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this is my canopy that extends my tank 18 inches further up, allowing me to fill up the tank to the brim and still leave space for a basking area and plants. I really wanted to give the turtle as much water as possible and I was also sick of cleaning up that unsightly waterline calcium buildup on the glass.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1giPO9JA4g[/youtube]

Looks good!

Are you using sheets of cork stacked up for your basking dock?

yes Michael, I'm using corkboard, I had to precut the sheets and then glue them together with silicone and seal with silicone any part that touches the water as well, but it works very well, There is a stair type grade for the turtle to climb on, and he does it easily since it goes about 3-4 inches into the water. I have tried a few options for the basking platform and this one is just what I needed.


here is a few more pictures of the details on the canopy...























I wish I took pictures of the project while I was constructing it, but this is all that I have of it now.

Great job, I really like what you've made. What kind of filtration are you using?

for the 55 gallon tank I'm running the odyssea CFS 500 canister filter bought on Ebay for $55. I split the intake hose into 4 seperate tubes using pvc pipe fittings and all of those 4 tubes are sucking up water through an undergravel filter tray. The filter tray is covered with mostly flat slate stones with small gaps in between, and this way I find that the sinking poo and mess all gets sucked through the tray and into the filter that way. I also put in about a liter of seachem matrix into the canister filter, where the bioballs would be, and that seems to be working very well. with only the 9" tiger oscar a med sized RES, and a 12" pleco sharing the tank my nitrates are pretty much at zero all of the time. I still do weekly water changes but only about 20% of the water now.

It looks awesome!! thanks again this is a huge help with my build!!

looks good bro!

Could you post a picture of your cork board basking dock?

happycamper wrote:Could you post a picture of your cork board basking dock?

I can do that, give me a few days.

Awesome!!!
It's like a turtle's dream fantasy..but I want to move in...

thanks


here are the basking platform pictures...

from the top


from underwater


out of the water, side profile showing the step on the side. The wider section rests in between the grooves on the top rim of the tank, where a lid would usually sit.


steps out of water


side profile


bottom, showing the silicone layer. It makes cleaning the platform easy. algae is can be removed with just my finger, no tools.

Looks good! So everything goes through the tray, there's no intake tube?

yes, I find that the turtle poo and the oscar poo is too heavy to float in the water anyways, so everything sinks, and gets sucked up by the filter, although the undergravel tray's mess is such that the turtle poo has to break into bits before it gets sucked through, its just to big to get through the grate in one piece. I am thinking of taking out the trays and cutting out some bigger slits, and covering the whole thing with pieces of slate rock without any of the river stones... just a thought.