Turtle Tank

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:05 am

These are my not-so-cute-anymore-but-still-cute red ear slider turtles. got them from an ex-employee at super pets about six-seven years ago at super pets and they went from quarter size green turtles to about 8-9 inch long giants!!

so far they have live in about 5 tanks ranging from: 10, 20L, 40 breeder, 75, and 110XT. what do you think?

Any suggestions as far as a basking area? they sink any of the comertial ones...

fredyk · Post by **fredyk** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:14 am

I've seen the turtle tank and it is impressive.

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:26 am

Nice turtles. Very cool!

kerokero · Post by **kerokero** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:08 am

8-9in isn't giant for them as the females will get significantly bigger

Most commercial stuff in stores isn't particularly good stuff anyways, and usually not ment for turtles that size. Time to build up some bricks in one corner, and just below the water level start piling slate on top so that they can have an shallow set of "steps" to crawl out on. As long as you use big heavy pieces (like used in landscaping, not the tiny pieces sold in stores) then the turtles won't shove it about, and you can take it off and clean it as needed.

What type of heat lamp are you using? A mercury vapor UV heat lamp would allow you to lower the water level a good amount while still giving off the heat and UV they need, making it a little easier to build up a basking spot without it seeming to balance like a teeter totter. I know a number of people swear by them (me included when I still had my dragon), and it may make your life a lot easier in that respect (lower water level also means that much less water to have to clean!).

Ltrepeter2000 · Post by **Ltrepeter2000** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:51 am

You could also create your own quite easily by creating a more solid duplicate of whats already in your tank. Use larger pvc and build it into a cube or three sided(empty side being on the bottom. This will give you a square base to build a platform on top of. You could choose any number of things to put over the empty area inside the top square. (thick plexiglass, a large slate) Just make sure that the PVC doesnt go above the water level so that the turtles are able to get up on the platform.

sherrymitchell · Post by **sherrymitchell** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:02 pm

Vienna Aquarium has AMAZING turtle tanks called Waterland Tubs. They are big plastic tanks, probably 50-100 gallons, with a ramp that goes up to a large basking area where you can clamp a heat lamp to the side. These are along the lines of Rubbermaid containers, only they are specially made for turtles..... Chris, the owner, has pond filters filtering the pond area of the tank. If I had turtles, this is what I'd get.

Here's a picture of one:

http://www.reptiledepot.com/waterland.html

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:37 pm

Corey, right now im only using a 100w spot light right over their basking area, my ultraviolet burned and have not purchased a new one. and the water level i like as high as possible so that they can use the most swimming space. my fluval 405 takes care of the cleaning

as far as a pile with slate, did that when i first adquired them long ago in a 10gls aquarium and is too dirty

hard to clean and not very sanitary so i personally do not recommend it. i was trying the plexy glass but the home depot only has the thin one and bends with the piece of slate and the turtles so i tied it for now.

Robert, the idea you mentioned sounds about right, is actually what i did for the 75 i had with them but is too short for this one

i guess i'll have to buy more tubing and re-do it. it was actually quite easy.

Sherry, unfortunately i do not like to do plastic since they wear off quite fast, but that is the plan for the future when i own a single family home and possibly building an indor pond

Ltrepeter2000 · Post by **Ltrepeter2000** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:41 pm

One thing I did think about with this is that it might make more sense to make the top part of the cube into more of a figure eight so that you have more cross supports

kerokero · Post by **kerokero** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 5:29 pm

If you use the PVC supports I'd also recomend weighing down the bottom with more weight than the top... pushy turtles have toppled less!

If you're going to need to replace the UV anyways, I'd get the UV heat lamp. I'm not sure how far those guys were away from the UV tube, but it looks like it may not have been in a very useful range anyways... the UV heat lamps pack the heat the turtles need, with a greater UV penetration into the tank (aka usable amounts at well over twice the distance) and give off that UV light for twice the amount of time before they would need to be replaced (a year rather than 6 months) so they are generally cheaper in the long run.

I wasn't recomending just a pile of slate (that is a pain in the butt, I agree!) but having a pull out of slate on top of a platform of bricks/cement blocks. The blocks tend to be at akward hieghts for turtles to climb, so I was recomending shorter clumps of slate (or maybe if you can break the cement into peices) so that they would be able to get completely out of the water. Simply pick up the slate peice to wash if needed, and the one or two cement blocks (like the ones they build walls out of) and you can easily get around the tank. The cement blocks are a cheap way to elevate the area, too heavy to move, yet easy enough to pull out of the tank to get around as needed.

I don't know what you mean by the plastic tanks wearing off too fast? Those turtle tubs are maid of similar stuff as the outdoor farm troughs rummbermaid makes I believe (which are also popular for turtles!) and don't wear down... if you're thinking the rubbermaid containers you find for personal storage, they are made of a much softer plastic that yes, turtles will tear to pieces eventually.

sherrymitchell · Post by **sherrymitchell** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:09 pm

The turtle tubs are made of fiberglass, I believe -- just like the Rubbermaid Stock Tank I have in the garden for the filter for my pond. It's a great product -- very durable. I really liked those turtle tubs and if I kept turtles I'd have one for them. I like them better than Rubbermaid troughs because they are long and spacious and the turtles can actually see what's going on around the space. The troughs have tall walls and the poor turtles wouldn't be able to see anything.

Turtle Tank

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