My turtle tank set-up

[hector-the-turtle]

SET-UP : 36"X15"X12" TANK , TETRATEC EX1200, TETRATEC 200W HEATER, REPTILE THERMOMETRE, UNDERWATER THERMOMETER, PLANTS, LOG, GRAVEL, MEDIUM BASKING RAMP, 40W HEAT BULB.

2X BABY YELLOW BELLY SLIDER TURTLES

NEXT ON LIST IS AN UNDER GRAVEL FILTER WITH AIR PUMP

IL POST VIDEOS UP AFTER THEY HAVE UPLOADED ON YOUTUBE

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS

 

[BigCountry]

Not bad! Very neat and clean!

I would advise against an undergravel filter though. That will just get really messy with 2 turtles. You would be looking at a ton of maintenance to keep it clean/running I think.

Best bet would be to get a good canister filter, one that can filter a lot of turtle poop! Less headache and easier for you to keep the tank clean.

 

[Drunken]

Nice setup, i used to keep a RES and yellow bellied slider my self. You might wanna get rid of the gravel though, or switch to sand. There`s a high risk that they will eat the gravel and then get stuck in their digestive system ( wich will require surgery).

Also all (allmost, very few species that dont) turtles require UVB light in order to get/obtain vitamin B/calcium

This is were i spent my time when i was keeping turtles, very good information on theese two sites
www.redearslider.com

www.turtletimes.com

Edit: A bulb wich puts out heat and uvb light are very expensive (mercury vapor bulbs), you can get some fluorescent uvb bulbs pretty cheap, wich will put out the required UVB %. But you need run a second bulb in order to get the heat on the basking spot.

 

[hector-the-turtle]

i have uvb bulb mate but they dont like it they wont go near it but when i put normal heat bulb back in they love it. il take ur advice on undergravel filter, i the filter i hav is a canister filter its bigger tha the fluval range

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8w-Na95z00

heres video of the set up

and video of them feeding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVbeJlv4aFw

 

[gtclipse01]

Is that heater up to the minimum water line? It looks like it should be more covered..

 

[gtclipse01]

i have uvb bulb mate but they dont like it they wont go near it but when i put normal heat bulb back in they love it. il take ur advice on undergravel filter, i the filter i hav is a canister filter its bigger tha the fluval range

He's saying you should have two lights... a fluorescent tube with UVB spectrum AND your basking lamp.

 

[hector-the-turtle]

no because if i fill tank up more they turtles struggle to swim in that deep of water for ther size, the water temp is at the right level anyway so its not doing any harm being above water level and i may try to set it up for both bulbs. im getting a background this week for the tank

 

[brianhau1]

the heater should be fully in the water

 

[tcarswell]

I would consider the heater needs to be moved down in the water bro...

Edit brian beat me to it.

Great setup though!

 

[jschall]

I wouldn't use an undergravel filter. Canister filters are by far the best at providing filtration for turtle tanks.

Turtles will eat gravel and become impacted. I would HIGHLY recommend switching to sand or bare bottom. Both are MUCH easier to maintain than gravel is anyway. Some of the best sand to use is pool filter sand, as it's fairly coarse and won't kick up into your filter as much, and will get trapped in a canister's media before it gets to the impeller.

Highly recommend getting a visi-therm stealth heater. They're not made of glass so they're not likely to break.

For two RES, this tank will need to be upgraded to at least a 90 gallon eventually. Apart from that, your setup looks great.