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Hi i haave a 10 gallon tank with river rocks inside i used the river rocks to make the basking area so the water is filled about halfway and about 1/3 of the tank i used the river rocks to make the basking area it looks really nature. I have a ZOO MED 30 gallon underwater filter. I also have 2 hatchling RES. What do i need to look out for, also is this going to be hard to clean? will there be alot of slime, algea, and smell?

p.s i dont feed them in the tank and there is also some guppies in the water to add to the river look


Thank you for the help!

Hi and welcome to Turtle Talk. If you read through the site and forum, you'll notice that the rule of thumb on tank size is 10 gallons of water for each inch of SCL (straight carapace length). So for starters, your tank is too small too for 2 turtles. The heavier the load the more work you're going to have. You'll end up cleaning the tank more because of its inadequate size than if you had a larger tank (learned that from experience ). Which answers your question on the slime, algae and smell. If you get a bigger tank and a filter that does biological, mechanical and chemical filtration, it will reduce the chances of all those.

Although the rocks probably look nice.. they probably aren't the best way to build a basking area. It takes up valuable swimming space, which with your tank size is at a premium. They also need a place in which they can totally dry off, I'm not sure the rocks allow that.

You don't mention any heating or lighthing, How do you provide for those?

Please read the main forum site.. http://www.redearslider.com and search through the forum for additional info on how to care for your new pet..

I'd love to see the setup before commenting on it if you have any pics to post, but the problem with making "beaches" in your tank is that it takes up a lot of your turtles swimming area. The more water you can add (without giving them room to escape) the better for your turtles. A lot of people on here either buy a floating dock or make one (out of pvc and other things) that still lets their turtles have 90% of their tank to swim in.

In my opinion it would be hard to clean. You'll have to reconstruct it each time you do a water change. But it may not be as messy since you're feeding in another tank.

And welcome to the forum... How big is your turtles? If you have pics we'd love to see them.

Welcome. Not only do all those rocks make cleaning harder and take up swimming space, if they're on the small side, there's a chance they could shift when your turtles try to climb them. And unless you've build it up high enough, your turtles might not be able to dry their plastrons off completely. Better to have a basking area that doubles as a hiding space/additional swimming area. Your turtles don't have much space in a 10-gallon tank. It would be good to think about upgrading the tank and getting a better filter.