Indoor Turtle Pond 54 Gal- Initial Setup- a work in progress-

we have an indoor turtle pond for our larger turtles (photos above)
it's roughly 700L (184us gallons?) and situated on our veranda so the turts can catch some natural sun rays


but we've had to install a second 'level' this week for the arrival of 2 small reeves turtles.....its still a work in progress and needs finishing off this weekend..but you get the idea....




















we also have a few 2 metre long aquariums for the turtles too...all 'winter' homes, in the summer they sit outside in the ponds. i believe we have 26 turtles at the moment, red eared sliders, mississippi map turts, yellow eared and yellow bellied sliders, reeves turtles and florida cooters. All have been brought to us by people who no longer wished to care for them..

How nice of you to take her in and look out for her. That's a cheery set-up for her. The Rubbermaid tubs I've used for filters have held up well, but the cheaper brands didn't. They bowed and also cracked over time, from the pressure. I think the largest sizes I have are in the 20 and 30 gallon sizes.

Have you thought about a Rubbermaid stock tank? That's what I use for my indoor pond. The 50 gallon is shorter and the 100 gallon is taller. They're black, but you can use something around the outside to pretty it up.

I've gone to clean bottoms or only a thin layer of gravel on bottoms, to keep them cleaner for fish. A really thin layer of gravel still adds surface for bacteria, but you can siphon all the gunk out much easier than a deep layer.

I have never owned a turtle, but those ponds look awesome. And the turtles are adorable too, of course.

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This and this. If the tank is bowing now I would seriously worry about it dumping all over your floor one day. Had it happen with a 40gallon full of bettas. But the little buggers managed to survive.

everyone rest assured the tank is now in a supportive cinderblock frame= now bowing at all. And like i posted before we havent ran any heat bulbs yet because we need a ceramic base , the one pictured is a cfl UVB Bulb- it produces no heat during the 8-12 hours a day that it runs.
But thanks for all the pictures posted. I really enjoy seeing the babies.. they are so fun when there tiny (upkeep expense etc)
Gertrude has not gotten up on her basking platform infront of us but we know she is doing so because of the missing romaine
She is so happy to be out of the hospital tank and into a more natural setting. She especially loves the new large gravel because of only having one front leg it makes it hard for traction so that type of gravel stone is awesome. I have been looking at DIY Aquarium 3d backgrounds- using styrofoam and concrete-Im thinking of replacing the ultra heavy platforms with these kind , so that i can silicone them in place and have more cave like area- plus it will be easier / lighter on the tote.
When we finally find a house(hopefully within the next 6 months) we will invest and construct something bigger and better , this is a great temporary setup for her right now.