redearslider.com

Hello everyone - my sister and I inherited a mature red-eared slider (about 10 inches) with a 100 gallon tank. We removed all of the gravel off of the bottom of the tank. The tank is half filled with water. There is a small and ineffective filter as well as a heater that doesn't seem to be working too well. We've been reading as much as we can on this amazing site and knew that you guys could help. We want to outfit the tank to best suit the turtle. As we're located in Canada, and our prices are higher than in the States, we are wondering what the best filter, heater, platform and light would be that we could buy to improve the turtle's life, while hopefully not spending an outrageous amount. We would be so grateful for any help!

The best filter you can get (seeing as for turtles however big the tank is you need double filtration cause turtles are very messy !) is a fluval fx6 , I personally don't use one cause I don't have money like that lol they're $300 U.S so idk wha they would be in Canada , and you can look at the basking topic for basking areas , and I think a 300 or 350 watt heater might work I'm not sure , I only have a 55 gallon tank lol so I don't use crazy stuff . I don't have as much experience as most people here and I'm sure some people could help you out a lot more than I could lol , but just throwing you some ideas ! Welcome to the forum and congrats on the turt ! They're awesome pets !

Go ahead and fill that tank as high as you can, without risking turtle escapes. The reasoning is twofold: a) More water volume = less tank maintenance, and b) RES are fantastic swimmers. They love deep aquariums.

If you're on a budget, check out Odyssea canister filters. They're not as well-built as the Fluvals, but do a pretty good job. You can also build your own filter using a 5 gallon bucket, some plastic piping, and an appropriately-sized submersible pump. It's a fairly cheap solution, and works just as well as commercial canisters.

Search the forum for cork bark basking sites. You'll find plenty of inspiration from those. Another cheap basking area can be made out of PVC and ceramic floor tiles.

Congratulations on your new Terp.. If you have any pictures of it we would love to see it. Sounds like by the size of it,, you probably have a female.

I really like the idea of over the tank basking areas. That way the turtle, especially as big as your is, can have the whole tank area to swim in.
You can get as creative as you want with whatever you use to make the area. You just have to ensure that your turtle can't crawl out of the tank. If she is female she will go through periods of wanting to lay eggs and do just about anything to get out..

But here is a link to Google images and you can get some ideas on what to use if you are interested.

https://www.google.com/search?q=over+ta ... gC#imgrc=_

I am from Canada, Southern Ontario in fact so I know what you mean by expensive prices..lol One of the perks of now living state side..

I can't advise you on filters yet, since I still have a baby turtle in a fairly small tank. I think I am gonna get a Fluval U4 for my 40g tank.. those are under water filters but they don't' make them big enough for 100 g tanks and since you need to double or triple the size filter for the size tank.. you would need two,, and I can just imagine what they would cost up there.. Cheapest place to buy them here is online. I know how much shipping costs to send anything up there, so that really isn't a viable option for you, unless you live close to the border..

Good luck with your new turtle, the more time you spend with them the more you get back..

Thanks everyone. Now we have a place to start. Ease of maintenance is a big priority but I understand that the more we invest now, the easier it will be moving forward. We can use all the help we can get!

Just as I'm ready to commit to everything that I wanted to get for the turtle tank, I get stuck with all of the information available. Now it's the lights. I thought I had it covered with the Zoo Med Aquatic Turtle UVB and Heat lighting kit: http://www.amazon.ca/Zoo-Med-Aquatic-Turtle-Lighting/dp/B00CYDEARU/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456333339&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=zoo+med+uvb+heat+aquarium+light
It now occurs to me that the heat lamp and the uvb lamps should be at different heights to be effective and that maybe this is too much heat for the turtle? Also, that by sitting it on a screen the uvb rays would be filtered out and wouldn't help the turtle at all. The extendable arms that can be bought seem a poor choice since they either have to be stuck on the tank or slipped under the already full and heavy tank. Sorry for the long post but I want to get the right equipment and I keep getting stalled... Thanks everyone.

The screen doesn't filter everything out. A lot of turtles get sufficient D3 from their foods, anyway. You should return that ZooMed fixture, a cheaper solution is a standard incandescent bulb in a Home Depot brooder style "clamp lamp". It sounds like your tank has a top, so you can just get a fluorescent UVB tube and put it on top (at a safe distance from the turtle).