# I love Craigslist!



## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Just picked this up from a dude on Craigslist who was giving it away for free:









- 125 Gallon Hagen tank + stand

A nice little upgrade for my RES


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Nice! What kind of filtration do you plan to put on that thing? 



*Remember to do the leak test first.


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Not too sure yet, first things first is get it cleaned up, then do up the leak test.

It's just going to be my RES and some feeder fish every now and again so I won't need anything too complex.

Any recommendations?


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Very nice pickup...you are one lucky gut


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Nice!!!! I also wish I had a basement for wonderful finds like that.. hehe :3


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

That's a nice score. Your turtle will love you even more


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

My suggestion is give it to me, and I'll handle the filtration


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

trailblazer295 said:


> My suggestion is give it to me, and I'll handle the filtration


LOL

I'm going to try to use as much of the equipment that was free as possible:

- remove the overflow (which is a poor design by anyone's standards)

- add some drilled PVC as an intake so that it can reach the bottom of the tank, will make holes throughout so that if for whatever reason the return pump stops working the whole tank won't syphon out

- modify the included sump so it will be turtle friendly, i.e. easy to clean + catch big debris

Only question now is how to light it, currently I have a 150 watt basking lamp which will still be used close to the basking platform, but the tank is so huge there is no way it will be able to light it all up! Heheh maybe I can make multiple basking area's for her depending on her mood .

Either Marge is excited about the new tank, or she is just begging for food, either way she is happy .


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Lucky tatties :3 You do love them don't you? I can't wait to see pics of them when they are settled in.


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Finally got the tank all up and running, the previous owner had some serious plumbing issues resulting in a few leaks!

Leak 1:









This nasty overflow had to go, and once it did I noticed that the bulkhead seals were on the inside of the overflow and not against the glass. This caused the paint to peel which you'll see in the next picture.

Here it is with the overflow, bulkheads, and peeling paint removed:









For now I decided to just leave the "rustic" look of the peeled paint, will re-paint in the future.

Leak 2:









This bulkhead is backwards in the sump, the seal was on the outside resulting in a pretty big leak, don't know how the original owner didn't catch that...

This is the simple overflow/anti-syphon mechanism I installed since there won't be an overflow box in the tank:









The one cap has a hole drilled into it with a piece of electrical tape that is used to make the whole bigger/smaller to reduce the suction noise.

There were two holes drilled in the tank so I have one skimming the surface to reduce film, and one pulling from the bottom, also please note the turtle in the picture, she is a picture diva:









Those of you who know about RES's will notice that she is actually a he, I raised her as a female and felt it would be too big a blow to her psyche to tell her truth now...

I made the sump nice and simple since it will get very dirty:









Those sponges are humidifier sponges from Home Depot, cost is ~$6 per sponge, LFS sells the same for ~$20 per sponge.

The pump is a Dolphin DP-800, something I had lying around that works perfectly and is much quieter and more energy efficient than the provided inline pump. The two ball valves on the overflows from the tank allow me to control the water level in the tank/sump. Also I flipped the bulkhead that was backwards and installed a ball valve on the outside since in this new setup the pump is submersible instead of inline.

I made sure to run some tests simulating a power failure to make sure the sump wouldn't overflow, Marge could survive without any water in the tank, but the rest of basement is hydrophobic!

Finally, the FTS:









Can't take a direct shot since it is in tight quarters.

Here was her previous setup:









Now that I have a spare 65 Gallon tank, it may be time for a new reef


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

Great job. Love to see someone that goes to all this trouble for their pet turtle.
--
Paul


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Lovely!!! I laughed out loud about the girl boy thing...

If we ever move somewhere bigger I'll have to nag you on how to set up something like that for my boys.


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Y2KGT said:


> Great job. Love to see someone that goes to all this trouble for their pet turtle.
> --
> Paul


Thanks, Marge has been a part of my life since I was a kid, as such she gets treated like she is one of my kids 



Ciddian said:


> Lovely!!! I laughed out loud about the girl boy thing...
> 
> If we ever move somewhere bigger I'll have to nag you on how to set up something like that for my boys.


No problem, let me tell you I *wasted* a few days while I should've been working trying to figure out the best way to go about this with what I had available! What kind of turtles do you have? Do you have any threads on them?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Oddly.. No, I don't really have a devoted thread to them. :/ Now I think I should. lol

Res :3

















And the other guy. X)

















I just have them in crummy tubs right now since the new apt we went to didn't have the room I had hoped for. They don't live together since Res tries to rape the yellow cooter. haha!

I've had them for a long long time.. Maybe ten years so far give or take. Res was a drop off and the yellow I purchased.


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Looks like some nice rock work in those tubs!

LOL years ago Marge used to do the "turtle dance" to anything that was in the tank so I could just imagine if there was another turtle for her to do the dance with 

Do you ever let them roam around? I think it's so cute how curious these little guys are, and how quickly they can run away!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

actually without choice.. O_O The Res is an amazing climber, he climbed up and tore down some plastic sheet I have over the tub. So I would lower the water and he's do chin ups.. 

They are fast!! That's for sure, I almost lost him outside one day when something spooked him. Man turtles can sprint. rofl.

They had favorite places in the bedroom, usually under the bed and I wouldnt notice he was out until I had a turtle stalking me down the hall. He'll also chase the cats. hehe.

Once I had my daughter I had to curb the free roaming thing and he's been really good lately. They stay in my bedroom with the door closed just in case. X)


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