200 gallon aquarium setup for turtles

[Snoanjl]

I am new to this forum so if I posted in wrong spot please let me know. I am hoping to find someone with experience to give me advice on my set up.

I have two, 5-6 inch red eared slider turtles (and a few fish) I am switching from a 55 gallon to my new/used 200 gallon aquarium. I would like some professional advice on proper setup to maximize filtering, heating, and anything else I might be missing. I have seen so much conflicting info that I hope to find someone that actually has experience.


Current items I have to be used in new setup:


filtration - 2 canister filters: both sunsun 304 b w/uv, 525 gph and rated for 150 gallon each


water heating - two submersible water heaters, one glass 150 w, one 100 w for reptiles.


air pump for 150 gallon with two large stones


Basking - proper heat/light/uva/uvb


Fake trees, rock tunnel, few beach rocks... no substrate or live plants. My turtles are destructive.


I am going to make a basking dock out of a driftwood tree with a platform on top, standing in middle of tank.


My new/used tank is 200 gallons with dimensions of 36x48x27. It was previously a salt water tank and has 4 predrilled holes, two behind each overflow panel in back, for a sump. The amount of water I will be putting in tank will probably be close to 150 gallons.



Questions and concerns:

My submersible heaters cords are not long and would have to go on back wall, maybe in overflows? Or....

I could buy 2 inline external heaters for the output filter hoses but would they keep up with the water flow from my canisters? I have also heard hydor ones are not the standard size and are hard to seal plumbing if not used with their filters?


Will the longer spans of tubing for filters make them less effective? This tank is bigger than my current so I will need all new hoses much longer to go where I think they need to go. Or....

Could/should I use some of the predrilled holes for something to make this setup more effective? Possibly hooking up one or both of the canister filters to them with bulk heads. If I did hook up both canisters to predrilled holes, would there be enough water flow throughout tank to keep it all clean? Two intake in one corner and two output in other. My thought was I would have to run both filters more diagonal instead of all on one wall to keep the whole tank clean? And if I did hook up canisters to bulk heads, can I remove the overflows or drill holes in them to feed canisters? Water level is going to be much lower than the current overflow height.

Or I could just use my canisters as they come, and just buy new intake output pipes to fit new tank.


I have considered making a sump but only know what I have read. From my research there is a lot that could go wrong and would probably not work that well for turtles anyway. (Because they are so dirty and their waste sits on bottom and sumps pull from overflow like a skimmer?) I also read that sumps would be louder than my canisters and may not work well with a lower water level? I could be wrong though. Have seen conflicting ideas on this and no personal experience with it.


I am open to all ideas on this. Not afraid to put in a little time or money to make this tank awesome and reasonably low maintenance. (And less wires and hoses and such for my turtles to tear apart).


Also a side note for those concerned. My floor is reinforced for the weight of this tank

 

[SandNukka15]

I would use a sump... since tfhe tank is already drilled u can have the 2 filters inputs in the sump fill them with only bio media. Have the outputs into the tank and the water will just overflow back into the sump.... use filter socks since turtles are dirty and some more filter floss/bio media in the sump.....u cam also keep ur heaters in there

 

[Homer Siped]

Definitely do a sump, way easier to deal with IMHO. I don't use filter socks, although itd definitely help getting the big stuff out before the filter floss. Only problem with overflows and turtles is that they like to climb. Mine will climb over into overflow, assuming he likes the suction on his shell? The more water you run through filters the better, like sandnukka said turtles are quite dirty critters.

 

[Snoanjl]

So how would I get water into the overflow? Pipes over the edge with holes all the way down to bottom of tank to clean and for water circulation I am guessing? But if that is the case... how would that be better or easier than the canisters? The point of using the drilled holes for me would be to hide piping but if I have to have pipes on outside of it anyway that doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe I am missing something.

 

[Homer Siped]

I run my tank full to top with water. He has always liked deep water. With that being said he also has a shallow areato get up on. When he was in a 75 gallon tank, I had the water to top and built a ramp with a full basking area for him to get out of water, had an aquarium that I cut bottom out of to sit over top of basking area. Right now my tank isn't finished yet, still trying to decide how I want to do top

 

[Homer Siped]

He hasn't tried to climb out as of yet, been set up for a year now

 

[Homer Siped]

Sorry phone being stupid

 

[Snoanjl]

Thank you for the visuals. I did think about that with this new tank but it is so big that we wouldn’t even be able to see the turtles hardly because they would be to high up while basking. My kids didn’t like this idea Also, this new tank has a large canopy lid that will house all my lighting and stuff perfectly. That is why I decided on the lower than overflow water level. They will still have 1.5 feet of water to swim in in a 3x4 box so they should be good. Mine love swimming too. Currently in a 55 gallon but they are still little.

 

[Homer Siped]

Good looking turtles ya got there. I don't know much about canister filters as far as how much head height they would be able to pull. Could redrill tank? I'm a wuss, I have avoided drilling in all of my glass tanks. I ran 2 hob filters in a box in a 55 that I had mine in years ago, was able to keep water level low, down side is loosing space in tank and I HATE hob filters. I might have had 30 gallons in it and the 2 filters I had we're rated for a 55 gallon tank each and water quality still sucked.

 

[Snoanjl]

Good looking turtles ya got there. I don't know much about canister filters as far as how much head height they would be able to pull. Could redrill tank? I'm a wuss, I have avoided drilling in all of my glass tanks. I ran 2 hob filters in a box in a 55 that I had mine in years ago, was able to keep water level low, down side is loosing space in tank and I HATE hob filters. I might have had 30 gallons in it and the 2 filters I had we're rated for a 55 gallon tank each and water quality still sucked.

Definitely won’t do hob. Lol. Or drilling for that matter. I have had several different canisters and honestly I like them. Never had a problem. It is a closed system so no chance of malfunction other than maybe leak? But never had that problem. Pretty easy to change media and such. Was just hoping to be able to hide my in and outputs though behind overflow panels but would have to drill holes in plastic overflows maybe so water can get in. I have been considering a sump just wasn’t sure if it would really be better than what I have. Since the tank is square pretty much I want to make sure the water flow is right to make sure whole thing stays clean. If that makes sense.