Page 1 of 1

to clarify

PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:39 pm
by nismoasfuh
i am a new owner of a RES, Never BEEN involved in owning a aquarium or terrarium. So through my research i want to just make sure i know what I'm doing before fully committing and slowly putting together and purchasing a habitat for my turtle. So i would just like to do a quick run through and clarify what is best for my turtle and what is REQUIRED. Here is what i have figured out, please let me know if there is anything i am missing:

tank…obviously, (10gallons per inch preferably)
filter….rated for twice the size of tank
water heater
basking area..probably building or buying the turtle topper
UVB light
UVA (basking light)
optional:
fluorescent light to just light up the tank..
subtrates/decoration

so thats what i have figured out through a good amount of research, obviously there is other things to consider like the gravel vacuum (i guess?) as well as repetitide or whatever its called to kill chlorine in the water..(again don't know if thats good or not or even necessary) as well as the thing to apply to the shell of the turtle (again i don't know if its necessary). But if there is anything i have missed out please let me know. The most confusing part are the lights, i will have a basking and a uvb light over the basking area. and a fluorescent to light up the rest of the tank. is that how its supposed to be?

thanks!

Re: to clarify

PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:49 pm
by J.flick8
There are better alternatives to chemicals as far as turtle care goes.

For shell care focus on a balanced diet and to help with chlorine in the water look to filtration. These two threads helped me the most when it came to those topics.

Feeding List!
Filter Media Thread

Other than that you are off to a way better start than I was

Re: to clarify

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:10 pm
by steve
Go big with the upgrades to avoid intermediate upgrades. How big is the turtle, do you know the gender?

Re: to clarify

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:50 pm
by nismoasfuh
its a hatchling assuming its only 2-3 inches at most. the most confusing part for me really is the lighting. i understand that a uvb and a basking light works well together, but i barely see pictures of setups where there are two lights over the basking area. it always looks like one light over the basking area (uvb)

oh and as far as gender...no idea haha, but the hole under its tail is closer to its shell im guessing.

Re: to clarify

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:55 pm
by ljapa
Many of us use a mercury vapor bulb, MVB, which provides both heat and UVB. It tends to be more expensive than an incandescent and a cfl UVB. I moved to one out of frustration at a lack of shedding. I was able to provide a wider circle of UVB light with the heat matching the UVB. I don't think it made a difference on shedding, because it was nearly six months after switching to a good MVB UVB that I saw the first shedding.

But, the long and the short is that your turtle needs heat and UVB.