Hello everyone! Im Anthony and I have some questions :) I just recently put together a turtle pond inside an aquarium. Nothing to fancy plus it houses my Anole as well. They all get along since the lizard stays on top of the leaves close to the light. Anyways, my two water turtles live "downstairs" and I am using a black plastic paint tray to house the water. I have one of those Tetra Whisper Internal Power Filters. Sand keeps getting caught up in the motors and clogging up. I know they arent the greatest and it actually works but I also have a big filter similiar to the one on this link: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtank2.htm (hanging filter). I dont have the option of cutting into my glass aquarium since the lizard will take advantage of the opening. I dont want to silicone a closing either. Basically what other options do I have with one of these hanging filters?

Lets ask the normal questions first.

How big is the aquarium, and how big are the turtles.

I am assuming since the water area is a paint tray, then they arent very big.

I am trying to imagine this in my head, a normal paint tray isnt that big, so you could just dump it out when it gets dirty and put in some clean water. you wouldnt have to use a filter then.

What type of turtles are they? I am assuming Red eared or other type of slider.

Sliders get pretty big, a full grown female will require 75-100 gallons of swimming area.


this is a yellow bellied slider, which is about the size of a typical full grown slider.

The turtles may kill that anole if it gets too close.
Pictures of my turtles
but if you could answer those questions and i can help out some more.

Ok I got some info and I will just be dumping the water for the time being. I hope to get a true turtle pond soon. Thanks for the help.

i would seperate the anole and the turtles.

A submerged filter should work for small water areas but just dumping the water pan if it's small makes more sense. You don't need sand in the tank if it's clogging the filter. I also think it's a good idea to keep the anole separately.

Without knowing the size of your tank and turtles, I don't know what your best filtration option would be. Sometimes hang-on-tank filters will work if the tank isn't too deep even if the water is shallow. There are a number of small pump and filters now that can sit in the water.

Good luck!

i find that under water filter work better than others.