To turtle/aquarium owners; home made filter

[Kitah]

As some of you may have already read I've recently brought my turt from bris to Tville, and he's now being kept outdoor in a 650L custom bath tub (which was brand new) vs. his old 400L glass tank inside. I'm currently running a 1500LPH filter on it (the one I used on the 400L tank, in addition to a sump filter) though it obviously requires much much more filtration!

What I'd like to know; does anyone have plans or guides for custom made/home made pond/large aquarium filters? I think I'll need a pump to transfer water from the tub into the filter, and then again back from the filter to the tub, as both will be pretty much on the same level (thus I think gravity fed is out, unfortunately) I'd like it to do both mechanical and bio filtration... Would I be best trying to rig up a spray bar like my old sump filter had? (on my 400L tank) and using a pump to pump the water back to the tank? (i.e. water running down through the mechanical and bio media to be pumped out from the bottom to the tub again?) or try to set it up like a canister (bottom to top?)

Thanks,
-Laura

 

[herptrader]

We have a filter in our pond that is close to maintenance free and keeps the water crystal clear. It is a biofilter made out of an old plastic flower pot... a big one - I am guessing 60 to 80 litres. We have an immersable pump which sucks its input through it.

The pump input hose is fed into the bottom of the pot to about the middle.
The pot is about 75% full of scoria... you could use bio balls but scoria is much cheaper and almost as good.
Over this is a filter made out of shade cloth from the off cuts bin at Bunnings.
Just to keep everything in and tidy the top of the pot is sealed with a plastic (gutter guard) mesh held on with zip ties.

You have to to plug the drain holes of the pot and cut a hole for the pump input etc. We have a fairly hefty pump which pumps the output water to the top of a small water feature.

5 turtles live in/around the pond which also has a couple of fish and a small colony of yabbies in it.

 

[richardsc]

theres a chap in nsw that has a turtle website,um,cant think of it,perhaps turtletown,but he uses large drums as filters for his ponds