Habitat - Indoor :: New Habitat advice please!

[emm13]

I was hoping to get some advice for my new RES habitat I'll be making in the next couple of months.
I finally have an apartment where I can bring Donnatella from NH where she's living with my parents, so I decided to do an entire tank upgrade. I hoping to get a 75 gal tank, and I'm just trying to figure out what the best heater/ filter/ basking dock options may be. Donnie is about 6" long, and very destructive. She likes to pull her heater off the wall, along with her filter tubes. She's also a huge fan of "redecorating" her tank- when she pushes her dock around her tank. I'm looking into maybe getting plants for her as well. Decorations like large rocks haven't worked in the past (she kept piling them under her dock, and then got upset when she couldn't hide under it), so I'm hoping to get some good advice. Thanks!

~Emily

*Animal lover, photographer, and hopefully future med student*

[cutepanda86]

Sheldon likes to play destructo-turtle too but not like that. I would suggest glue, lots of it.

In all seriousness though, do you have some pictures of her current setup? How large are these rocks that she pushed around? Plants would be nice but you'll have to anchor them which for your Donnie probably means sand and not rocks. What kind of dock does she have? May have to go ATBA for her.

[devilduck]

Do you have a canister filter? You can use an inline heater that attaches to the filter tubing.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewitem. ... oCfh_w_wcB

[steve]

And if the turtle likes to bite the basking area, let her bite cork bark.

[emm13]

Cutepanda: I do not have any current pictures =( She's all the way in NH, and I'm in MO. My parents are taking care of her currently, and while they send me pics of her, they haven't sent me any of her tank w/ the newest filter and setup yet. The rocks she pushed around were about 3-4", not too big.
Donnie's dock right now is a wonderful slate dock my uncle made for me (its pretty, but my dad has had to repair it a couple times due to her "redecorating" efforts).
Are there any downsides to having sand in her tank? It looks like a lot of threads on here recommend sand over gravel, but she's always had a bare tank. I thought that sand would too easily clog the filter.
Devilduck: That in-line heater is intriguing.... I will definitely look into that!
Steve: That is definitely something I'm looking into! It would be nice to not have to worry about her wrecking a dock.

[cutepanda86]

Ok 3 to 4 inches for a turtle that size isn't surprising then. Sheldon did the same thing with his rocks too. Sounds like a lovely dock. Although with her penchant for pushing rocks, maybe a location up against a corner of the tank with something next to it to prevent movement is what's needed here. I did that with Sheldon's new basking platform after he started to eat the old one. It doesn't move and he gave up trying.

As far as sand goes, I have a bare bottom tank as well. However, I'm not trying to secure anything to the bottom like plants. Gravel can be dangerous and if I was going to have a substrate it would be sand. It shouldn't clog the filter as long as the intake isn't sitting right on top of it. It may allow Donnie to dig without trying to move stuff around and channel her redecorating. Check out the Sand FAQ thread

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17268

[steve]

For the cork, she can still wreck it but not that quickly.

[emm13]

Okay I'm definitely looking into the cork idea, as well as looking into something with slate or natural stone. What are your opinions on using cinderblocks/ bricks in a tank? I just got a free tank from my new neighbor (75ish gallons), and they also gave me what they had been using for a dock- a cinderblock on bricks, as well as one of the pre-made zoomed ramps. I'm not sure I like the aesthetics of that, and I'm also concerned with whether its healthy for her. Thanks for all your input! Still working on a way to actually get Donnie to MO, so this is going to be a slow build.

[steve]

Those are too heavy and abrasive in my opinion. They take up too much room as well. Remember, most tank stands support weight from the side, not just on the bottom. Blocks/bricks are fine in larger ponds and stock tanks. Tile/PVC also work for me.

[emm13]

Okay, thanks! I'll definitely get rid of them. I hadn't even considered the weight distribution issue.
My parents are making a road trip out here in two weeks and bringing Donnie with them This means my timeline is greatly sped up... Next on my list is testing if I need to reseal the free tank I got, and then trying to get rid of the hard water stains on it. The sad/ scary part of the leak test is that I can't physically move the tank outside to test it- I'll have to check for leaks in my kitchen. Wish me luck!

[steve]

Good luck! How old is the tank? If the tank was well-maintained, the seals could last for years and years.

[emm13]

So far so good! I have about 15 gallons in there right now... I'm waiting a few hours before I add some more.
I have no idea how old the tank is, since it was just given to me and I didn't think to ask its age. It seems to be in fairly good condition, besides the massive hard water stains and some scratches, but I'm just really paranoid with the seals. Since I live in an apartment, I don't want to cause any flooding damage.

[steve]

Weak seals could be very noticeable. Specifically check the corners and water lines. Anything that is not pure silicone could be hiding something.

[emm13]

Thanks for all the help!

The tank is leak free, thankfully. Donnie is starting to settle in- my dad made a new dock for her, and for a while I was concerned about traction, but she seems to be able to climb the dock just fine. She hasn't totally adjusted to STL life yet- she doesn't like being seen on her dock. And due to a job transfer (with a much more stable position), I'm going to have to put her through the stress of moving- AGAIN. Thankfully this move will only be a couple hours in the car. I'm hiring movers to take care of the tank (as it is too big for me to carry and will not fit in my car), so hopefully everything will go smoothly. So far her heater is holding up well without needing an upgrade, as is her filter. Apparently my parents upgraded her filter a couple months before the move and never told me- so that saved me a ton of money! I'm keeping an eye out on Craigslist for another tank though- I hope I won't need another tank upgrade for a while, but if the right deal pops up on a 90 or 100+ gallon tank, I may just take it. Also going to work on a better dock for her- the one my dad made is nice, but I worry about its durability in the long run. Its made out of some sort of medical grade plastic/ resin material which looks cool, but the ramp has a bit more bend in it than I'd like to see- Donnie is getting quite heavy.
Anyway- thanks for all the help! I'm going to take all your suggestions in mind, and hopefully get around to these upgrades I have in my head.

~Emily

[steve]

What's the ramp made of? Can it be bent so it's not so much of an incline? Post some pics already