Habitat - Outdoor :: What do I need to add?

[littlecakes]

OK so I was originally planning to build a smaller pond closer to the house but the pond in the vegetable garden looks to be available to us now. Our landlord was going to use it for her turtle but now it seems we can use it for ours.


It is roughly 12'x6'x2'. There are some frogs and tadpoles in there with the aquatic plants. I checked the water and the PH is high at 8.4 - there is hardly any ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite. I want to only use it during the day, put the turts out in the morning and bring them in at night. (I am paranoid) Also we will only use it during the summer as the winters are harsh here.
I realize I will need to build a wall around it, add a basking area. Other than that what kind of water pump/filtration will be adequate? If it's kind of far from the house, how to do you get electricity to it? It's maybe 140 ft from our house.
Also how do I keep the PH at a lower level? Do I just keep adding PH lowering chemicals when it rains a lot?
Thanks for your thoughts.

[mike504]

nothing sweety its cool and nice

[marisa]

It's really pretty, but I do think a filter is necessary. Do a search on pond filters, they are sold as both canisters and internal filters; either will also need a pump. With 140 feet to the pond, you'd either have to get an outdoor extension cord (don't know how long they make them) or have an outlet installed near to the pond (an electric cord would be put underground with the outlet in a spot near the pond). The latter is obviously much more expensive if you have to pay someone to do it.

[seanwb]

PH of 8.4 should not be an issue.

Hard to say whether or not you need a filter without know how big your turtles are. Don't go over the top with a filter, or you may find that the plants suffer.

[SpenceMasta]

i dont think you need a filter, theres enough vegetation providing enough filtration as an ecosystem, having frogs already established shows its enough to support larger forms of life