Pond Help

[Neal]

I've been wanting to put a pond in our enclosures so the tortoises can drink and soak whenever they want. The problem that I can't seem to get over is, as we all know, tortoises like to relieve themselves in water. And in my case, our tortoises summer diet consists mainly of grass so drinkable water isn't going to last long and the pond will be an absolute mess after the first day. But I think I finally have an idea that might work:

A two/three tiered design...the tortoises would have access to the second tier, which would be more of a stream that's elevated on one side. This should create strong enough water flow to push the larger particulates down to the bottom tier while still being deep enough that they could drink and soak in. The purpose of the bottom tier would be to filter out the poop and large particulates, they would not have access to this area. From there the water would be pumped to either a sump or a top tier, which they wouldn't have access to and this is where I am stumped...

As I mentioned, the purpose of doing this is to give them access to drinkable water. In either the top tier of my design (or the sump) how could I treat the water so that it is drinkable for a tortoise?...would some type of fish work? Plants? Chemicals? lighting?

Here is a famous artists rendition of our concept (side view).

 

[Yvonne G]

I just use receptacles that I have to tip over and wash out. But I was thinking about digging a scoop out of the ground and lining it with redi-mix. I thought about first putting in a PVC drain pipe that takes the water away from the site. But I would still have to pull the plug and get any large chunks before they hit the drain.

I can't visualize your project, but if it works, more power to you!!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

I wouldn't go for a full on pond, what I and others have done is to dig a very shallow hole and line it with concrete. Fill it with water and you're good to go. Gives then a place to soak and drink and when it gets dirty just spray it with a hose and you're good to go!

 

[wellington]

I don't understand what you mean by making it drinkable? Are you talking about taking chlorine out of the water? If so, you just need to let it sit for 24 hours. Also incorporate a good charcoal. Plants will help keep algae at bay, if you have enough plants. Koi or mosquito? fish will help as far as eating mosquito larvae and snails will also help with some poop clean up but also algae. I wouldn't use any chemicals, as not good for torts, fish or plants. Also a natural algae fighter is straw bails. I fight algae in my pond with floating plants, water lilies, more sun, more algae, more shade, less algae. I hope I hit on what you needed help on.

 

[Neal]

I wouldn't go for a full on pond, what I and others have done is to dig a very shallow hole and line it with concrete. Fill it with water and you're good to go. Gives then a place to soak and drink and when it gets dirty just spray it with a hose and you're good to go!

That is something we considered, but we're going for something aesthetic here. Not that a concrete pool wouldn't look nice, we just want something different.

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I don't understand what you mean by making it drinkable? Are you talking about taking chlorine out of the water? If so, you just need to let it sit for 24 hours. Also incorporate a good charcoal. Plants will help keep algae at bay, if you have enough plants. Koi or mosquito? fish will help as far as eating mosquito larvae and snails will also help with some poop clean up but also algae. I wouldn't use any chemicals, as not good for torts, fish or plants. Also a natural algae fighter is straw bails. I fight algae in my pond with floating plants, water lilies, more sun, more algae, more shade, less algae. I hope I hit on what you needed help on.

No, I'm not concerned with the level of chlorine in the water. My concern is that with the tortoises pooping in the water, and tracking in dirt etc...would create some harmful bacteria buildup correct? The idea is I don't want to constantly drain the water out and fill it up again just to clean it...although what I am proposing might seem like it would be more effort than that, I'm just trying to figure out if I can get this idea to work, then I'll decide if it's really practical or not.

So by drinkable, I don't need the water glacier fresh...just safe for a tortoise to drink.

 

[wellington]

Either put a filter in the area they will be able to drink from. Or put the filter where the poop will end up, or both areas. If you are doing the three tier, I would put a small submersible filter in the top tier. That would spill down to the second tier, that they drink from and dirty up, that would spill down to the larger third tier that would have a larger filter. Add aquarium charcoal to both filters. Clean third tier filter daily or as needed. First tier probably wouldn't need cleaning quite as much. Once a month I would drain all water out, check the bottom or third tier for build up and refill. If you find there isn't much there, you wouldn't have to drain as often. Also when you replace evaporated water, let it overflow the sides as you fill, also helps to get old, dirty water out. I think as long as you filter the water with a good charcoal, you shouldn't have any worries.

 

[Neal]

So...running the water through a filter with some charcoal should take care of things?

Come on, it couldn't be that easy.

 

[jojodesca]

whenever you have water that is not moving it is a breeding ground for mosquitos...I understand your concept of wanting the water to move, thus making it fresh for the tortoises to drink, and not consume "potty" water....you can place a screen type thing over the pump to filter the poop, even screening a drain will work..you can collect the waste matter but the water will flow...

Also check out websites that are used for landscaping..they have kits you can get for you tier drawing..and there are ways to block the access, so your torts only use the area you want them too...as an extra precaution you can obtain the pond with a pool net...as long as the water is flowing then nature can take its course...maybe drain the water out every month and refresh with new or "flood" it out to ease your mind of bacteria...no matter what you end up doing, its gonna take alot of work.

 

[Neltharion]

So...running the water through a filter with some charcoal should take care of things?

Come on, it couldn't be that easy.

I'm thinking in terms of how my koi pond is designed. You would have one body of water that the koi (or in your case tortoises) would have access to, then some type of filtration system and a pump to push the water back. The easiest way to remove waste from the water is a bottom drain.

My pond is set up with a below ground filtration system. From the bottom drain, the first sump is filled simply by gravity pressure. The first chamber is basically just an empty vortex that pushes water into a second chamber. The second chamber is filled with different grades of matting. This matting captures the physical particles and traps them. The third chamber is filled with netting bags filled with kaldness media (think tiny plastic wheels), netting bags filled with activated charcoal, and netting bags filled with barley straw. The kaldness acts to maintain the biological filter, the barley straw helps to oxygenate the water, activated charcoal removes organic waste, and all three heavily reduce the amount of algae. After the third chamber, a pump pushes the water through a waterfall and back into the pond.

In the Spring and Summer months, I change the activated charcoal and barley straw once a month. I rinse half of the matting and half the kaldness every other week. Note that any type of outdoor pond with a filtration system is going become a host for bacteria. This bacteria is helpful for the breakdown of ammonia to nitrites to nitrates and ensure the health of fish.

My filtration system is designed for a 7,500 gallon pond with 16 two foot koi in it. Your filtration needs will really be dependent on the volume of water you plan to have. There are 100 gallon fish tanks that are kept clean with 2.5 gallon cannister filters.

 

[CGKeith]

Did you see supremelysteve's post ? He has a muti-level design. He may have some insights that would help you.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/showthread.php?mode=threaded&tid=39809&pid=384249#pid384249

 

[wellington]

It really is not as hard as you are thinking. As long as you filter it with appropriate size and quality filters and filter media. You can also put a inline Uv sterilizer on it, that would also help kill lots of things including larvae. You can buy some filters that have them built in. Nothing will filter out everything. One or two filters with a uv sterilizer is about the closest you will get to being free of everything. Just to ease your mind. A person I know has a pond, filled with koi, crayfish, and water turtles. She has several tortoises. They are not kept away from the pond. They are free to wonder in and drink. She does not take any extra measures to filter her pond other than appropriate size filter. She even on occasion has wild ducks and geese visit. She does try to keep them away however.

 

[ripper7777777]

Well I don't think they make any pond filters that would make it potable water, you can keep it clear with filters but I wouldn't drink from it. I wouldn't drink from our koi pond but our dogs do and have for years, but of course it's only fish poop and extra fish food along with birds bathing in it.

So keeping it clean and clear is easy, if it is actually safe I don't know, it depends on what tortoises can withstand, animals drink from nasty water all the time but if we were to drink from the watering hole we would be in bad shape.

I have built many different koi ponds 2 with rivers, one with a really long river.

 

[wellington]

Looks nice. I have only built one. Well I guess really four, kinda. First I put together a preformed one. Then wanted bigger. So dug out a pond and layer liner. Then wanted bigger so added another section, then wanted bigger so added another section. I now have a 750 to 1000 gallons, closer to 1000, just not sure to the exact gallons. This summer I am going to take the last addition and turn it into part of my torts pen.