Here is the easy set up I did for my Miss Centurion (RES). I was limited with space as I had one area surrounded by concrete. Area is approx. an 8' x 8' sector triangle (imagine a quarter of a pie slice).
There is a 5' high retaining wall on first flat side, concrete slab on second flat side, and partial steps and concrete slab on curved side.
I dug the shape I wanted for the pond which incorporated both shallow (6" to beach), mid (18"), and deep (36") portions.
I laid a pond liner over the entire enclosure and fitted within the different depths of the pond (this was the most difficult portion, which shows how easy a pond can be to make). The reason I fitted the pond liner over the entire enclosure was so that there would be no accidental water loss for any reason other than a hole in the liner. I covered the "land" areas with sand, composite rubber deck tiles, and a wood sun deck that I made out of wood scraps.
Large rocks, and sand, were positioned around the pond to serve as decoration, climbing spots, hides for fish/crawdads, and to retain sand on the beach area.
The pump is located at the deepest portion and feeds directly into a UV lamp (covered by excess liner as the UV lamp housing is not waterproof), which then feeds into my home made filter (which I LOVE).
Since the perimeter of the pond is all concrete, and the whole enclosure is covered in pond liner, I do not have to worry about her digging out. But I did install a "fence" around the perimeter to keep her in, and to keep others out (we do get raccoons, skunk, opossum, and even the rare coyote in our yard). We have two dogs, and a cat, but they don't even care about the turtle.
I should note, when I designed the pond, I put the deep end along side the edge of the pond so that there is essentially a 4 1/2' drop from the top of the enclosure fence to the bottom of the pond. Plus, I made a "hide" for the turtle out of a large stepping stone. At the 18" depth area she can swim under the stepping stone where nothing can bother her. So she has two safe havens if needed.
The filter is a large vinyl/hard plastic garden pot (about 20 gallons in size). Near the bottom I installed a valve/plug to drain debris when needed. The pump line runs down the middle of the filter from the top, to the bottom, with all the filter media around the line. At the bottom of the line I added a diverter that sends the water in two exits with a cyclone effect.
Order of filter media (bottom to top) is golf ball sized whiffle balls; Then pea sized gravel; Then coconut fibers; Then sand. After letting the filter mature for a couple of weeks I then added watercress to the top of the filter media (sand) and let that grow. The watercress doubles as both an incredible filtration system, and as food for the turtle (she loves it!).
- PV 1A
- PV 2A
- PV 3 A
In the cooler parts of the year I also have a heater in the pond to keep the water regulated in temperature. I live near the coast in San Diego (Southern California) and the winter temps rarely drop below 40 degrees at night (maybe 4-5 nights out of the year). Unfortunately this means my turtle never actually gets a full hibernation, but her metabolism does slow way down in winter and she stops feeding. During winter I keep extra plant matter/debris at the bottom of the pond for her to cover/"sleep" within.
My one mistake (that I can think of) with this pond is I stocked it with live bearing fish. I put about 6 Mollies, and about 12 Fancy Guppies, in the pond with the turtle. I thought "circle of life"! Well, the turtle does eat the fish. BUT, not nearly as fast as they can breed.
I now have about 500 fish (most less than an inch long) in the pond.
Oh, I also added 6 crawdads I caught in the nearby stream. I'm down to one. The turtle loves her cajun food!
Anyway, that's my set up. All in all, everything included, I spent around $450. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me. And Miss Centurion seems to LOVE her home.
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:52 am New turtle owner...help with outdoor suggestions...
