What is needed for an outdoor turtle pond?
Okay so I need some assistance. I live in a tiny town and apparently the not so smart people at home depot and walmart don’t know what they are talking about. I purchased a 125 gallon hard preformed pond for my backyard. I have a pond turtle in a tank in the house that needs to go outside.
I just want to get it started and the rest will follow:
I need the following:
1) A Filter
2) A Pump
3) Water Fountain Head Attachments
Just to get it started…The rest is ornamental/plants/fish..which I can do.
The guys at home depot keep telling me that the filter is on the pump. But the filter is so small I don’t see how it can filter for a pond turtle. Can you help me with links that shows which three pieces I need to buy to make this pond start to work. The filter is what is really throwing me off. Just seems like I need something more than just the pump filter. I want something that will help keep the pond clean too.
Anything Solar would be great as well. Thank you!
He won’t take off..I am making him a little yard around it with a mini fence around that so he won’t wonder off.
Turtles are dirty critters, so the filter on your pond will have do to yeoman’s work. There are several kinds of filters. You are seeing the small foam rubber sort of mechanical filter that keeps pond debris from being sucked into the pump. I think I would, if you don’t want to buy another biofilter, make one. You can do it easily. Get a black grow pot. Put lava rock in an old leg of panty hose or other mesh bag. Put the pump in the bottom of the pond, the bag of lava rocks on top of it and you are good to go.
If you put submerged or floating plants in the pond, your turtle will have them for breakfast, so be careful. There are enzymes made to keep the water clear. I would check into using them. To read my articles on ponds and filters, go to http://www.squidoo.com/pondlady
start with a pond, then get some turtles
The filter on the pump will need washing out a lot so buy some spare ones so you can just change it and wash it later.Turtles make a lot of poo so you will need to change it a lot. Some plants will soak up the nutrients from the poo and stop the pond going green and smelly. Check which ones wont hurt the turtle.You will need some big rocks too as turtles like to sit on them and sunbathe.
I’m not sure if thats such a great idea. Turtles are migratory by nature, and if you put your little turtle outside, he will probably just take off. Either that or a bird will eat him. I have a fairly large garden pond and have seen several turtles come and go over the last few years. Yours would probably do the same thing.