Habitat - Indoor :: Upgraded Setup for 10 Gallon Tank

[NavyPAO]

Hi all,

I've done a little upgrading to my tank setup after reading the stickies here and the advise in so many of the posts. As I said previously, I have a 10 gallon tank. I increased the amount of water and got rid of most of the gravel as suggested. I still need to get the small gravel out and replace it with larger rocks. The hood holds a Repti Glo 5.0 which emits UVA and UVB light. I added the basking lamp which has a 50 watt SunGlo. I need to check what the basking temp. I also added a heater. The water temperature is set at 80 right now because we think our turt might have the beginnings if RI since he is gasping every time he gets out of the water. I would say it looks much better than before.

[jeggy]

thats a great shot of your turtle

[marisa]

Some good improvements! Would like to see a pic of the tank with the river rocks instead of gravel. Your turt is a sweetie.

[butterfly]

I hope that your turtle gets better. Like Ive said before, I dont know much about turtles, since the one I have is the first Ive ever had but I can tell you one thing from experience.

Make sure you check the basking temp asap. I have a tank that is about the size of yours (not much difference in size between a 10 and 20 gallon tank Ive noticed) and I had put in a Sunglo bulb too that was 50 watts and the temp went all the way to 120 degrees. The basking rock was hot to touch, no wonder my turtle was avoiding it even though she wanted to get on it. You would be amazed as to how hot those SunGlo bulbs can get. Its a good thing I had measured the temp as soon as I got that bulb or my turtle would have fried.

A small tank can make the temps hard to control so I had to change the bulb to a regular household 60 watt and finally was able to get the normal 90 degree reading. It took me some time though and I bought a lot of bulbs in order to get it just right so save yourself the expense now and if the Sunglo gets too hot, you might want to try the 60 watt regular like Im doing.

[NavyPAO]

Thanks butterfly! I was actually thinking the exact same thing last night. I noticed when I got home from work that the turt was sitting on the dock but was as close to the waterline as she could get without actually being in the water. I turned off the basking light and within a half hour, she was up on the center of the platform. I guess I will have to try some generic household lightblubs to see which works best for her. One other thing I was wondering though. She does alot of basking but rarely swims around the tank. For a reptile that is supposed to be aquatic, she seesm sto spend more time on the dock than in the water. The water temp was originally around 77-79 degrees so I changed it to around 83 last night. I just hope that does not made the poor thing super hungry all the time.

[ellman605]

I'm with you Navy, i just added some water to my tank, and look at the change!

Before
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b195/ ... G00006.jpg

After
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b195/ ... G00034.jpg

I need a bigger tank, but more water seems to include more entertainment, they seem to enjoy swimming a lot more now, compared to what they did

[steve]

ellman605, it looks like your turts will be able to climb out. I recommend getting a screen sooner than later and those pebbles look small enough to eat, so I'd remove those as well and add some river rocks/plants in their place

[ellman605]

k, advice taken, hmm, how much does a bag of river rocks cost at wal-mart?

[cam722]

You really don't need to go out and buy rocks. You can use ones you find outside. Just make sure you scrub them well so that all dirt is off of them.

[ellman605]

i tried, i'll go steal some from my neighbor's garden tomorrow.

You guys didnt hear that.

[butterfly]

Thanks butterfly! I was actually thinking the exact same thing last night. I noticed when I got home from work that the turt was sitting on the dock but was as close to the waterline as she could get without actually being in the water. I turned off the basking light and within a half hour, she was up on the center of the platform. I guess I will have to try some generic household lightblubs to see which works best for her. One other thing I was wondering though. She does alot of basking but rarely swims around the tank. For a reptile that is supposed to be aquatic, she seesm sto spend more time on the dock than in the water. The water temp was originally around 77-79 degrees so I changed it to around 83 last night. I just hope that does not made the poor thing super hungry all the time.

Maybe she is doing a lot of basking because she might be a little stressed from the tank set up change. I remember when I first got my RES, she would swim in the veby beginning but then a few days later she became really lethargic and would bask most of the time. I got real scared about her possibly dieing but after about a week, without being moved around, she started swimming again and has been ever since.

83 degree for water is a little high I believe. Why did you raise it? Is your RES sick? You should just keep it at 78 constantly. For some reason I havent been able to keep my tank at 78 constantly, I dont know why but it is always at a constant 79. Ive tweeked the water heater a million times but it seems like 79 is the temp of choice for it. Has been since I got it. Maybe because its a small tank, its hard to keep certain temps.