Finished. For today, anyway.

All the surviving fish are in the inside wooden pond. The four small turtles in there look overwhelmed. 

I have to put the lights for the basking areas down a bit because it's not warm enough on the platforms. The little ones are basking anyway, which is cute. 

In the works is a charcoal filter system for the fish pond, but ... later. I am so very tired. This week has been exhausting and full of panic and rush. 

Pictures to show my work: 

My reed fencing came in. I think it sets off the garage corner nicely. 

You can see just a bit through it, and it gives the turtles extra security and privacy.

Here you can actually see one of the little turtles basking.

The space behind the wooden pond allows the kids and me to watch the turtles up close, and to feed them.

 I got some dandelion greens on special at the store and I propped them up like real plants on the basking area. As you can see, the small turtles have already torn at them and pulled some out.

The big turtles eat what's hanging in the water.

And my kid, doing a turtle puzzle. He loves his turtles.

Picture Update - new ponds and turtle moving

New indoor pond setup; 250 gallon wooden pond and 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. 

The shelves aren't going to be there; I was laying out a way to keep the turtles inside with a shared basking setup but went with a different plan.

The turtle-catching party.

 The turtles in the wading pool containment area.

The turtle-washing crew. We had to get the hard water calcification off the shells.

Got the parts to build the basking lamp setups for each pond. Lots of GFI goodness.

And now for the turtles!
BETTY

CHEWY (who may be a Western Pond Turtle)

FRACK

FRICK

MINDY

MORK

SHELLY

TIMMY (the original)

My bite wound is healing up to look almost like a heart.

BABY TIMMY in his castle.

Got the light mountings built but I can't find any ceiling studs to screw the rope into.

Anyway, that's it. Everyone is accounted for and I am still exhausted. 

The turtle-catching crew did a fast job of finding everyone and nobody got bitten but me, despite them having found all of the turtles using their feet. 

It's here!

300 gallon Rubbermaid tank!
Just waiting on the wooden pond that I should get tomorrow. Whee!

Stock Tank

I ordered the new 300 gallon stock tank for the inside wintering of the turtles.
I hope it gets here before November.

Welp.

I did a lot of calculations and diagramming today. A lot. My wrist even hurts.
I had this awesome, awesome idea for two ponds, side-by-side in an L shape, one rectangle and one square, like aquariums that fit the layout of the stuff in my garage. One 6x4x3, one 3x3x3. They would share a basking area but would still be separately enclosed. One would be 500+ gallons, one would be 200ish gallons. I even had the turtles' gallons-per-turtle needs calculated and a list of turtles that would fit into each pond. And I was on my way to building a waterproof container for my webcam.
I did all the layout, the structural designing, the price-checking / list-making on Home Depot's website, and all the calculations for the pond liner and found someone on Craigslist that was selling the pond liner thickness I needed.
Total price for a DIY set of tanks for all turtles in my pond, totaling about 700 gallons: A bit over $500 and a whole lot of weekend work and likely some injury.

Now, there was someone on Craigslist that I found that was selling his 4x5x2.5 300ish gallon above-ground koi pond with liner and pump and filter for $350. And I found a place online who would sell me a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank for $250 with free shipping.
Total price for a buy-it-now-no-assembly-required-don't-even-touch-a-hammer-immediate-gratification 600-ish-gallon setup: $600
... so it looks like the DIY Super Garage Aquarium of Doom Project is on hold for now, but my turtles will be safe and healthy inside for about the same amount of money. Heck, even less money when you factor in the extra cost for broken parts, redoing of things, bandaids, new tools that I would need, and a whole assortment of other things. AND there's no chance of a sudden, explosive leak / drain ruining everything on the floor in my garage, either.

So Anyway...

I did a lot of calculations and diagramming today. A lot. My wrist even hurts. 

I had this awesome, awesome idea for two ponds, side-by-side in an L shape, one rectangle and one square, like aquariums that fit the layout of the stuff in my garage. One 6x4x3, one 3x3x3. They would share a basking area but would still be separately enclosed. One would be 500+ gallons, one would be 200ish gallons. I even had the turtles' gallons-per-turtle needs calculated and a list of turtles that would fit into each pond. And I was on my way to building a waterproof container for my webcam. 

I did all the layout, the structural designing, the price-checking / list-making on Home Depot's website, and all the calculations for the pond liner and found someone on Craigslist that was selling the pond liner thickness I needed. 

Total price for a DIY set of tanks for all turtles in my pond, totaling about 700 gallons: A bit over $500 and a whole lot of weekend work and likely some injury.

Now, there was someone on Craigslist that I found that was selling his 4x5x2.5 300ish gallon above-ground koi pond with liner and pump and filter for $350. And I found a place online who would sell me a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank for $250 with free shipping (PM me and I'll tell you where). 

Total price for a buy-it-now-no-assembly-required-don't-even-touch-a-hammer-immediate-gratification 600-ish-gallon setup: $600

... so it looks like the DIY Super Garage Aquarium of Doom Project is on hold for now, but my turtles will be safe and healthy inside for about the same amount of money. Heck, even less money when you factor in the extra cost for broken parts, redoing of things, bandaids, new tools that I would need, and a whole assortment of other things. AND there's no chance of a sudden, explosive leak / drain ruining everything on the floor in my garage, either.