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Hey guys,

I woke up this morning to find Thor's head being sucked into the filter's inlet, YIKES!!! shut off the filter, disconnected the inlet plastic housing and together we got him freed. I think he's ok, I have no idea how long he was stuck, but he's doing pretty much normal turtle stuff, although he is hiding much more, a rough day for the little guy!

needless to say I chucked that filter inlet system! now the one he has is just the normal run of the mill stock inlet that came with the filter, and there's no way that can happen again with the stock inlet.

the good thing about the non-stock system is that it ran along the bottom of the tank and had three inlets, so I think it was doing a really good job at filtration across the entire tank.

the problem that I have with the stock inlet is that it is very "centralized" and it is located in one corner, so I don't think it does a very good job of sucking up the, well you know. unfortunately there's really no other location I can put it, even the hoses for the non-stock inlet system ran across that same corner.

note, the filter is a canister type and is rated for a tank three times larger than Thor's tank, and no matter where the inlet is located a fairly strong current comes out of the outlet, so maybe that mixes the intake water up and the stock inlet is not sucking water that is so centralized, idk???

what type of inlet devices do you guys use, I want to find something that will do good job sucking across the entire tank if possible

thanks!

Thor

Sounds like you just got him in time! Can you elaborate on the filter? Can you link to the brand? The safest inlet system would be PVC pipe with a cap and some holes drilled throughout the pipe. It's sort of like a spray bar but for an inlet.

I think Thor is doing fine THANKFULLY (or my daughter would hate me forever). He's basking, and eating some turtle treats (chopped up water snail and dried shrimp), but he's not very social, well he's never been very social you can see him hiding in the one picture.

Thor has a Marineland C-220 canister filter, the inlet cover now in place is the stock one that looks like an upside down bird cage, picture. The other inlet device is the PVC tubing, picture. Physics says in order for there to be an even flow (sucking in this case) the holes must be graduated in size, kind of like what you see in overhead A/C systems. The hole size ratio is dependent on the length between the holes. So I did the math, and came up with the hole sizes shown. Obviously what I did not account for was that Thor could stick his head into the largest opening, duh me! I should have thunk that he'd try and stick his head in there soon or later. So I guess I could redo the math using a smaller sized largest intake hole, or I could affix some bars (maybe just one) over the opening, so he can't do that again.

The gray PVC pipe is the outlet, picture, and it's angled to break the water surface between 6 and 8 inches depending on the water level.

I guess what I'm wondering is if there is a commercially made intake apparatus that other RES owners use, or I could just modify mine?

hey one other question, we pulled Thor out of the creek as a hatchling a little larger than a quarter two and a half years ago. He's now about 2.5 inches in shell length from front to back. Is that kind of small for a 2.5 year old RES ?. We DON'T want him to outgrow his tank! but I'm also abit concerned if he's healthy at that size, or are we unintentionally feeding him too little. He does get a VERY diverse diet of plants and aquatic critters, and worms (his favorite), and monthly water cleaning, and water level checked on daily.

thanks for your thoughts!!!

Todd

The only modifications I've seen to intakes are the spray bar thing or glueing/siliconing it together.

He's a little small but that shouldn't be an issue and long as it's a steady growth. What are you feeding him? It's possible it's too little. As for tank size... you need to upgrade accordingly. Are you sure he's a male?

Here's a pic of his/her belly and shell, maybe you can tell if Thor is a girl or boy?

Here's a pic of the modified intake system. It has an aluminum bar running across the two main intakes, and a few holes drilled along the intake pipes (no physics/math to figure out the right hole ratio size, just swag)

I'd need to see pic of were the cloaca is, but he's still a bit small to be certain.

Yeah Thor is still a little too small to determine it's sex, but getting a good look at the tail and claws could help.

As for my turtle, the canister filter I bought had a long intake valve but a short output valve. The main reason I got it was to avoid dealing with the pouring water wound when trying to get to bed. I bought some plastic and piping to route the water into the tank. As it currently stands, there's no way for her to get her head stuck because the intake valve is not only too small for her massive adult head but it's protected with the standard stock casing. It catches dead feeder fish as well.

I like the idea of the aluminum bar, how is it held in place?

Peva, what kind of piping did you use?

I think it's PVC but I'm not sure, I've been using it for about three years though.