Plumbing an indoor enclosure?

[Rutibegga]

My SO is a fish person who is also obsessed with terrariums. She has this idea that we are going to set up a filtered soaking area in the turtle table we're planning, using a pond liner and a canister filter. I'm looking for similar setups and not really seeing anything like it.

Has anyone else here done that? Is that overkill?

 

[Yvonne G]

I really don't think it will work with a tortoise. It's much easier to just have a terracotta plant saucer that you tip and clean daily. No matter where you place the waterer, tortoises walk through it on a regular basis, dragging in substrate and making clean water dirty in minutes. Also, they poop and pee in the water and no matter how good your filter is, it won't get rid of those big poop logs that tortoises provide.

I'm sure there are members here who have tried your filter idea. Let's wait a while and see if any of them respond.

 

[Rutibegga]

I suspected that might be the case. She'll just have to be content with her aquariums and with the planting a scraping aspect of this enclosure.

I'm planning to feed and soak my tortoise outside of the enclosure to encourage less pooping in the indoor enclosure (they can poop all they want in the outdoor one, but my timing is such that by the time I build an enclosure and adopt a tortoise, it will be too cold here!)

 

[voodoochild]

I think a small water dish is all that's necessary and would be easier. But if you "pond" is big enough I think it could work but is it worth the trouble and expense?

 

[Rutibegga]

I think a small water dish is all that's necessary and would be easier. But if you "pond" is big enough I think it could work but is it worth the trouble and expense?

Nope. I talked her out of it for that very reason. The enclosure is coming along quite nicely sans pond!

 

[johnsonnboswell]

It's overkill and potentially dangerous. The water level can't be high for a tortoise's safety, but would need to be deep to allow the filter to function. Filter would need to be powerful to deal with substrate and poop. It's not practical. Just use a plant saucer.

Maybe she'd like a filtered turtle pond?

 

[Rutibegga]

Ha. She is a planted aquarium hobbyist, so she'll have to make due with her 75 gallon tropical tank. Incidentally, the tank is going to be stocked with plants and fish native to the same area as our redfoot!