Habitat - Indoor

Tap also has a web site. We don't have tap plastics around here. The cheapest place I found it was a glass shop. Their web site has everything you can think of as far as plastic goes.

I moved Bubbles' tank, changed around the platforms and added a heat lamp. Here's the "new" setup.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to build an above-tank basking area within the month as well, which I think will be fantastic.

Nice. Have you considered some substrate? Might I suggest pool filter sand. I think mystic white II looks great.

Kansasslider wrote:Nice. Have you considered some substrate? Might I suggest pool filter sand. I think mystic white II looks great.

I've been thinking about getting substrate, but I've been enjoying the ease of cleaning a bare-bottom. I have two other fish tanks and cleaning the gravel can be a pain. I might be getting some soon, and I will definitely be getting some real plants later this week.

Gravel holds a lot more debris than sand and is not recommended for turtle tanks.

Kansasslider wrote:Gravel holds a lot more debris than sand and is not recommended for turtle tanks.

I'll look into the sand. I know you're not supposed to get small gravel because the turtle could eat it. I was looking at a few large river rocks, but as as I was thinking about it they would look strange without something to fill them in.

I had river rock before moving to sand. It looks pretty at first, but all the crud collects deep in the large open spaces. It is easy to stick a siphon vacuum down and suck the gunk up without worrying about the rock, but you also disturb all the nearby gunk that's now floating in the water.

Sand really is much easier to clean, and it provides lots more surface area for additional beneficial bacteria.

Spruced up my basking area with some jack-o-lantern for Halloween lol here's my malayan box turtle

Hello!

I just found out about this forum! For a year, we have a soft-shell turtle, a Plecostomus, and a golfish sharing a 40 long tank (48 x 12 x 16). The tank has two Tetra Whisper 20-40 filters, a heater, a feed ring, some rocks, and two shelters (one set up for basking). It works OK, but the basking area doesn't get used, there is no sand, etc.

1) Anyone see any way to improve this?
2) If I put sand on the bottom, what prevents the filters from sucking it all in?
3) Water level is at 7 inches (due mainly because the filters are sitting on the bottom of the tank.) I suppose I can put the filters up higher, bring the water level up, and getting the filters off the bottom would allow me to put in sand. Thoughts?

I appreciate any help in making this better!

Regards,

Leaning

@ TurtlesOwner97 - I like the decorations a lot!

@ leaning - what kind of soft shell do you have?

Steve,

It's an Eastern Spiny, I believe. Bought it at a flea market a year ago when it was the size of a 50 cent piece. It's a little bigger now.

We bought the goldfish at the same time as food for the turtle, but they are still together. The Pleco was bought about a month later.

We started off with a 10 gallon, then a 20 gallon, then a 20 long, and now a 40 long. This is it tank-wise.

R/ Leaning

steve wrote:@ TurtlesOwner97 - I like the decorations a lot!

Thanks Steve! Glad you like it

leaning wrote:Hello!

I just found out about this forum! For a year, we have a soft-shell turtle, a Plecostomus, and a golfish sharing a 40 long tank (48 x 12 x 16). The tank has two Tetra Whisper 20-40 filters, a heater, a feed ring, some rocks, and two shelters (one set up for basking). It works OK, but the basking area doesn't get used, there is no sand, etc.

1) Anyone see any way to improve this?
2) If I put sand on the bottom, what prevents the filters from sucking it all in?
3) Water level is at 7 inches (due mainly because the filters are sitting on the bottom of the tank.) I suppose I can put the filters up higher, bring the water level up, and getting the filters off the bottom would allow me to put in sand. Thoughts?

I appreciate any help in making this better!

Regards,

Leaning

Hey, welcome to the forum! That's a nice setup! What do you mean by doesn't get used? Your turtle isn't getting up to the basking area and bask?

I think it's possible for you to adjust your filter a few inches higher. That might work.

Hi Learning, I also have an spiny soft shell. Mine is about the same age as yours. I have mine in a 40 gal breeder tank for now. He is about 2 in. in length. I used a standard floating dock from zoomed that I had laying around the house. I put the water at around 7 in. and use an aluminum baking pan filled with sand for a shallow area. I use sand for the bottom. They bury themselves in the sand to hide. Mine will spend a lot of time in the sand. I use a sun sun canister filter with a uv sterilizer. Softies need very clean water to reduce the risk of getting an infection, the uv sterilizer helps with that. I'm using a 100w submersible heater to keep the water temps at 78 degrees. I'm using a 100w SB Mega-Ray bulb for UVB and heat. There is a three fake plants in the tank but nothing else, to allow more swimming space. Softies like to swim and are very good at it. If you click on Boba's link you will see pics of my setup. This is a basic setup and works well. Softies don't bask as much as basking turtles like Red Ear Sliders. Mine will only bask early in the morning and maybe late afternoon. T rest of the time he is usually buried in the shallow end with his neck stretched out and only the tip of his nose above the water surface. He comes out of the sand to feed and forage for food. I hope this helps.

Here is my indoor enclosure for two of my turtles, Zeus and Kuta (YBS and river cooter). I also have two foster RES who are overwintering in the outdoor pond. Last year Zeus and Kuta wintered in a stock tank, but we didn't have room for it this year, so they get a "real" aquarium! It is 75 gallons. The slate tiles at the bottom are holding down some scraps of veggies for my trapdoor snails to eat.

This is the "plant cage" for all the odds and ends of plants that Kuta likes to tear up and leave floating around in the pond. There are bits of irises, lizards tail, lotus, lilies, anacharis, and other random stuff in there. I kept them in a tank on my porch over the summer, but they needed something to live in for the winter since I did not want the harsh ice and cold to kill all the little baby sprouts. So I made a sort of extension off the dock with some more PVC pipe, built walls with egg crate, and then made an open-ended rectangle out of window screen fabric that the whole thing fits into. It makes a space for my baby trapdoor snails to live also.

Zeus and Kuta on their dock! It came out a little cockeyed somehow. :lol:

I glued a slate shingle to the egg crate material. The barricade around the edge of the tank is just scrap wood I had sitting around. Not the prettiest thing ever but it works!

Habitat - Indoor :: POST YOUR BASKING AREA PICTURES HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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