Keeping Outdoor Pond Clean for RedFoot

GroovyBrent

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Hello All -

We're about to start building an outdoor enclosure for Jet, and I'd love to do a small, shallow water feature (similar to THIS ONE).

My question: One thing that I'm not sure of is how to keep the pond clean. Most of the posts that talk about ponds have some combination of biological filtration and plants (which I think I'm starting to grok), but I'm just not confident those solutions will take care of the... um... "substantial" nature of the solid waste Jet produces. So for those of you who have permanent ponds for your redfoot(s), how do you keep it clean?

I've also seen plenty of "don't-do-a-pond-just-do-a-terracotta-plate-it's-much-easier-to-clean" posts - but with great owners like @terryo and @Kristina having ponds for their redfoots, it inspires me to follow their example!

Thanks!
 

N2TORTS

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One of the most effective methods of planktonic algae (green water) control is ultraviolet sterilization, but also a concern being down in San Diego....is the mosquito larva. This can be controlled with some local collected ( as opposed to store bought) "mosquito fish". I might also mention extra care needs to be taken into consideration with any type of Electrical in or around the pond and this includes the cords to power your items, as Redfoots will and do bite them.

JD~:)
 

terryo

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OK I fixed it. There was too many pictures and I didn't know how to delete them. When mine were small I had a stream with running water and I used a small pump just to keep it running. The wires were under ground so they couldn't get to them. When they got older I got rid of the stream and just put a small pond with no filtration. I used some river rocks to make it more shallow and put some water plants in the pond and when I had to clean it I just let the hose run in it for a while. The plants kept it pretty clean. I do the same in my box turtle garden. There's plants and river rocks and I just run the hose for a while and it cleans it right up. The overflow might be dirty, but it's good fertilizer for the plants. I'm really fussy with keeping the water clean, so I do this every other day, but you really don't have to if the pond is set up right. You can see the water is clean in these pictures
 
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mike taylor

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You need to be very careful with ponds they are spawning ground for Giardia. I would make a shallow pond and sweep it out daily and add clean water .
 

terryo

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I agree Mike. I have to leave the hose in until the water runs clear in the pond. The reason I use this method is so that the plants get watered and the substrate is always a little damp. We have some very hot days here in the Summer. This little guy escaped getting eaten and lives in the pond now.IMG_4663.jpg
 

GroovyBrent

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Thanks for the replies all!

So it seems that the answer is that even with filtration, you'll need to flush a small pond a couple times a week (or possibly even daily). Is that people's experience?

If so, that sounds like a bad idea living in SoCal with the drought conditions for the foreseeable future. I'm already anticipating going through a decent amount of water keeping an area accessible with high humidity. So maybe I'm back to a low terracotta plate...
 

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