Habitat - Indoor :: Red Ear Slider Setup

[jezzell]

my turtle would be in heaven there lol-she eats the bugs that land in her water hehe=)

[TexasJagsFan]

Okay we have both a Home Depot and Lowes here. I just found out today when I was cleaning the old 20 gallon tank, it has some chips in the glass on the outside. So either I'm going to use my old 10 gallon or I'm going to buy a new 20 gallon which I don't even want to know how much.

Anyone has any 20 gallon or larger aquariums they want to get rid of?

[TexasJagsFan]

my turtle would be in heaven there lol-she eats the bugs that land in her water hehe=)

I'm not sure where you live, but in this part of the country, we have Black Widows, Brown Recluses, both of which I've killed while living out here. We have major tick problems, supposedly there are trantulaus, and my mom thought see saw a mouse in the garage yesterday. We have everything stinkin bug known to man kind here.

[marisa]

Try tag and yard sales for a used tank. Also newspaper ads. I've seen them advertised fairly frequently.

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

Yes, garage/yard sales are the best place to find some good stuff, "One man's junk is another man's treasure", I found my 29 gallon tank for only 5 dollars, it was really grungy with algae and sand all over the place (I shoulda took a pic), I cleaned it really good and now it is good as new.

The white rectangle in the big tank is the old tank (10 gallon):

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

i found my 30 gallon tank at a garage sale also for $25 with a bunch of stuff in it. they just gave me all of this stuff

[TexasJagsFan]

well I setteled for a 10 gallon tank for 5 bucks.

[ohiolobo]

I seriously doubt a screen top blocks needed UVA/UVB unless the screen is so tight the light is not getting through. Typical screen tops from pet stores are fine wire mesh with roughly 1/8 inch gaps.

Based on a table from Melissa Kaplan's web site a typical screen top from a pet store (.125 " mesh) would transmit 67% of the UVA and 71% of the UVB. A glass cover transmits 78% UVA and 5% UVB.

The glass cover is not acceptable for turtle health as far as UVB rays. The screen, while not the same as no cover at all could be a workable solution for someone needing some sort of cover. I would not go below a 1/8" mesh screen however.

[marisa]

Yes, I've also read that conventional screens block about 30% of UVB rays. I've also read that a screen with holes less than 3/8" shouldn't be used (which from what I've seen leaves out every screen I've seen in petstores) and I wouldn't want a screen with holes smaller than that. To me, if I'm spending all that money on UVB lights (adds up over time), 30% is way too much UVB to lose.

If a screen is needed, you can make one out of hardware cloth that has 1/2" holes fairly easily...