Scrubber for 400 gallon turtle pond

[mrgoodkat]

Hey guys and gals,

I got a 400 gallons "pond" with 8 red eared sliders. They eat a lot and are really messy about it.

Now I would like some ideas about doing a scrubber for the pond to get rid of all the algae and the smell.

I would like to mount the scrubber on the wall next to the pond and only use sun light if possible. The wall points southwards and gets about 8 hours sunlight per day. Not sure if that's enough. The weather here is tropical.

I thought about doing a 40X20 scrubber, but I could as big as 40X40 if that would be better. The pump supplies about 1700 g/h

I'm not really concerned about nitrates and stuff, since the turtles don't breath the water anyway.

Any ideas if that would work as intended?

[SantaMonica]

Welcome.

Take a look at some other turtle setups, and see if they would help...

http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...-give-it-a-try
http://algaescrubber.net/forums/show...to-turtle-pond

[mrgoodkat]

Thanks SantaMonica,
I've read through those already. I'm just not sure about the size. Is it better to make the screen bigger if it's only lighted by the sun, or does it not matter?

40x20 should be the right size for the pond, if only lighted from one side. But with the new guidelines I might get away with a smaller screen.

[SantaMonica]

Well you are just limited by the pump. 1700 % 35 = 48 inch wide, although I'd do 40 inches max for better flow. Make sure the screen comes out easily for cleaning the slot.

I don't know how much turtles eat, but with free light and no height limits, you might as well make it big. One option is to be able to turn half the screen off later, if needed. This will allow it to grow thicker, which will trap more particles in the water.