I have been building another turtle pond in my yard and thought you might all like to see its progress. You can see photos here:

http://gardenstatetortoise.com/GardenSta...c.php?t=32

enjoy.

Wow Chris - that is quite the project! Will you have any type of filter system to circulate water in there? Looks great!

Dee, no filter, only biological filtration. There are countless lillies, sedges, catttails and other aquatic plants that have been planted in there, they just haven't come up yet. It's worked for me for years with other ponds. I only use a filter on my wood turtle pond.

chris, what a large and wonderful undertaking It turned out fantastic. I think one discriptive word I would use is WOW. Great Job.

That's really neat. How many turtles do you anticipate having in there? Do they eat algae? I know that my plants help alot filtering the water but I still get some even with a filter.

There is a breeding group of Blanding's Turtles in there and some Painted Turtles. I've found that if you use the right combination of plant life and the right substrate it will create a natural biological filtration. Basically a natural pond. This works with my other ponds and has for years. I use a filter on the wood turtles because they require clear, moving water. Ironically, the wood turtle pond has the biggest problem with algae while none of the other ponds do at all.

Great looking pond chris!! How deep did it end up being?? Next question, are they able to go under the deck or do you have it blocked off. Next do you want to come and build a pond for me?? How much dirt & peat moss did you put in? What type of peatmoss did you use? Where did you get all of your plants from? What are the best to use?

Jen, it is roughly 4 ft at the deep end but 2 feet of that is mud and then there is a 6" layer of peat moss on top of it. They are not able to go under the deck, it is just an illusion so when you are on the deck you feel like you're on the water. We are extending our wood turtle pen which is on the other side so that it does the same thing. I bought most of the plants and the moss from Lowe's. Many plants are suitable but grasses and sedges are of course what is naturally found in their area. I put some flowers and decorative shrubs just for color.

Sure I'll build ya one....once I recover from this one.

Very nice! I wish I could have done the same but my whole acre is nothing but bedrock and would have to be dug out with a backhoe or TNT!

Anyway, all of my turtles passed away during hibernation this winter. Still trying to figure out what happened.