Habitat - Outdoor :: DIY pond

Ponds and other outdoor enclosures.

Post Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:06 pm   DIY pond

Hi guys,
I'm pretty new ton ponds, well more like, i have never built one!
But one day, i felt like building a pond for my turtles!
Unfortunately, due to my lack of experience, I need some advice!!

So here are the main characteristics 'im looking for for my pond :
- it must be above ground
- it must be movable

I know its "easier" to build in under ground one, but I live in Canada and we get some pretty crazy weather over here!
So I was thinking of putting it in my garage, since I have a double garage.
What i thought of is this :

Make a base structure out of simple 2X4X8 pieces of wood. the pond I wanna build will be 4'X8'X6" (121X242X15cm)
Then cover the structure with concrete (cement).

But I'm not really sure this is a good idea, can any of you guys give me some advice, if this idea is okay.
Or any alternative that will sum up to the same price.


Thanks!
Bjaii
bjaii
 
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:41 am   Re: DIY pond

Your dimensions seem odd, what is going to be 6 inches/15 centimeters? Is that depth? If so, your turtles need deeper water than that.

Concrete can be hard on turtles. Plus if you cover it with concrete it would be pretty heavy and hard to move.

What I've seen people do is use cinderblocks to build the shape and to give height. Then cover that up an underlayment to protect the liner from the sharp edges on the cinderblocks. After putting the liner down, just put rocks or more cinderblocks to hold the liner in place. Here's an example of using cinderblocks. The builder also uses sandbags inside the cinderblocks. This is obviously a really expensive pond, but you get the idea:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWLFEJ1kFfQ[/youtube]

Or you can just get a preformed pond. I was just in Home Depot yesterday; all their pond liners and preformed ponds were on clearance. They had a 125 gallon preformed pond for $50, which is about $40 off the regular price. Here's an example of a preformed pond used above ground:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqUr9zh0Lyg[/youtube]

That looks like a 160 gallon preformed pond. For the winter, I have a 50 gallon preformed pond, but it was small enough that I just filled it with water and propped up the shallower sections with bricks.

Here's what I did with our 50 gallon pond. That was taken the morning after we first got it and were still playing with water level:

Image

Hope that helps.

-Michael
Sweeney & Pascal - RES Hatchlings & Martha - 2 yo YBS
Find out more about us at our - Turtle Blog & TurtleCam
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:13 am   Re: DIY pond

I live in Canada, Montreal, i have been to hardware stores, i havent seen any stock tanks =T.
I made a mistake, it was supose to 1" high. (30 cm) my budget is about 100$. I thought i could use isolating foam (the pink or blue one) inside and add concrete over it and put sand as substrate. The stock tanks i have b
Seen online r about 1$ per gallon + shipping
=T
bjaii
 
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Joined: Jan 11, 2011

Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:45 am   Re: DIY pond

Check stores that have farm supplies.
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steve
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