# Turtle Tank



## derekc85 (Oct 23, 2008)

I am setting up a new turtle tank, it has been 20 years since I had one. From what I remember when I was a kid, the turtle was submerged in water and bit me one time, unfortunately he did not live long =(.

Now I hope I could do it right, here is what I bought so far.

Exo Terra Turtle Terrarium - I have a standard 10g, but would prefer rimless =)









Tetrafauna decorative reptofilter









Zoomed medium basking dock









T'rex MVB 100W light - 









Going to get:
2x red ear sliders
turtle food
bigger sized rocks for substrate
heater
thermometer
digital timer bar

Down the road I might add 1-2 fish, with some live plants:
duckweed (I love the shape)
plants that protrude out of water, like mangroves in saltwater. Any suggestions?

The tank will be setup Sunday, with some water gravel from previous FW tank. I will monitor the cycle closely and add turtles hopefully in 1-2 weeks. I am a newb really, any input is appreciated.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

YAY! Another turtle freak! Ciddian also has some turtles. I'll try to help you to the best of my ability but I'm not that experienced as I've only had my turtle for about 5 days. But I have done a lot of research.

I don't really like much of what you bought. For the Exo Terra Turtle Terrarium, the weird top is difficult for putting basking lights in. The filtration, I also considered that same filter but the amount of filtration isn't enough for a single turtle, not many turtle products are. The basking dock is a maybe, I prefer out of tank basking docks, like the turtle topper (http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...oft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADBS&tbs=isch:1) as it allows you to put more water in and therefore gives more swimming space.

The light isn't really that good. I've never heard of the brand but with lights, you need both UVA and UVB rays for your turtle. UVA for regular behaviour and UVB for vitamin D3 which helps it process calcium.

For general turtle help, http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/ is unparalleled. I will post what I think you should get in the next post.


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## derekc85 (Oct 23, 2008)

Hey Josee,

I've always liked the rimless look, thats just personal preference. I was gonna do a small rimless reef, but a turtle tank would be simpler.

I had a look at the out of tank basking area, did not like the look of it, and would ruin the rimless look =(.

I was reading redearslider.com, and the whole goal is to provide UVA, UVB and heat to the turtles. Regular compact florescent bulbs provide UVA & UVB, but degrade very quickly and needs to be replaced every 6 months. On top of that a extra heat lamp is required for basking. The T'rex bulb runs on mercury vapour, and provides UVA, UVB and heat. There are pretty good reviews on it and I thought I would give it a try.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

*Type of Turtle*
The type of turtle you want is extremely important. Different types of turtles grow to be different types of sizes. The female red eared slider can grow to be 12 inches normally, I've seen one 14 inches a while back. Alligator snapping turtles can grow to 32 inches. Male black-knobbed turtles can grow to 3.5-6 inches. The type of turtle dictates what type of tank size you need.

*Tank*
Of course, is dependent of your turtle. The general rule for turtles that you'll hear most often is "10 Gallons per 1 inch of turtle", but it's a bit vague. I like to follow the one provided by Austin's Turtle Page:



> 1. A general guideline is to find the adult size of your turtle and multiply the turtle's adult length by 5. That's how long the aquarium will need to be and will give your little friend plenty of room for doing laps.
> 
> 2. Take their adult length and multiply by 2.5 and that'll be how deep your water should be. This gives them plenty of room to move about freely and get some exercise, as well as allow you to place a basking area half way up and prevent your turtle from trying to escape. They are great climbers!


You can also use a rubbermaid container. The containers that can store 50G of water are about $23 at Canadian Tire.

*Filter*
If you have the appriopate tank size, then it is recommended that your filtration is twice of that you need for fish. For example, if you have a 60G water, you need 120G worth of filtration for turtles. Remember, some species like more water movement, so you can do something like getting an AquaClear 110 and put in a Fluval U4 for Mississipi maps.

*Heater*
I've heard a few stories about turtles breaking heaters by crashing into them, so you may want to consider some type of protection for it. I personally use an AquaClear 50 heater but.

*Aquascape and Substrate*
Hatchlings still have soft shells, so you may not want many rocks or sharp objects in there at first. Some members of this forum mentioned that sand may not be ideal for turtles, but I've seen research that have indicated otherwise. However, I will continue to do research on this subject until I'm sure. Use larger gravel as turtles tend to eat anything they can.

*Conditioner*
Seachem Prime, it's high concentration makes it take a while for you to use all of it.

*Basking Dock*
What you have is fine, but the out of tank is a little better as it allows for more swimming space.

*Basking Light*
The Mega ray bulb has been highly recommended from a few people.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

derekc85 said:


> Hey Josee,
> 
> I've always liked the rimless look, thats just personal preference. I was gonna do a small rimless reef, but a turtle tank would be simpler.
> 
> ...


I love the rimless look too, that's why I bought the Waterhome 32G Euro kit.

I think it was recommended that any bulb be replaced about 8 months of initial use.

I'm also a member of:
http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php??

Which is a turtle forum, almost anyone there can help you more than I can help you.

As for food, I recommend you get the Reptomin 3-in-1 and ZooMed turtle food for Hatchlings. The Reptomin 3-in-1 has pellets, shrimp, and krill. The pellets are the same as Reptomin baby.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I only echo the tank size issue. The tank is really nice, just very very temporary and if anyone else has had the same issues with RES. they can actually climb very well. lol 

I always try to think in the long term with any new pet, so just be aware of the upgrades you would need to do to keep your animals healthy and happy. 

indoor pond enclosures can be done really well and they turn out very nice too! I only hope to one day have the space for some nice stock tanks.

Any turtle dock you make is fine in the tank, when they get bigger they might sink a dock like that so you'd have to support it. The main goal is for the turtle to get all the way out and dry completely if he/she likes.

I would personally look at what you would like more. The rimless look of that tank or a turtle. If really want that tank I would to it as a planted 50/50 tank with fish or even something neat with mangroves and some sort of aquatic SW crab.. (mind the climbing out part :/)

Hope that helps!


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

What you could do is get too much filtration now (like 2 AquaClear 110s or a Rena xp3 or 4, or maybe even an Eheim) and get a custom rimless rank in the future.

Btw, I don't recommend RES. From what I've heard, most of them are smuggled in. If you want something that stays small, keep an eye out for male black-knobbed map turtles, or any male map turtle.


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## derekc85 (Oct 23, 2008)

Yes I've read too that baby RES are smuggled in.

I'm looking for a small Miss. Map turtle, ~2-3". I was at AllReptiles last week, and they said they are getting some in. Anybody see it anywhere else?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yup they have some cute ones close by actually. Big als scar on kennedy had some maps and RES


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

If you're in Scarborough, you might as well go to Lucky's, when I went two weeks ago they were $20.

They're pretty much at any Big Al's, I have a reptile guy that I'll ask if he can get me some black-knobbed maps. The males of that species only grows up to 5inches and if I'm lucky, only 3.5 inch.

My Mississipi map from Big Al's is about 4-5 months old, estimated by someone who is really into the turtle hobby and knows when Big Al's got their shipment in. My turtle is als oabout 1.5 inches, I bought him for about $33 because of the 25% off all livestock deal they have.


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