Turtle tank ideas

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67chevelle

Basset Hound
Jul 30, 2008
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I have an empty standard 55 gallon tank that I am thinking of turning into a turtle tank. I want to fill the tank half full of water,and cut some acrylic and glue/silicone it to the glass for a platform on one side of the tank.I also want to have gravel and a couple pieces of driftwood in the bottom.I was thinking of filtering the 25 or so gallons of water with a cannister filter. Would a cannister work on a tank that is only half full?
 

AquatiCreations

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Feb 25, 2008
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The filter should work if the intake is long enough, but I might suggest internal filtration.
 

67chevelle

Basset Hound
Jul 30, 2008
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I thought of an internal filter as well,but I don't like the idea of it taking up room in the tank.
Do you think an internal filter would work better?
 

AquatiCreations

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Feb 25, 2008
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Also Consider that the water coming for the output of the canister will be a bit on the noisy side, and will cause spray on the walls of the aquarium,Leaving water spots. But that's purely aesthetic.
 

Vicious_Fish

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Mar 6, 2007
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The Land of the Lost
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A canister filter will work just fine. That's all I use for my turtle tanks. Make sure to get one that is rated for at least double the volume of water you have in the tank.
 

Nora

AC Members
Feb 5, 2009
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A good starter plan and yes it most certainly CAN work. I run multiple turtle tanks, 2 are 55 gal tanks. After years of mucking about with various filters and DIY filtration setups I can tell you straight off the external canisters are the only way to go with turtles for the long haul. No internal filter has the capacity for the bioload created by a turtle. As a rule of the thumb for turtle filtration always use a minimum of twice the rating for a heavy fish bioload of the same amount of water. A pair of AC70 HOB filters can do a 55 but after years of trial and error I use eheim classic 2217's on most all of my turtle tanks (most bang for the buck IME) they are rated for 159 gallons of tank water (yes I subscribe to the triple filtration school of thought). On the 55 that is 3/4 full the input/output is no issue, these filter come with a spraybar and eheims water column draw is not any issue at all, tank inhabitant - my sons 5 year old male Rio RES. In a nearly identical set up I've got my niece keeping a male concentric DBT, same filtration (I help her with setup and teardown as needed, @ 19 she handles the rest on her own).

On the other 55 in my home (once again same filter) water is only 6 inches max with much of the depth at the 3-4 inch level - shallow depth for spotted turtle group. This system I've run a few different ways - easiest way to deal with shallow water on these canister is to use the eheim pre-filter and anchor it with rocks. The prefilter was necessary when the spotteds were little - or at least needed for my piece of mind to offset the draw, when they were bitty I set it up so that even if one were to somehow get caught in the draw the water level was shallow enough that they could still lift their heads out - never happened, but I was mindful. These days on shallow water draws with that filter I just just reverse the hard intake J tube, attach a length of flex tubing to the short end and attach it horizontally low in the water - no problems.

Spray bars are great with turtles, breaks up the surface tension of the water nicely and prevents the ever so common protein film build up. Water spots can be a real pain but I've found I can minimize both water spots and noise by aiming the spray bar at an angle toward the back glass, allowing it to hit where the top of the water line meets the glass - enough splash to aid in water quality, minimize spotting, and reduce noise a bit.

Over the years many have had success with fluval canisters on tanks at least a bit over half full - the eheims have never given me any problems on turtle tanks, a far cry from other I've used - they are the only kind I'll buy any more for turtles.

F&S has good prices -even better on sale, and all extras and media included (minus the prefilter - but I only ever feel the need for that with hatchlings so I just rotate the one I've got).
link: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3603
 

Gill Roy

"Up to my neck"
Nov 6, 2007
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New Port Richey, FL.
I have had a few turtle tanks over the years with all sorts of filter configurations. The one that suited me and my turtles best was a Magnum 350 can in a 75gal with about 3/4 fill. Rocks stacked to accommodate basking and the proper UV lights for same.
My turtles thrived and maintenance was minimal with crystal clear water and this included a few fish as well.
Whatever brand suits you I would go with a can as NO internal will move the water with the same efficiency and and long term maintenance ease.
 

67chevelle

Basset Hound
Jul 30, 2008
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Great advice guys thanks!

Now for the platform.This is where I got the idea for that,http://www.glasscages.com/?sAction=ViewCat&lCatID=55 Scroll down on the page,and I want to do it like the second picture from the left on the top row of pics.
I am thinking I will glue some smaller pieces of acrylic together to make a ledge around the front, side,and back of the tank.Then I will glue an acrylic piece to the top of that.Would using silicone work for all of this? Or should I use something stronger,like gorilla glue?
 
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