WILL THIS SHAPE WORK?

[Mmathis]

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I played around with my photo software and "manipulated" the photo a little -- compare it to the first one (1st pic). Easier to go that approach than trying to remake the clay model

Anyway, made the "pond" a little wider and gave the turtles a little more space (2nd pic). The white arrow indicated line-of-site from the house. Making it wider will give us [people] a better view as well as enlarge the space for fish & plants. Also have played around with drawing out the design, adding in a PVC support platform for the "false floor" grid as well as plants (3rd pic).

Looking at this shape (2nd pic), any comments or suggestions about pump placement and water flow issues, or any other "hot spots" you might see that I don't? One thought I'd had (to help with water flow and side benefit of oxygenation) was to put air stones in or close to where the "turtle" parts join the main body of water. Just to be sure that the "turtle" water gets circulated. Bio-filter (type, yet undetermined) will be behind the waterfall somewhere. And do you think the odd-shaped design will present problems as far as fitting the liner is concerned?

The length is looking to be about 17'. Width, not too sure about yet, but hoping for the "turtle" areas to be around 36" - 48" diameter each (boys' sl. larger 'cause there are more of them). Depth around 3'. Once our backyard dries out from some much-needed rain, I'll go out with a hose or rope and see what the dimensions would be.

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:fechten2:

:heartpump: In honor of my wonderful son, the fencer!! :heartpump: Junior Olympics in 31/2 weeks!! :usa:

 

[taherrmann4]

The only concern I see is that you may have some dead spots when it comes to water flow in the turtle areas, depending on where you locate your pump or skimmer. If you are using a submerisble pump I wouldn't think you would have much of an issue, but if you have a skimmer then you may get these dead spots as the water will flow from your waterfall to the skimmer. The land protrusion that seperates the two turtle areas is what I am thinking will create dead spots. It may not just my opinion.

 

[Mmathis]

TMANN, I agree -- Sorta what I was wondering about, at depth as well as on the surface. Do you think having air stones in that area would help keep the water perculated enough to move it into general circulation? Or what about a little design change where the peninsula doesn't go out that far. And in place of the peninsula, just continue with my PVC idea for a swim-through (the part that will be separating the "turtle" area from the rest of the pond). I'll re-post the pic I had in my OP that shows how the fencing will be made -- the fencing will connect with and help support the "false floor."

 

[taherrmann4]

Airstones would help with the circulation.

I like the peninsula idea think it would look more natural.

Here is a thought. Are you using a submersible or external pump? If you are using an external then you can put in a "Y" on the pipe one goes to your waterfall and the other one goes to the turtle areas, it is then split again and water is allowed to flow into these areas. You can create small waterfalls which would also give you some more sound, you could put on a ball valve to control each ones flow. My one external pump feeds my waterfall, and two separate creeks. The third creek does not have a ton of waterflow but it is enough to keep it circulating. My pond is about 3000g, the waterfall is 15' long, the creek is about 25-30' long and the small creek is only 10' long. I have links to some pics under my signature.

 

[fishin4cars]

I commented on your other thread, But I'll post here as well, Instead of shelves make bogs, not only would achieve the same outcome but you would be gaing a good bit of area for bacteria to grow and breakdown the waste. I would be quite worried that the shelf would collapse over time trapping fish underneath. I like the design of the second pond more than the first. far more possibilities not only for filter and such but also far easier to hide into the landscaping. Looks Really good IMO!

 

[Mmathis]

TMANN -- I'm going with a submersible pump (probably a solids-handling), but if I go with FISHIN's idea, I could add a pump for the bogs.

FISHIN -- Thanks for posting both places! I reposted here as I think my thread "died" in the other topic area . BTW, when I called them "shelves," what I really meant were ledges. Basically, instead of plants, these ledges would support the grid, plus I'd have a PVC frame underneath the grid for extra support. In this case, instead of the ledges being parallel with the top of the pond, I would have them slope toward the fencing -- this would give the turts a variety of water depths.

 

[Mmathis]

OK, redrew the "turtle" side and reduced the peninsula. Did I make any progress toward better water flow? The while arrows roughly indicate the water flow from waterfall & bio-filter.

 

[sissy]

not to change the subject but I found it interesting that the animal shelter here has turtles up for adoption for around 2 dollars .They have fish from 50 cents and up .What next .

 

[fishin4cars]

If your still going with shelves for the turtles the bottom pic would be far better for keeping the flow circulating in those two areas. If you going to go Bog the top picture would be better because the water would already be moving during filtration and there wouldn't be a dead area underneath. And it would be two out flows coming from the bogs.
Sissy, we went to the shelter this weekend here to help exercise the dogs and help doing some cleaning. They had a minature donkey! It was in great shape, and all up to date on his medical check-ups. His owner got arrested for something unrelated and he couldn't care for it. I wanted him so bad but someone else beat us to him. He's going to a great home but we wanted him sooo bad. He would have been perfect for the new farm. But the new owners already have two and three minature horses so they knew how to care for his needs better than us right now so it worked out best for him I think in the long run which is why we volunteer. That's the first odd animal in quite a while but yea, sometimes odd things do come through. We had a great time yesterday, we got there they had 7 dogs and three cats and the donkey. when we left they only had one dog left! That's Butch and he's a permanent stay at the shelter. He's been adopted twice and ended up back there both times. Everyone makes sure Butch is spoiled a little even though his not the most sociable dog I ever met.