Hi, everyone! I recently moved into a rental home with a smallish (probably 800 gal, not completely sure) pond in the back yard. Naturally, as a reptile hobbyist, my first inclination is to make it a turtle pond. Nothing major, just a couple RES and some goldfish... Probably no more than 2-3 turtles, as I intend to overwinter them indoors.
The dimensions are 12 ft long, 5.5 ft average width (7 at the widest; 3-4 at the narrowest), and depth is largely unknown, but at least 18" in a few spots. There's a small waterfall feature at one end of the pond, where I'll be installing a DIY bio-filter. There may already be goldfish in the pond, but there's no way to tell right now because the water is so dark (for various reasons, mostly ice and a 10" thick layer of decaying plant matter.. not a well maintained pond).
I've been getting some good advice over at The Pond Forum on how to restore the pond and how to build the aforementioned bio-filter, but I got to wondering whether I'll need to do anything special/specific, that I wouldn't otherwise do, to make it habitable for turtles (aside from basking areas and a fence around the area, of course).
If anyone here could clear up whether there's anything else I'll need to do, and what that "anything else" is, I would appreciate it!
Also, what's best to use for floating basking areas in the pond? And does anyone know some pond plants that would be healthy and safe for the turtles (and fish) to munch on?
Thanks in advance!!!
And pictures... These were all taken when we moved in, a week and a half ago. The pond itself:
The waterfall is to the right, coming down from the center of a 2' high raised flower bed:
I'm planning to use a 100 gallon stock tank for the filter, so that'll be sunk into the ground to the left of the water fall (top of this picture), as it's the only area of the flower bed that will accommodate the dimensions: