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).
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).