Help needed, please - raised pond vs preformed liner!

[TAHOE]

I am on the other side of the fence that you can use a preformed liner above ground....if the proper support is built around it. We use one for our indoor turtle pond. I originally just cut out the shape and slid liner down through hole thinking the bottom sitting on the floor and the lip around top would support it. I learned quickly we needed support around the middle as weight of water began to bow the center section out which then pulled top lip toward middle and down. We then took another pice of plywood, cut out the center so that is would slide up around pond to shelf level. We cut 2x4's to keep plywood in position and it also helped support shelves at the same time. While we used plywood, you could use treated lumber to build a skeleton around the liner for support, but for sideways and shelf support. You could then build covering around it to make it look nice. Insulating around it will help in winter, but you will still need a heater also as stated earlier.

There are some youtube videos of people showing how to build supports when using liners above ground. That's how I got my ideas to use ours.

Here is our indoor pond with liner and plywood supports.

 

[Dave 54]

Nothing wrong with building the support structure around a liner Tahoe even with our free standing pond of heavy welded platic construct we still put a frame in place around the pond all be it for looks over support but it does add some at the same time as though not as much as you would be supporting with your own constuction
May I ask a question about your turtles just how big do you think they would get too ?
Ours got to the size of a good sized dinner plate so just how high and how strong is the glass on your pond for them, it may just be the light but the glass looks awfully thin my friend ?.

Dave

 

[TAHOE]

May I ask a question about your turtles just how big do you think they would get too ?
Ours got to the size of a good sized dinner plate so just how high and how strong is the glass on your pond for them, it may just be the light but the glass looks awfully thin my friend ?.

Dave

You are very observant there Dave.
I know very well the size the turtles will get. They are actually my son's, the two yellow belly sliders he has are already about 8" across, they will be re-homed soon as he is downsizing his animal collection. He also has paints, they are only 5-6" and won't get a whole lot larger.
The plexiglass is thin 1/16" or 2 mm, but has not been an issue. Turtles only get out to bask and have never tried to climb that we know of. We have more issues with our cat climbing on the glass than the turtles.
For the turtles he will be keeping, the glass and sides are plenty high. If not, we will make adjustments to prevent any escapes.