Habitat - Indoor :: newbie setup - HI!

[mullman]

Hi,

We just got two baby RES (1" dia) and am setting up their home.

Have a 10 gallon tank, small pebbles covering bottom, then very large stones on one side for basking. 5 gallons of water in tank, fluval 1 filter (underwater 50 GPH). Tank sits by window. Turtles are active and are eating well.
Water temp is 75 so I think they are warm enough.

Very pleased with this filter.

Might add 2-3 tiny fish and and if they eat them sobeit.

EDIT - I am going to get a 3" PVC elbow today and rework the tank burying the elbow for a hiding place.

Anything else?

[sonyj]

The ten gallon is okay for a temporary home, but you will want to look into upgrading as your turtles grow. The general minimum recommendation is ten gallons per inch of turtle. You will have to double this since you have two. Remembering that as mature turtles these two will need between 180-240 gallons of habitat if kept together, will help you. Going as large as you can early in upgrading will keep the cost down later as well.

You will need to remove the small gravel off the bottom of the tank sooner or later as well. RES tend to eat the gravel if left in the tank as they grow. This leads to impaction and very serious health complications. It has been known to need extensive surgery to remove and even has lead to death in some bad cases. Going ahead and getting rid of it now will make sure they will never have the chance to ingest it.

Be careful with stacking rocks as the basking area. If the rocks shift or tumble it can cause serious injuries to your little guys. Also, the rocks take up valuable swimming and water space in the tank. RES are aquatic turtles and need as much water to swim in as we can give them. Many owners use the floating basking areas for this reason. Also, many people make above tank basking areas to utilize all the tank for swimming so they can fill the tank up as much as possible.

Be careful keeping the turtles in front of a window, especially in smaller tanks with less water such as yours. The heat from the sun can spike the water temps too high and hurt your turtles. Also, the sun heating the water and then the water cooling down later can lead to respiratory infections in younger turtles. A hatchlings water temp needs to be a constant 78 degrees, with the basking temp at least ten degrees higher. You will need a UVB bulb to emit the necessary UVB rays that a turtle needs for healthy shell and bones. They aren't getting any UVB rays from the sun through the window since glass and screen filters the majority of the rays out. Also be sure to have a heat bulb along with the UVB bulb directly over the basking area.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I just wanted to touch the main points of your post. There's so much to learn in keeping happy, healthy RES. Be sure to read the main site and through the forum.

[missibsu]

I second everything that Sonja touched on. Another thing to keep in mind when upgrading the tank...think about the other items that will also need to be upgraded. The filter may work great for your 10 gallon, but it probably won't work so good with a 50 gallon. So, when thinking about a basking dock, think about a large on. It may seem huge now, but it will save money in the future. Same goes for the filter and the heater. Both of those items are based on amount of water in the tank. Also, a good filter would be one that is rated for 3 x's the amount of water in your tank.

[reptilegrrl]

I heartily second and third the info offered by Sonyj and missibsu.

[steve]

I added some random comments in your other post with the same pic... and I also agree with the previous comments.

[Jessica313]

me too haha. i agree with everyone else

[mullman]

Thanks for all the quick replies guys!

We moved the tank away from the window and took some of your advice to heart.

New setup here:



Changes from original setup:
- Incandescent basking lamp for now until I can find the right bulbs.
- Floating turtle dock
- PVC T pipe for privacy
- PetSmart Proquatics underwater filter/heater combo (90 GPH) replaced Fluval 1 plus
- few tiny feader fish just for kicks (2 out of 5 eaten already).
- I threw in a pleco I had in another tan, hopefully to keep it clean. The turtles are not paying him any attention, BUT he is eating their food. I threw in a tiny food pellet this morning and the pleco jumped right up to the top and ate it - I have never seen that in my life. If they bother him I will move him out

Another pic (large) on dock:

http://homepage.mac.com/mulls/res4.jpg

Now a few questions:

Why is my water SO cloudy? My filter is turning the water approx 10x an hour - too much? Possibly the river pebbles?

If I remove all the small river pebbles from the bottom what can I use? I want some type of ground cover.

One turtle just wants to hang out on top the water filter. Is that OK? He is fine and eating, just hanging out there. Should I turn it 90% and keep it underwater?

[missibsu]

He's probably just getting used to his new surroundings.

Water may be cloudy due to a number of reasons. Could be the gravel at the bottom if it wasn't rinsed well. Could be that you added water and you stirred up anything that had settled in the rocks at the bottom. Could be your filter media wasn't rinsed good enough.

For the bottom of the tank. Most people either use nothing at all, or river rock. Some large smooth pieces of rock. Check the photo gallery for pics. The less you have, the cleaner the tank stays, the easier it is to clean.

[sonyj]

It looks so much better. I'd still remove the gravel and replace it with a few river rock. Covering the bottom completely will result in trapped debris that will contribute to poor water quality.

[Jessica313]

looks good!, i agree about removing the gravel though...

also- i would also recommend removing the pleco... your turtle might not be bothering him now, but as he gets a little bigger (or even now) you could come home one day to find the pleco in pieces... that would be sad =(
plecos are soo cute!!!
i have 2 of them... but i keep them in my fish tank.. away from the turtle

[samandnelly]

Use river rocks. Here is a picture of my setup, my turtles are about the size of yours. You should be able to see my rocks in some pictures.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4602

[mullman]

So the river rocks are smaller than the large rocks in my current setup but larger than the gravel? How about a few large pieces of slate on the bottom. Easy to clean and visually OK to

[fishandcandy]

Tank looks great!
The pleco is going to add to the waste in the tank. I'd take him out.
You also might want to add some plastic plants for your turts to climb around in.

[reptilegrrl]

I love those thermofilters. If you ever want to replace it, they are actually made by Hydor, an Italian company- you can get them from most aquarium suppliers. I bought my first one in early 2002 and it lasted until late 2005. I bought my second one last winter and I am going to use it as a pond heater this winter.

[reptilegrrl]

I would add: have you measured the basking temp? It might be too hot for their comfort- that could be why the other one is hanging out on the filter.

Once you get a proper light, I suggest that you ditch the hood altogether- turtles need more ventilation than that. You can attach your proper lights via a clamp, or by attaching them to the wall above the tank.