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hi all,

i am new to this forum and new to turtles.
I recently aquired 3 baby RES that are currently in a 10 gal. tank with all lighting and warmth sorted out. We quickly realized what we have gotten ourselves into and now, being dedicated to the cutest things ever, want to invest in a 80 - 100 gallon tank so they can grow in that for a while. I have been looking on craigslist, ebay, etc. and have found some affordable options now, but I am concerned about the dimensions of the potential tank. Most tanks seem to be made for fish and appear to be pretty tall. I want to have plenty of water depth for these kids to swim in, but my concern is accessability (if the wall is too tall, how will I reach them, and will there be enough depth for turtles). What kind of tank and dimensions should I be looking for?

if anyone has a tank in the So Cal area that would fit our needs, please let me know.

thanks! I am so glad I found this forum, whew.

I can't give you exact dimensions, but will say that a tank that's longer and and wider is preferable to one that's taller. The former would afford your turtles more surface area for swimming (rather than swimming vertically up and down the side of the tank).

A depth over 16 inches is fine for swimming, and standard glass aquariums over 15 gallons are more than 16 inches deep.

Is money an object?

I think I've gone through this before, but, if you're considering a 90-gallon tank, know that it doesn't offer that much over a 55-gallon tank in terms of surface area--they're both 4 feet long, and the 90 gallon tank is only 5" wider (it's taller, so it holds more water).

A standard 125 gallon tank is 72" X 18" and provides 9 square feet of surface area. They are supposedly not that much more expensive than 90 or a 100 gallon tanks, but have much more space (I'm a stock tank person, so I only know this from someone who I consider to be knowledgable about these things.) You can sometimes find a low model 125-gallon tank that will be less expensive than a high model 100-gallon tank.

If you go bigger, be aware that a 150-gallon tank has essentially the same surface area/footprint as a 125-gallon tank, the difference is that it's taller, but doesn't really offer any great advantage over the 125-gallon tank.

Hope this helps rather than confuses...

With three turtles and using the 10 gallons per inch of turtle guideline and taking into account that they will grow anywhere from 7-12 inches depending on whether they are male or female then you will need a tank that is 210-360 gallons. For something that large you would want go with an indoor pond or a stock tank. Those would sit on the floor so you would be able to get to everything. If you just want to get something smaller for the next year or so before they outgrow it then you could pick up a longer wider glass tank. Long wide tanks are shorter so you can reach the bottom.

I am new as well and my guess would be one that you have room for and you can reasch easier to clean. But what I do have for you, in case you don't have already, is a tank calculator. This way you can measure a prospective tank and get a good ballpark on the water volume it will hold.


http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/areajava.html

thank you everyone, this confirms my thinking and as long as I can find the low/wide option, we should all be happy. sadly, money is a factor but I will find what I need and make it work, I am confident.
Extra thanks to Marisa for the head's up on the difference between those tanks sizes, its super helpful. If anyone has any examples of dimensions, that could help too. This being new for me makes it a little hard to envision what will work when relating gallons to physical size. thanks!

There's a website for custom made aquariums that has all the different dimensions. I used it when trying to decide what tank I wanted to get... Maybe it will help you decide too


The prices look great but after adding shipping and handling.. just easier to get it locally.

http://www.glasscages.com/?sAction=ViewCat&lCatID=2

Good luck and let us know how you make out and what you decide

thanks! this is a great resource.

That glasscages site wanted to charge me more for the shipping than what the tank cost and I would have had to driven like 400 miles to pick it up from the freight terminal they were going to ship it to. I would avoid them unless they are doing one of their shows or whatever in your area. Even then they want to charge you a hefty fee to pick it up from them.