Need advise for giving an indoor Water Dragon some more water

[TheRamiRocketMan]

Hi! I'm looking for some collective advise as to how to provide a water dragon with a larger water feature. Currently the dragon is 6 months old and just using a small container for the water area. It works for now but soon enough he'll grow out of it.

This is the current setup:

The floor space is 1800mm x 900mm (6' x 3') and the bottom section is 44mm (1.5') high. Issue is the support structure intrudes a bit so any large water feature going in here can't be quite that wide.

I want to install a water area that is deep and long, so when the dragon is older he'll still be able to completely submerge and swim, but I'd also like a bit of land area. I could just throw a large fish tank in there but I think that'd look ugly not to mention expensive. I'd need a way to raise the ground to the same level as well, has anyone done something like this?

I've also looked into pre-formed ponds, but they require support from underneath. I could fill the whole thing with soil but that'd be about 700L of soil which would be a nightmare to get in and out of the enclosure. I have a spare preformed pond from bunnings in the garage (this one I believe) which just fits but it has the same support issue.

To summaries, I'm looking for a way to support a water feature and simultaneously raise the substrate to the same level so it looks nice. Any advise would be most appreciated. Cheers.

 

[SarahJane]

Perhaps an old bathtub? It might fill the space better, and you might be able to do a rockwall effect with some expanda foam on the outside?

 

[cagey]

Create a false floor just below the height of the pond you have, cut a hole to let it drop in, seal the false floor, silicone the gap and then use a shallow layer of substrate on the false flloor.