Balcony pond

[Ashley]

Ok, I want a pond, but I'm in an apartment. So I was looking online and I've found a nice pond that is about 45 gallons and is like a concrete tub with a waterfall back. I want to put my turtle in it (not all day), and take him out and back in his tank during the night. What kind of filtration is needed? This will be my first pond, so I'm thinking before buying. In the long run if I can't put my turtle in, then I'll just keep plants. I would also like to put some feeder guppies in, so my turtle will just eat them, and I don't have to worry about housing them over the winter.

[Northernguy]

I would first find out what the rules are in your building.I personally don't think a pond on a balcony is a great idea.The people below you may not want it either.

[smaug]

You could put a small canister filter to the job but without a bioload of any signifigance fulltime it will be difficult to maintain a bio filter.I suppose the feeders may do that if you have enough in there.As for the turtle,Ive never kept 1 so I have no advice about that.

[Rue]

I'd be worried about cooking the turtle during the heat of the day...

I have yet to be on balcony that doesn't heat up.

[Ashley]

Our balcony is on the shady side of the building, so no direct sunlight.

[phxl]

I've seen a few nice articles and books on container ponds. A minimal effort google search brought this up (http://watergarden.com/tub/). Digging deeper could bring some great inspiration...

[MCHRKiller]

I used to have like a half whiskey barrel pond on my balcony had a little fountain in it with a large sponge pre-filter and a bunch of plants. That was all I had for a filter and I had a single fantailed gold in there, the pump burned out and I just put my fantail in my parents larger inground pond after about 2 years of use. My balcony is covered so I kept it going year round just wrapped the barrel with some insulation in the winter to keep it from freezing solid not like VA winters are ever really bad.