I've discovered something!

[Yellow Turtle01]

So, I've been looking at pond filters and pumps, and I realized that 'commercial turtle/fish filters' are a bad deal.
You may pay 300$ for a 400g fish filter, when you can get a 400g 'pond' filter for 70$, and it may possibly work even better than the pricier pump!
Is the reason we aren't using these more powerful, cheaper filters for water turtles because many tanks are in the 50-100g range? Could they work in a smaller tank?

 

[Yvonne G]

I love my Skippy filter. It's cheap and very easy to make. Google it and it gives you directions. I have a 600 gallon galvanized stock tank with a 30 gallon skippy filter powered by a basement sump pump. circulates the water quickly and does an excellent job.

 

[Yvonne G]

...and about the basking area...I have a very large rubber/plastic planter (sort of looks like a bushel basket). I cut out a door on the upper edge, inverted it and put a cement stepping stone on top of it to hold it in place, and then I fill up the water so it just reaches the top of the stepping stone. the turtles hide inside and sun on top.

 

[dmmj]

Here I was hoping for a repressed memory, or two, but that is good news as well.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I love my Skippy filter. It's cheap and very easy to make. Google it and it gives you directions. I have a 600 gallon galvanized stock tank with a 30 gallon skippy filter powered by a basement sump pump. circulates the water quickly and does an excellent job.

Oh yes, DIY filter look really easy to make, and are effective.. at a cheap cost. Don't these circulate a huge amount of water, though?

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

...and about the basking area...I have a very large rubber/plastic planter (sort of looks like a bushel basket). I cut out a door on the upper edge, inverted it and put a cement stepping stone on top of it to hold it in place, and then I fill up the water so it just reaches the top of the stepping stone. the turtles hide inside and sun on top.

Thanks! I was sill trying to figure out what to use

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Here I was hoping for a repressed memory, or two, but that is good news as well.

Sure. This evening I remembered that a loooooonnnnggggg time ago... I have terrible memory, sorry.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The filter you've been looking at offers mechanical and biological filtration once established and has an adjustable flow rate. Yes. It would be absolutely effective in a smaller setting...except the size of the thing would take up some space. Where have you found it for $70?

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

The filter you've been looking at offers mechanical and biological filtration once established and has an adjustable flow rate. Yes. It would be absolutely effective in a smaller setting...except the size of the thing would take up some space. Where have you found it for $70?

Amazon
You can get 'used' or new, and while I'll be buying it new, I used the cheaper price for example

 

[dmmj]

Yellow ask yvonne, she built her own, works good, and was inexspensive, if I remember right.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Amazon
You can get 'used' or new, and while I'll be buying it new, I used the cheaper price for example

Oh. I used Home Depot as the $100 price. They stock them in the pond section. I thought you found a deal.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Oh. I used Home Depot as the $100 price. They stock them in the pond section. I thought you found a deal.

I'm sorry, just an example.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yellow ask yvonne, she built her own, works good, and was inexspensive, if I remember right.

Yeah, I mentioned it up above. You can search the 'net for "Skippy Filter" and get directions.

I bought a 30 gallon plastic garbage can and a whole bunch of scouring pads (like Scotch Brite) at the dollar store. Then you'll need a short section of garden hose and a little bit of PVC pipe. The most expensive item was the sump pump I bought at Harbor Freight ($75). It circulates the water quickly and keeps the 600 gallon galvanized cattle tub very clean. You can either clean the pot scrubbers or toss them and add new, but it lasts for over a year before you need to clean it.

 

[weldorNate]

A friend of mine that owns a couple of turtles built one that he watched a video on Youtube says it keeps his water crystal clear

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've also built a few,but blending them into the environment was always a problem. I didn't like the looks of an exposed filter. The last one was a pump with a sponge pre-filter inside the pond that pushed water up and out into the bottom of a big clay flowerpot. The pot was full of lava rock and when the water reached the top, it would fall back into the pond. This setup also worked very well. Eventually, the flowerpot eroded away and I went with the Becket X5. Rinsed lava rock works very well.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I just opened up my spare X 5 so that I could rob two pre filters and discovered that they come loaded with bio balls already. I had forgotten.