Reptile & Amphibian Forums

YES! After six, don't ask me why, long months, our deck is finally done and work on the outside spotted enclosure has begun the very same day. Luckily, I have been off the last two days, which means I have already scraped the grass, leveled the area and siliconed the barrier in the stock pond. Bad news is, since I'm giving it 24 hours+ to cure, it may be a few days more until you see a completed picture.

I have been waiting to set this up since September last year. I even went and bought a water poppy yesterday. It's going to be great. I have the lid constructed and everything. The finished product will have the tank sitting in a hardscaped flowerbed, more or less, with basalt gravel as the base and bamboo and other things in containers around it.

Here are a couple pics of the tank in progress and my finished deck.

Nice Curtis!Are ya gonna set up a filter or just constant water changes.Maybe instal a bulkhead drain on the side for easy cleaning.Also might wanna think about drilling some holes a little bit above the water level so when it rains it doesnt flood out on ya. Can't wait to see the final product.I bought all the stuff to start my new in-door enclosure a cpl weeks ago.Waiting on my lil bro (a plumber)to relocate my washing machine and drier so I can start to put it together.I'm gonna make a filter with a 300gph pump I'm just not sure of the water return from the filter.It will be gravity returning the water I just don't wanna have it to strong.I was thinking about use'n a PVC pipe with a bunch of holes drilled in it like a spray bar to try to keep the water moving but not a real strong current.I'll take a bunch of pics thru-out the whole building process to share.As of now I have all the lumber, the pump,liner,2-4ft shop lights w/5.0 uvb's,a drain in the floor I cut the concrete floor in my basement and plumbed in the drain, then filled the concrete back in, an endless amount of PVC, all I need is my bro to get motivated.

That's a good idea about drilling holes for rain. I hadn't thought of that, mainly cause we never get a significant amount of rain, but I may do that.

I'm not going to do any filtration. I'm going to rely on plant filtration. I bought the poppy I mentioned and I'm also going to put in some dwarf horsetail rush and moss. I'm sure I will have to do water changes, but hopefully not that much.

Thats a nicely made land/water tub Curtis. What material are you using for the barrier between the zones?

I was considering doing something similar with a much larger trough unit for woods. I considered buying a waterland tub but it provided too much water space and the woods prefer more land than water.

It's just a really thick piece of acrylic I got from the Container Store that's intending to go to some modern shelving system. It was a tad cheaper than buying a piece of acrylic at a home store, but the piece was a lot more rigid than regular acrylic.

I have had a battle with this thing, though. I have filled, drained, resealed, filled, drained, resealed this thing about four times. It's been frustrating finding little pin holes in the seal, but I think, knock on wood, I may have got it this time. If all goes right, I'll be putting the finishing touches on this project Wednesday and putting the turtles in Thursday. I'll have lots more pics then.

AH! Feels good to be done. I pretty sure I'm done with leaks, and if I do spring one, I think I may use a pond liner. Here are some pics of the pond in place, the inside, and Julius in her new digs. I'm planning to give her the afternoon to get used to it and then add Missy, the baby, in the morning so I can look after her all day and make sure she can't get caught up under a rock or anything.

I have added a water poppy and dwarf equisetum (horesetail rush) in the water and a thing of dwarf mondo grass in the land area. I'm sure I'll add a few more things, but I'm just so happy to have this up and running. I plan on putting some black basalt graval around the stock tank and put planted containers around it.

Let me know what you think, everyone!

Great jobs, looks super clean. Can you make a list of the water plants your using?

I have a similar setup with a black plastic tub.

Raul

Bog Turtle Hatchling

Raul,

I have a water poppy, dwarf horsetail rush, and some anacharis, which is flowering right now. Who knew? On the land area I just have one dwarf mondo grass. I'm thinking of another plant I can put on land that won't go crazy, but would give the turtles some protection. I'll probably make that my mission tomorrow at work, to find one or two plants.

Looking good Curtis.She looks great