anyone have a pond in their enclosure?

SGT Fish

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since I moved to my new place, I can finally build a totally permanent enclosure for my 40-60lb sulcata Frank. Right now I have a concrete mixing tub that I buried and fill with water for him to drink/soak it, though I haven't seen him go all the way in yet, he isn't as big a fan of soaking as he is just getting sprayed with the hose. I am wanting to put a pond in the enclosure but am worried about him drowning. I haven't had him in deep enough water to see if he floats and don't want to start digging without hearing some experience first. I keep some minnows/goldfish in the tub now to take care of the bugs but I'll probably throw some other fish in if I build the pond in there. Im not 100% dead set on putting a pond there, but it is an ideal location cuz I can run the gutters from the garage to it so it stays full and I wont have to worry about him not having water available, and my duck would probably like it too.

thanks, its been a while since I posted last
 

Yvonne G

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If you make it with sloping sides, so it's a gradual thing, he'll use it. The cement mixing tub is too steep, he has no idea how deep the water is beyond the lip. The sloping sides means it will have to be pretty big.
 

mike taylor

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Why yes I do ! I built this pond with 8_10 bags of cement. Sloped sides and about 8 inches deep . They will drink out of it . But if I run the hose in it they go in . I clean it every other day . I just sweep it out with a push boom . Monthly I scrub it with a light bleach and a scrub brush.

1505327966459.jpg
 

Yvonne G

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This is the one I made for my box turtles:

( My grand daughter bought me a Kindle Tablet for Christmas and I typed the above line on my Kindle before I remembered I have to be on the computer to be able to pull up my pictures. When I came back to it on my computer, it read, "This is the one I mastectomy for my box turtles:" Needless to say, I went online and asked my friend Google how to disable auto correct on my Kindle. It is now fixed!)


box turtle pond a.jpg box turtle pond b.jpg box turtle pond c.jpg

In the first shot it's just the empty pond. The second shot has a little ornate box turtle submerged in the center, and the last shot shows a box turtle climbing out the side. You want to dig the shape/hole slightly bigger than you want to end up with, because of the thickness of the cement. I just mixed up a bag of ready mix and spread it around over the hole with my hand. I tried to leave it with a rough finish to give them purchase when climbing in and out. It would have to be a lot bigger for a sulcata.
 

kevantheman35

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IMG_6565.JPG
Here’s a photo of a little soaking pond I poured. This is the second one I’ve done and still havent been smart enough to put a drain in. I lay chicken fending in the bottom before I pour the concrete as reinforcement.
 

SGT Fish

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I like your clear roof on your house. I did the same with my chicken coop and my old tortoise house, but since I moved I am using the track cap from my pickup as a roof. its the flat kind of cap and is nice cuz I can just lift it up and the gas shocks raise it right up
 

richosullivan

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since I moved to my new place, I can finally build a totally permanent enclosure for my 40-60lb sulcata Frank. Right now I have a concrete mixing tub that I buried and fill with water for him to drink/soak it, though I haven't seen him go all the way in yet, he isn't as big a fan of soaking as he is just getting sprayed with the hose. I am wanting to put a pond in the enclosure but am worried about him drowning. I haven't had him in deep enough water to see if he floats and don't want to start digging without hearing some experience first. I keep some minnows/goldfish in the tub now to take care of the bugs but I'll probably throw some other fish in if I build the pond in there. Im not 100% dead set on putting a pond there, but it is an ideal location cuz I can run the gutters from the garage to it so it stays full and I wont have to worry about him not having water available, and my duck would probably like it too.

thanks, its been a while since I posted last

I went with the dig it myself method and used a pond liner. I dug it much deeper than needed for now, and then filled up with rocks to bring the bottom up. I'm also switching to this filter (non-pressure based so you can open and clean while it is running, and have to clean less often - a little more expensive but with my current filter, I was having to clean too often - if you have time and don't mind there are some cheaper options):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JVR1VS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I just connected a standard pond pump, and also got a pond pump barrier bag which does a good job keeping the big stuff out.

I added some water lettuce, 10 small minnows and a pleco to help keep it cleanish (and to eat the mosquito larvae)

20170826_185830_resized.jpg
 

richosullivan

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I dug it down 20 inches, then filled in (it's 8 inches at the deepest point currently), I also dug down an extra 6 inches where I put the pump so I can have it lower than the rest if I want to use the pump to help drain the pond for cleaning.
 

Maro2Bear

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I went with the dig it myself method and used a pond liner. I dug it much deeper than needed for now, and then filled up with rocks to bring the bottom up. I'm also switching to this filter (non-pressure based so you can open and clean while it is running, and have to clean less often - a little more expensive but with my current filter, I was having to clean too often - if you have time and don't mind there are some cheaper options):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JVR1VS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I just connected a standard pond pump, and also got a pond pump barrier bag which does a good job keeping the big stuff out.

I added some water lettuce, 10 small minnows and a pleco to help keep it cleanish (and to eat the mosquito larvae)

View attachment 220356


Rich...nice looking pond!
 

teresaf

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I went with the dig it myself method and used a pond liner. I dug it much deeper than needed for now, and then filled up with rocks to bring the bottom up. I'm also switching to this filter (non-pressure based so you can open and clean while it is running, and have to clean less often - a little more expensive but with my current filter, I was having to clean too often - if you have time and don't mind there are some cheaper options):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JVR1VS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I just connected a standard pond pump, and also got a pond pump barrier bag which does a good job keeping the big stuff out.

I added some water lettuce, 10 small minnows and a pleco to help keep it cleanish (and to eat the mosquito larvae)

View attachment 220356

If you have time can you find on amazon everything needed for your setup and list it? In a way that us pond newbies could just buy every item then it would be easier to put together for us? I know there are hoses but not how to figure what diameter....I know there is a pump too but not which one. I guess that would depend on pond size.

We need a "how to" section on this forum. A thread on pond filtering with instructional videos would be sooooo helpful!
 

richosullivan

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If you have time can you find on amazon everything needed for your setup and list it? In a way that us pond newbies could just buy every item then it would be easier to put together for us? I know there are hoses but not how to figure what diameter....I know there is a pump too but not which one. I guess that would depend on pond size.

We need a "how to" section on this forum. A thread on pond filtering with instructional videos would be sooooo helpful!

Here is everything I used to get it set up:

I currently have a TetraPond Water Garden Pump, 1000 GPH in a Pond Boss PSWP Pump Barrier Bag, that then feeds into the current filter i have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016M6DODK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am upgrading my filter though to the following: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JVR1VS/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3IBY6E2DQV08Y&colid=14NAICEUW82IS

I bought 2 of these to ensure I had enough flexible tubing based on the distance I put the pump away from the pond: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YK5HAK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went with this pond liner - bigger than I needed but didn't want to endn up short and have to go back and buy a bigger size: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DL0Y5...t=&hvlocphy=9011759&hvtargid=pla-315616905983

And then fed it into this to cascade back into the pond: https://www.thepondoutlet.com/sup12457-debris-filter-for-pro-2000-filterfalls

Here is a thread I have for my full enclosure: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-outdoor-enclosure.150921/page-2
 

richosullivan

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Thank you, that's super awesome. I have one more enclosure to do and wasn't sure how to do the pond...

Remember to dig it wide enough to account for filling it in with the rocks - depending in which rocks you use, you are going to lose 3-4 inches around the edge.

2 other items I just remembered as well:

I used this to connect the pond liner to the waterfall: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N163UC/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

And then used this on some of the rocks around the waterfall to stabilize them a bit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DL0XJU/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

It acts a little bit like a glue to hold them all together.
 
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