So I think this belongs here more than any other place. I figure I would share this in case there are other people like me that had absolutely no idea where to start or what to do. Hopefully it will give you some ideas on what you can do. Also when I started this I was not what one would call an handyman. I could do things in a pinch and I can catch on quick but what I see in my head and what ends up coming from my labours are often 2 different things.
A few years ago my wife got a "Free" turtle (Red ear Slider) from a co-worker. Of course it came in just a small aquarium tank that most people keep them in. I've always been of the belief that if you keep an animal in captivity that you provide the best enviroment that you can. So that led me to building a basic box (3ft deep, 3 wide by 4 long) with pond liner. In this we put one of those Laguna pump/filter combos... that was 1st mistake. Between the turtle (later became 2) and a few small fish I was basically cleaning the filters out every day or two in summer when it was outside and every 3rd or 4th day when inside. Also we were doing a half to full water change once a week to try and keep the water somewhat clean.
This led me on an internet search as there had to be a better way of doing this..... and I found this site!!!!!
Over the next little while I went about reading all the posts on building your own ponds, gravity feed, filters... finally I felt I could now build something. So I started with building an indoor tank that was gravity fed into external tanks (rubbermaid tubs) and finally to a tank holding a pump to send it to my waterfall (plastic paint tray - LOL). This was my test tank to see if it would work and so I had access to everything if it didn't, but which my wife was not pleased with the visual. So this tank worked fairly well and let me know what we didn't like and gave me ideas on how to change, fix. After one season I made some changes and added a new waterfall and sand area for the turtles to come out and bath under sun and heat lamps. I also put the filter tanks under the sand area and hoped that they performed well over winter. Luckly with this system I didn't need to clean or change filter material until we put them out in the summer. So here are a few pics of the process.
Also through this process I had replaced the pond liner with a plastic tank. We used a 150 gallon tank that is normally attached to a quad and has tires... so we used one with out the tires and frame added. About $150 I think. Didn't have to worry about leaks, cuts, folding the liner....
Next couple of posts will be of my outdoor tank and the 2nd version of the indoor tank.
Nice...I have my painted turtle in a large 300 gallon trough which will just get regular water changes to maintain. It also has a few small comets and a couple of shubunkins.