Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in process of building a cage for my water monitor lizard. I have a 100 gal pond in there. I am installing a 2inch pvc drain to drain the water when it gets to dirty. I want to install a filter system but am not sure what type of filter system i will need. The water monitor will use the pond to do #1 and #2 in it so it will be prety dirty after about a week i am thinken. and on some filters i saw they use uv lighting to help keep water clean? what type of uv lighting is it? uva? uvb? and also is there any save chemicals to help keep the water clean?

i would think a regular good sized pond filter would work just fine.also you may want to consider cycling the water for a while either with some type of fish or with the store bought cemical called "cycle". these would make sure the necessary bacteria become established to make sure the waste dosnt cause the water to become toxic.

I am a little worried about your drain. You certainly don't want 100 gallons leaking on your floor overnight. I have had problems getting good seals with those ponds before, and I think you would be better off leaving it intact and using a pond pump. It not only helps keep the water clean, but you can also just redirect the hose when you are ready to empty the pond.

I am into reptiles as well and have kept large lizards and still do. I am impressed at the size and scope of the cage you are building/have built. I think that the amount of filtration will depend on the size of the monitor lizard. If you have an large adult, you will have a large amount of waste or feces. Since the pond is not getting direct sunlight the algea would not grow as fast I think. Therefore, a UV filter may not be necessary. I am new to ponds and don't have much experience so I can't offer much more advice. Good luck!