Filter-What I want....How do i do it?

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BigFATTurtle

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 24, 2009
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Hi Everyone. I'm in the process of my first tank build. I'm going to have about a 125 gallon corner set up when it's all said and done. I'm beginning to think about filtration.

I'm housing one Red Eared Slider turtle who is an absolute slob! He is about 7-8 inches. I currently only have a magnum 350 canister filter. it does a decent job, but with all the mess, it's clogged in a week.

On the bottom of the tank will be 1 layer of larger river rocks. What I'd like to do, between them, I'd like to run PVC piping with holes drilled in it. The holes would suck the dirt right off the bottom. I feel like this would really reduce the load on the magnum. I'd keep that running as well.

Now, the question is, what do you suggest I suck it out with? And what type of filtering would you suggest for a high load like this? I'm new to all this, so I'm trying to figure it all out!!!

HELP!
 
One quick question, is the RES a male or female? Only because the female will be good in a 125 but bigger is always better. But the way it sounds like you want to make a UGF using river rocks.. So not to actually be a biological filter but more of a mechanical filter? Tell me if I am getting the picture right if not I am sorry. My suggestion would be to build a sump with internal overflows.
 
i agree, if you are building the tank there's no reason not to go ahead and build a sump that would take care of your mechanical and bio. filtration.
 
Valous;3416648;3416648 said:
One quick question, is the RES a male or female? Only because the female will be good in a 125 but bigger is always better. But the way it sounds like you want to make a UGF using river rocks.. So not to actually be a biological filter but more of a mechanical filter? Tell me if I am getting the picture right if not I am sorry. My suggestion would be to build a sump with internal overflows.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know I should probably go bigger, but I am a bit limited by space (and the wife) at the moment, so I'm going as big as I can. I'm actually not sure if it is a male or female.

Yes, I don't think it would qualify as a biological filter since there is only a single layer of river rock. I'm told I can't use gravel for fear the RES will eat them. Mostly, I just wanna suck the stuff out from the bottom into something that isn't going to clog up so easily. Right now, everytime, the RES swims around, he's kicking up sludge from the bottom and it just look ugly. I do vacuum the gravel once every other week, sometimes every week.

By the way, my kid won this thing at a carnival. Wasn't my idea, but now we are stuck with him and I actually find him very interesting. I've always been into very basic aquarium set ups, so this has my interest really peaked again.
 
well if you post a pic of the turtle I can help.. Take a look at his claws, if they are very long then its a good bet that you have a male. which is good since they stay smaller then femals. Take a look at http://www.turtleforum.com/ or http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheets.htm They are great people on the forum that will help you out. Are you planning on building the corner tank? if not I would suggest setting up a sump cause turtles are very messy and the sump can handel alot more then a magnum 305.
 
You want to put the intake for the filter on the bottom of the tank to suck up all the waste, right?

That should work fine.
 
i would probably just use the gravity of the water to pull it out and disrupt the rocks with a net to get the dirt loose then just use a return pump
 
well i was at work and I might have come up with a solution.. I would think about a sump with the output under the rocks making UGJ (under gravel jets). This will push the crap around and prevent it from sitting on the bottom so the sump can suck up the crud.
 
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