Mmathis
TurtleMommy
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 14,238
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- Location
- NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Since there will be many of you who don't know about my "turtle bog," let me give a brief run-down. I have pet box turtles. Their habitat takes up, oh, about 1/4 of the backyard. A few years ago I built a small bog [maybe 6' x 3', 12" deep] within their habitat. Since I have males and a female, and I don't want babies, the habitat is divided, as is the bog -- this just explains the drawings.
The bog is the watering hole, and is 100% for the turtles, to give them a source of clean, filtered water. The plants are 1) for some pond filtration, and 2) to give the turtles natural cover and shade. The bog is about 3 or 4 years old and requires some maintenance, as do most bogs. Recently, though, there's been an issue with "crud" collecting in the gravel and flowing to the pond causing the pond [in general] to have dirty water. Apparently my backflushes [and use of the Pondovac to suck out around the gravel] haven't done a lot of good, and is catching up after these 3-4 years.
I have a Skippy as primary filtration. And my water parameters are always good, so both are doing well to take care of the chemical filtration.
A few problems that I see......might be......
This is a not-to-scale [obviously] drawing of the relationship between the pond and the turtle bog. The green is the bog. It's a continuous bog, separated by a fence to keep the turtles apart.
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The first drawing shows how the water distribution piping is set up [under the gravel]. The 2nd drawing is how I have it designed, with the gravel and plants around the perimeter, and a depression in the middle for the turtles. Again, the fence doesn't separate the bog itself, just the habitat. The next 2 drawings are just different ways I can rearrange things. So, long story short, between Scenario A and Scenario B, which do you think would make for a more efficient bog set up?
And just because I know someone will ask, I'll look for some pics of my "weir" set-up. It's made with drainage grates and connects to 4" PVC. Basically, it's like a culvert that empties into the pond. I'll look for pics.
Found something!
@addy1
The bog is the watering hole, and is 100% for the turtles, to give them a source of clean, filtered water. The plants are 1) for some pond filtration, and 2) to give the turtles natural cover and shade. The bog is about 3 or 4 years old and requires some maintenance, as do most bogs. Recently, though, there's been an issue with "crud" collecting in the gravel and flowing to the pond causing the pond [in general] to have dirty water. Apparently my backflushes [and use of the Pondovac to suck out around the gravel] haven't done a lot of good, and is catching up after these 3-4 years.
I have a Skippy as primary filtration. And my water parameters are always good, so both are doing well to take care of the chemical filtration.
A few problems that I see......might be......
- I'm running water to the bog too fast which is putting too much crud through that system -- I need to regulate the flow
- This particular bog isn't designed for the size of my pond [3000 with somewhere between 30-50 goldfish] as far as mechanical filtration goes -- the bog wasn't intended to act as a mechanical filter, but it does what it does.....
- Not sure that how I have the gravel arranged around the water is the best design [see pics] for optimal results -- and this is where I would like some advice from you guys
This is a not-to-scale [obviously] drawing of the relationship between the pond and the turtle bog. The green is the bog. It's a continuous bog, separated by a fence to keep the turtles apart.
_________________________________________________________________
The first drawing shows how the water distribution piping is set up [under the gravel]. The 2nd drawing is how I have it designed, with the gravel and plants around the perimeter, and a depression in the middle for the turtles. Again, the fence doesn't separate the bog itself, just the habitat. The next 2 drawings are just different ways I can rearrange things. So, long story short, between Scenario A and Scenario B, which do you think would make for a more efficient bog set up?
And just because I know someone will ask, I'll look for some pics of my "weir" set-up. It's made with drainage grates and connects to 4" PVC. Basically, it's like a culvert that empties into the pond. I'll look for pics.
Found something!
@addy1
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