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Hi turtle lovers,
Here are some pictures of the riparium I recently built to house my 5 year old red ear slider along with south american cichlids.
So its 110x45x50 cm glass (sorry I'm in metric system) 220L (I believe its something like 55 breeder tank)
Filter is a DIY wet/dry filter with all kinds of filter media inside. Its doing a good job so far, I've been using it for 3 years now, not a single problem with my animals.
For lights I have arcadia D3 39W T5 HO, and regular fluo bulb 32W 6400k for emerged plants.
I grow acorus gramineus, Lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) and I am gonna add Umbrella papyrus (Cyperus alternifolius) soon. With few more species added I am hoping that this riparium will look like a real river bank. Also, emerged part of the driftwood is basking area for turtle which might not be as accessible as it probably should, but turtle doesn't seem to mind.
I have one RES about 5 years old, 4 heros rotkeil (I'll end up having just one pair eventually), 2 angelfish(scalare) and a bunch of neon tetras.
The whole point of me spending so much time and money building this tank is to prove that turtle tanks can be just as beautiful as some aquascapes. Unfortunately one can't really find a lot of good looking tanks on youtube and forums. Some of them are ok, and some I won't even comment. I know that this is really tough considering what kind of animal we are keeping, they eat and dig out plants, they eat fish, move rock and substrate around, but still, in my opinion, no need for colorful plastic elements, bare bottoms and other stuff. I did my best to replicate the natural environment for the benefit of my turtle, and I wanted to have a nice peace of nature in my living room. Let me know if I did a good job!
Greetings from Serbia!

Welcome to the forum! Your tank and turtle look great. How is the water quality? Do you have a lamp that provides some basking warmth?

I think your tank looks great. I am sure your turtle enjoys it, you are not only making it look great but allowing the turtle to have more of a natural habitat and I think that is fantastic. Love the basking picture, I see nothing wrong with her having to work at getting there, she has to use her brain and her coordination and that has to be good for her.

Some day I would like to design a more natural habitat as well, What kind of wood did you use and is there any special things you need to do to the wood before putting it in the tank? I realize they have fallen drift wood in ponds, but I do worry about putting something in my tank that may be somewhat toxic since its such a small amount of water compared to a large pond or stream.. But it does warm my heart to see a turtle basking on what they naturally would in the wild.. Only thing better then one turtle is a few turtles stacked up on it.. haha

Thanks! 32W compact bulb provides heat for the basking area. I used to have incandescent bulb above the basking area, but i replaced it for many reasons. I dont like the light it emits, it wastes energy which by using fluorescent bulb I use to grow my plants and filter my water. Water quality is good, and its getting better since my plants develop bigger root system every day, and I keep adding more and more. You know it takes a good filter to clean up after turtle especially accompanied by big heros cichlids. They grow as big as turtle. But I prefer natural ways of maintaining good water quality over chemicals. I do 50% water change once a week.
For driftwood, I believe is willow's root picked up by friend of mine at the Danube river shore. Being the biggest European river, Danube rips entire trees from the ground and leaves them on few spots. Its like unlimited driftwood source Of course not all trees are good for aquarium, pines for e.g. are not even though they look amazing. If you want to add driftwood I'd recommend consulting someone who knows what he's doing, and since English isn't my first language I don't really know the names of trees.
For the preparation, bark removing and boiling is the best way, but its impossible to boil peace this big. So you can use KMnO4 to kill all bacteria on it, and its important to know is the river you are taking it from polluted. Just be smart about it, do some research and you'll be fine. I never buy this sort of things in pet stores because it would be ridiculously expensive.
And here's a video of my turtle having dinner.

Cheers!

= So you can use KMnO4 to kill all bacteria on it, and its important to know is the river you are taking it from polluted.

I am new to pet turtle ownership. I am not sure what this is.

If english is not your first language you are doing great with the translation. If you are using a translater, its a good one..

The Video was great. I love hand feeding turtles such a great way to bond with them. She looks pretty happy in there. Curious to see how she does leaving the live plants alone.

I will keep that in mind about the drift wood.. Good point about getting it where its not polluted.. I think I know of such a place here. While have to hike a bit to get to it though..lol

Its jus antiseptic. You buy it in walmart or pharmacy. Mix it with water and pour it over your driftwood. I've never done it, but the concept is simple. Just like putting liquor or iodine over your cuts to clean it up and prevent infection. And of course rinse it off with water afterwords. Or you can just do what I did, take it to the shower and give it a good rinse with really hot water.
Not saying that i can't write or speak English, just don't know all types of trees. If I was using translator it would probably know types of trees Unfortunately there's no such translator that can make entire sentences for ya, otherwise my Chinese writing skills would improve overnight
Turtle usually won't touch your plants on land, but you have to protect their roots in water. You have to make a barrier of some sort and make it impossible for turtle to reach it and pull it into the water.

Ahhhh interesting about the plants. I have some moss I found out in the woods I have put on his basking rock.. So far he doesn't bother it.. But who knows when he will change his mind.. its just sitting on there so he could pull it in if he wanted too..

Well I must say your grammar and spelling is much better then most of us who speak it as a first language..lol I have had to use translators before talking to people on other forums who don't speak english. And they aren't nearly as clear. so I was wondering.. LOL

I wonder if you put the wood in a tub with weak bleach solution it it would sterilize it enough.. I am just not sure what trees are safe to do it with.. Good tip on the pine.. Will not use any Pine type branches. I wonder if Oak trees would be safe.. we have a lot of them around here.

Moss seems to be ok, even submerged, but then you have to use java moss which is aquatic, not terrestrial from the woods.
Well I'm not sure about bleach, i know some people do it, but i am 99% sure that just hot water will do the job. I mean, water from home boiler is usually hot enough to kill most of the bacteria, and if you are careful about where are you taking it from, you won't have any problems. When you collect it make sure that its dry.
Pines have resin, and its bad for water. I remember seeing some breathtaking pines by Colorado river in Utah. They were huge and so dramatic that I could totally imagine one big piece in my tank, and it looked amazing. To bad It can't be used, otherwise I'd carry one 10.000 miles back home
Oak is ok, but your water will turn black. It would be brandy colored after few days because of tannin oak contains. But its ok, no harm to the aquatic animals.
And thanks, guess it almost my native language, I've been speaking it since I was 3

well there ya go.. It pretty much is your first language then..

Thanx for mentioning that about the oak. there is white and red oak.. I wonder if white oak would not do that. Other then that I am not sure what trees we have around here. We just moved to this area 6 months ago so I am not sure of all the tree types.. There are some in my yard that I have no clue what they are..

Our water is heavily chlorinated here.. So possibly rinsing with really hot water might do the job to kill the bacteria.. But I wonder how long I would have to rinse it to be safe.. Many pines along river banks over here. But I guess with the water running and not being stagnant it really doesn't do much harm to aquatic life. Where I used to live on one of the great lakes.. There would be tonnes of beautiful pieces of drift wood.. Already well wore by the lake. Too bad I couldn't get some from there. Maybe some day. I was wondering, do you have to do something to it, like soak it so it stays on the bottom of the tank if that is where you want it to sit? I am pretty sure if we threw the wood back in the lake it just floated away..

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Very nice Pavle. Do you have larger pics to send me and would it be OK to repost them on the site/Facebook page?

Thanks. And I'll post more once everything is grown in the way it should

Fantastic looking tank!

Thanks!
I see so many people commenting on how difficult it must be to clean this tank. The answer is its not at all. Its 10 times easier to keep it than reef or planted tank. It was hard to build it, now i just do waterchanges and feed my fish and turtle. Just drain like half of the tank, plug my garden hose onto my tap and open a beer Thats all I do every weekend. No need to take everything apart and then wash it. Its piece of nature not kitchen
And here it is basking and catching some winter sun with me outside

I wonder if your turtle realizes she is in turtle Heaven..lol How about the plants,, Is she leaving them alone? The Tank is looking great..