Habitat - Outdoor :: Our pond is done

[tnt31]

It is a 7.5 feet long x 3 feet wide x 1.5 feet deep metal stock tank that is above ground I used the calculator and it is about 266 gal. of water

[DavidY]

Oh ok. Those are good for outdoors.

Hmm, I guess the best thing would be to try testing it out before you put the turtles in there. Try putting it in full sun and measuring the temps. If you get one of those little electric digital thermometers that can keep track of maximum and minimum temps that would give you an idea of how much the temps are fluctuating between night and day. You could put some large potted plants around the tank to help insulate it at night. Also a thick foam cover at night with a few gaps for ventilation might help retain some of the heat. But you shouldn't allow the temps to fluctuate too much.

Maybe some of the others with outdoor ponds can help with what works for them and how much temp flux their RES seem to tolerate outside.

[tnt31]

thanks for your help

[marisa]

Is the stock tank a rectangle? If it's not, it's probably a little smaller than the calculator is telling you. (Do you know what brand it is?)

It doesn't sound very deep, which means it will heat up fairly quickly if it's completely in the sun, and cool down more quickly if the temp drops a lot at night.

I used Rubbermaid poly stock tanks outside last summer (they'll be out again shortly if the weather stays warm); they're a little deeper than the one you have. They were in a part of the yard where they'd be in the shade for a good part of the morning, got full sun in the early afternoon, and went back into the shade in late afternoon. In mid summer, when the sun was higher in the sky, the shaded times were less. On really hot days (there were relatively few last summer here), I had to change some of the water to bring down the temp. The water temp stayed quite warm over night as well, although there was some fluctuation at night, which would be normal.

[tnt31]

the tank is in the shade. last week when it was in the 80's the water temp was 60 during the day. So I have a lamp for the UVA rays and I was thinking to get a couple of the 500watt heaters to put one on each end to keep it warm. And yes it is rounded at the ends.

[thebernreuter]

If you continue to have algae problems, you could add a plecostomus to the pond.

A nifty way to provide shade for turtles is by putting leafy limbs in the tank. At first they float, but even when they sink to the bottom they provide an accessible hiding place from the sun.