We put an aerator in our pond. It took 3 years to catch up with the back log of biomass but for the last two years we have had a healthy looking (and smelling) pond with only light algae, and duckweed on the edges. Copper sulfate is one of those poisons that have to be used in just the right amounts. Too little, and nothing happens. To much and everything dies, and not enough middle ground. Biofilters are good. You don't really need peat moss for them. If the cattails are happy in your local mud, use that. The water doesn't have to circulate very fast (although it's pretty...) If you run your pond through the filter once a week, it's lots. A 1 acre pond, 8 feet deep has about 2 million gallons in it. A week has half a million seconds. 4 g/s = 240 gal/min. 240 g/min needs a 3 inch line. Also -- it doesn't need much drop. Just enough to move the water out of the way. 2 inches is enough. The lower the head, the less power you need. 240g/min = 2000 pounds per minute. Lifting that 2 inches takes 300 foot pounds per minute. Or about 1/100 HP ignoring friction. Cattails on the edge of the pond help a lot too. The wind then does your circulation. Cattails can make it a lot harder for a todler to get in the pond my mistake too, especially if you have edges that are shallow enough for a wide band of them.

Bumping this down. Brenda

So many nay-sayers! All it takes is a large pocket book, (preferably inexaustable public funding)and a panel of experts to create a "natural enclosure". Ask your most local zoo! My opinion is it could be done, and with appropriate habitats for different species, BUT, it would be expensive and have to be large enough to provide room for the transition of habitats. You would also be adding LARGE amounts of risk to your pets. Predators, parasites, pathogens, and other microorganisms that you would have no control over. Your pets would also have no defense against them, (other than their shell) as they are not indigenous to your area. None the less, you "could do it". You would have to create a large sump either covered, or separated outside the perimeter of the enclosure. My first thought is a shallow stream, where a slow moving, (but enough flow to carry waste away) stream would drain into your sump area through a screen too small for your smallest pet to get through. (Maybe large holes cut into the side of a 55 gallon drum in a grid pattern.) That sump would need to be AT LEAST a 100 gallons, (not necessarily all in one container), and contain a prefilter, mechanical filter, and bio filter to treat your tortoise wastes. Since they would use it infrequently, (after all, they are tortoises)it would probably work fine to treat the water so long as it could get enough time to chemically breakdown, and balance. Your prefilter could be as simple as a mat of plant roots near the drain to the sump, or a settling chamber, which would also pre-treat the waste, while allowing the dirty water to flow through. Properly chosen, the plants would also provide a food source. You would pump from the sump, beyond all the filters, back up to the head of the stream area, and the water would carry wastes back to the sump through the drain system. Experimentation would be needed to set the water flow, then it would have to be adjusted as the plant growth varied. The automatic requirement is the most interesting part of your idea. THAT could get very expensive! Filter back washing to waste, chemical monitoring, water level, etc. is quite a design feat in itself! But if you are willing to monitor the water level, and run a hose a little every few days/weeks, it would not be too bad to have it manually operated. In fact the bigger the sump, and filters, the less attention it should need if designed right. A simple toilet valve could control water level for you, but the supporting infrastructure becomes an issue. Solar pumps are certainly available to move the amount of water you need to move, and most likely, move it often enough to keep the water healthy, depending on system loads. (size of pond exposed to sun, wind, and relative filter sizes, how many leaves get in, etc.) Just like your pets, water features need attention. So you know, there is no such thing as a maintenance free pond, just one that hasn't been maintained, or is not yet completely full of stuff. Nature puts things in, we take them out. We do this to keep the area a pond. In nature, the pond is always changing, and always filling with gunk, getting shallower and shallower all the time. What you proposed is certainly not a simple project. What other proposed is simpler and more practical. It certainly is cheaper, and less risky to use a large saucer, and unless you are willing to create a large water sump, a lot less headaches! You have easy control over the quality and quantity of the water in the saucer, and simple disinfection with a weak bleach solution provides a micro guard. When you decided to take on pets, you decided to devote a portion of your life to their care. If you want them to live in a natural area, you will need to return them to their native lands and set them free. Other than that, continue to care for them daily. They deserve your attention! And you benefit from providing for them. Heck, they're tortoises, you only have about 25-100 years to take care of them! Buck up! -TT

Catkim, this will be our 6th water feature on our property, so I know about the wildlife attraction for sure. In fact, our very large fountain that sits in a small pool got toppled a couple of years ago. The only animal that could have done that was a very large racoon. Mind you, this fountain stands about 8' tall. The top 3 tiers were toppled over one morning. Nothing else would have had the dexterity to climb a slippery, wet, HUGE fountain. Not sure what attracted him to the top of the fountain, and why he didn't just stay in the large pool the fountain sits in. I did find a solar pump on Overstock.com. Unfortunately, the kit came with a different battery than described, plus, the battery is not holding a charge despite having the panel in full sun for many days. Overstock is sending me a new kit, and states that the correct battery is in that kit, so hoping it will work. The pump is just barely strong enough to make the water gurgle over the top of the pump. We have the pump sitting in the fountain basin below the pot, and we have it set to 1/2 rate, so we can boost the pump and that should increase the flow rate. But, we were trying to conserve energy, so I'm hoping with the new kit, the new battery will work better. We might also try to use the new solar panel, too. Not sure what isn't working - the panel or the battery - but we'll try swapping one one, then the other, and see if we can make it work. Patty S.