New turtle tank

Mizzou

Mizzou

Steve Zissou rules
Dec 26, 2006
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Kansas City, MO
www.myspace.com
I will be getting a Red eared slider once my tank is fully set up.

I will be using:
55g glass tank
48" Repti Sun 10.0 UVB bulb
75w basking bulb
2-3" rock for substrate
fake plants
screened top cover
established media from my cichlid tank

Right now I'm just arranging the basking area and soaking my rocks. Pics to come within 2 weeks hopefully.
 
As the owner of 4 sliders (3 RES's and a painted) I would completely skip the rock substrate. Rocks/gravel is VERY hard to clean because turtles are copious producers of solid waste. With a bare bottom, the turtle will stir up the debris into the water column enough so a powerful filter can get to it. Gravel just traps the waste, raising your ammonia levels, if it's not cleaned daily.

Gravel also has the potential of being eaten and causing severe internal problems. I'd suggest using a few large rocks as decor and staying simple. If you are thinking that the rocks/gravel would be a great place for bacteria to grow, may I suggest paving bricks. They are porous and very sturdy for building basking platforms and hiding spaces.
 
Sand can cause impaction too if eaten in large enough qualities. Turtles are heavy and lay/move directly on the bottom of the tank a lot. The sand can act as an abrasive and scratch their shell. Plus, you're going to have the same cleaning trouble as gravel.
 
Give us a picture when you get done:) I would love to see how you've got it set up......
 
I hope I can move my turtle into a 55 soon, it doesn't really need it right now but I'm sure it would like it much better. I have gravel in its tank but the turtle is too small right now to be able to actually eat it. I'll have rethink the gravel when I move it into the 55, I don't like the idea of a bare bottom tank though. Could it be planted with like some kind of carpet grass or moss or something? Or would the turtle just destroy the plants? I use to have duckweed floating on the surface but I got it from someone who grew it in a pond and it stunk BAD so I got rid of it but I liked the look of it. I have an area of land for it to bask on, are there any plants I could plant in that area that the turtle wouldn't destroy. Are there any plants that arent safe for turtles to eat?

Sorry I'm taking over your post, I really just wanted to say that I wish I had a 55gal for my turtle too!
 
RES's are more into greens as they get older and will eat anything that looks like food, plant or otherwise. The bare bottom is just for ease of cleaning, rather than for looks...It works well for me because I like simple set-ups. You could always paint the underside glass on the tank a different colour...
 
I have 1 RES and 1 YBS in a 90 gallon aquarium.
For filtration I use a fluval 404
I have large river rocks on the bottom-buit not even a complete layer to keep it easy to clean.
For now as my turtles are 4 and 3 inches they use a large zoomed floating dock but I will be building an above tank basking area soon.

If I can do it right Ill post pics to show. My turtles are very happy in this set up and growing well.

IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w262/cinderellawkids_album/turtlesswim.jpg[/IMG]

turtles006-1.jpg


turtlesswim.jpg
 
Cindi- that tank looks great :) Only think I'd change is that I'd go with larger gravel when they get bigger and can put it in their mouths accidentally...
I have one of those docks too, but found it came unstuck too often from the side of the tank...maybe I just had defective suction cups.
 
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