on here built one

 

[monkeypie102]

Well I think i need to find turtle mommie and ask her some questions as well

 

[sissy]

country has turtles too .

 

[brandonsdad02]

I have turtles in my pond. With my first pond, I tried leaving a dry area for them to use but they didn't use it so I just got rid of that and put some rock all along the edge of the pond. They will most likely bask on the rocks right next to the water or some drift wood. I have several pieces of drift wood for them to bask on. They prolly won't bother the plants that much if you have rosey reds in there. Mine loved to munch on my water lettuce and water hyacinth and Lillie pads. I have a red ear slider and a lime ear slider. Your plecos won't do well in cold water like what we get in the Midwest. You will have to bring them inside for the winter.

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello

Yes my turtles either ate the plants or smashed them
So when picking plants get plants that are of strong stocks and grow quick.

Not sure but my turtles don't dig to get out but they will try and hurdle anything to get out and are real strong.
Not to say water turtles don't dig I just don't see mine doing it.

Look for word to seeing pics of your progress.

Ruben

 

[sissy]

have to start remembering all the turtle owners from now on .sorry senior moment

 

[addy1]

have to start remembering all the turtle owners from now on .sorry senior moment

lol Sissy is ok I can't recall all the turtle owners either.

To our group!

A few have built in a bog to help keep the water clean. I love my bog, don't have turtles, just fishies.

 

[monkeypie102]

I have turtles in my pond. With my first pond, I tried leaving a dry area for them to use but they didn't use it so I just got rid of that and put some rock all along the edge of the pond. They will most likely bask on the rocks right next to the water or some drift wood. I have several pieces of drift wood for them to bask on. They prolly won't bother the plants that much if you have rosey reds in there. Mine loved to munch on my water lettuce and water hyacinth and Lillie pads. I have a red ear slider and a lime ear slider. Your plecos won't do well in cold water like what we get in the Midwest. You will have to bring them inside for the winter.

Oh I have planned for the winter they will be coming inside as will the turtle... I read that red ears are more vegitarian as they get older so i am just trying g to plan my plants around that fact. And the dry land I plan to plant carrots, leaf lettuce, and broccali for them to munch on as well

Hello

Yes my turtles either ate the plants or smashed them
So when picking plants get plants that are of strong stocks and grow quick.

Not sure but my turtles don't dig to get out but they will try and hurdle anything to get out and are real strong.
Not to say water turtles don't dig I just don't see mine doing it.

Look for word to seeing pics of your progress.

Ruben

Since my turtle is female she will probably dig to ready a spot for her eggs, I don't plan to breed though. Plus if i wait to long and she is ready to hibernate then she can dig so she can be ready for sleep and the fencing is what i worry most about... but the picket should keep her from climbing at all.

have to start remembering all the turtle owners from now on .sorry senior moment

no need to beat yourself up over it there are probably to many to remeber anyways

lol Sissy is ok I can't recall all the turtle owners either.

To our group!

A few have built in a bog to help keep the water clean. I love my bog, don't have turtles, just fishies.

A bog? I know plecos love to chew on bog wood is that the same thing?

 

[brandonsdad02]

A bog is a filter that we use to keep our water clean. Addy1 or CE are the ones to ask about that. I have a bog but those 2 know much more than I do.

 

[Mmathis]

Monkey, beware!! It's addictive I started out simply wanting to make a safe "watering hole" for my box turtles (non-aquatics), and ended up with a 3000+ garden and goldfish pond!

My "turtle" situation is somewhat unique since my boxies aren't water turtles. I already had an established habitat for them, but was getting tired of emptying and filling their water bowls -- box turtles need water that's only a few inches deep that they can soak in. They also use the water as a potty, so it can get real nasty, real fast.

So my challenge was figuring out a way to have a pond that would be incorporated as part of their habitat, but where a section could be fenced off for the turtles, escape-proof and keeping them OUT of the deeper water. So far, so good.

Your idea of burying fencing around your pond sounds good. The creativity is the fun part! Be sure to go deep enough -- I have no idea how deep for RES's, though. Box turtles are climbers as well as diggers, which is something else I had to consider with my fencing. One idea would be to pound PVC pipe in the ground, kinda like a little underground fence. Have the pieces close enough together that your RES can't dig/squeeze between them. That way you would have an underground barricade that didn't interfere with ground water run-off.

Another in this group who knows about turtles is FISHIN4CARS (hope I got that right, Larkin).

Oh, and welcome to the family!

 

[addy1]

Oh I have planned for the winter they will be coming inside as will the turtle... I read that red ears are more vegitarian as they get older so i am just trying g to plan my plants around that fact. And the dry land I plan to plant carrots, leaf lettuce, and broccali for them to munch on as well

Since my turtle is female she will probably dig to ready a spot for her eggs, I don't plan to breed though. Plus if i wait to long and she is ready to hibernate then she can dig so she can be ready for sleep and the fencing is what i worry most about... but the picket should keep her from climbing at all.

no need to beat yourself up over it there are probably to many to remeber anyways

A bog? I know plecos love to chew on bog wood is that the same thing?

A bog is the only filter I have for my pond, so far working great. I have also used them in the past.

bog building 101

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/6894-bog-building/

 

[taherrmann4]

Welcome to the forum..

I would suggest a bog filter if you have the room, I built one last summer not for the filtration as I already have two filters for that, but wanted so I could grow different plants. It is quite easy to build and just about anyone can build one.

 

[sissy]

I think I need to join the turtles monkey and fight them for the veggies ,maybe I was a turtle in my past life :razz: bog filter would give you great planting area for all the yummy veggies .