Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter

Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter

Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
DSC_0678.JPG
Originally uploaded by daddykirbs

We have a turtle that someone gave to us for a pet. We call her Carlita.

Carlita came to us in a 10 gallon glass aquarium. She seemed very cramped in that after a while so we moved her into a blue kiddie pool. The kiddie pool was big enough, sure… but it was a pain to clean since we didn’t have any kind of filtration.

Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter

Now Carlita lives in a 200 gallon galvanized stock tank with a home made bucket filter. Follow along to see how the bucket filter was made.

This was the original pond for Carlita the Turtle.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
This is the original kiddy pool habitat for our pet turtle.
Below you can see the two buckets.  One is a standard 5 gallon and the other is a 4 gallon bucket. The soda crate has had a circle cut out of it for the grate in the filter.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Two buckets with the same diameter and a grate. This grate is being cut out of a plastic soda crate.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The RotoZip tool made cutting the plastic soda crate easy.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Two equal sized holes were cut in the bottom of the buckets.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
A hole was drilled into the side of the bottom bucket with a hole saw.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The hole is placed high enough that the pump on the inside can sit on a brick. This elevated position will allow solid debris to fall to the bottom of the filter.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The pump had a screw on type mesh that would keep large debris from entering the pump.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
This is a bad angle, but you can sorta see the brick and outside pump filter lined up.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Here is the pump attached to the inside of the bucket sitting on the brick.

The grate was attached to the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket with zip ties.  The ties go through little holes that were drilled in the bottom of the bucket around the larger opening.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The grate was attached to the bottom of the top bucket with zip ties.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Here is another view of the grate attached to the bottom of the bucket that will end up on top.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Notice the small holes in sets of two. This is where the zip ties are fed through to hold the grate on.
The top bucket was filled with lava rocks
(I should have rinsed them first… notice the red water in the last photo)
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
Rinse the rocks! LOL … Fill the top bucket with lava rocks or other filter media. This is why the grate is attached to the bottom of the top bucket.
The buckets are not attached in any way except for gravity and friction.  The weight of the rocks keeps the top bucket nicely in place.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The two buckets are placed on top of each other as shown. They are only held together by gravity. I never found a need to secure them together.
The pump pulls water in from tank and pushes it up through the rocks for filtration.  The filtered water rises and falls over the top rim of the bucket.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The second soda crate was used as a floating island. On the bottom side is a piece of foam that keeps it afloat.
A second soda crate was used as a float for the turtle.
This crate has a piece of closed cell foam under to keep it afloat.
Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter
The filter works! It’s running a bit red since I did not rinse the lava rocks first.
Thanks for looking.  Happy building!
Pin This! How to create a pond filter using 5 gallon buckets.
Pin This! How to create a pond filter using 5 gallon buckets.
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4 thoughts on “Pet Turtle Pond With DIY Filter”

  1. I’ve got 2 14-year old aquatic turtles and as they’ve grown their tanks have gotten bigger and harder to clean. I’ve been blessed that the last 2 places I lived had separate tubs/showers, so I showered and the boys got the tub.

    Now, I don’t have that advantage. My only option is to put them outside. When they were in glass tanks, filters (fish tank type) NEVER kept the water clean. So I was still emptying all the water, wiping the tank interior, than refilling (lots of water expense and time). I have nowhere in the house to put them near sinks.

    I understand that the filter keeps the water flowing, which is necessary, but how does it keep the drum clean? Aren’t you just moving dirty water eventually? When “santa” brought these turtles to my son, I NEVER expected them to live past a few months….. LOL Now, I can’t seem to part with them at a local sanctuary, so I need to figure out how to give them a decent, clean habitat. Thanks for your help. I thought this was ingenious, I’m just not understanding. (BTW, I have the blue kiddie pool set up right now…. but still emptying/refilling to keep clean.)

    1. The “dirt” gets trapped in the filter. The biological filtering from the bacteria in the filter helps keep the water healthy for the fish and turtles. You will need to clean it every now and then, but it’s a pretty good system for an outdoor pond like this.

    1. I do not remember exactly. I do remember buying a bigger pump after running this for a while. I think the newer pump moved 900 gallons per hour, but I think that was a bit overkill. Too bad I didn’t put those details in the post originally since my memory about those things are so bad LOL

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