I don't know if this is the right place to post this kind of thread, please move it if needed and let me know. Always under construction and always looking for advice on better ways to do things, etc.
We got two RES in 2013 - brought them home from the beach (souvenir shop) in the little plastic house - had NO IDEA what I was in for...
Shortly after we got home, one of them died. We were all pretty upset, but not knowing anything about taking care of turtles, we bought 2 more to replace that 1, so now we have 3.
I apparently don't have a single photo of their next home - it was a 5 gallon tank that sat on the kitchen counter. I'm fairly certain it only had a flourescent bulb - sorry. We didn't know...
When we realized they needed more room, we started doing things a little more right. Bought a 75 gal tank and proper lighting. This was, I'm guessing, in 2014.
They seemed pretty happy and we didn't have any problems - other than fighting with the filters and lots of cleaning. Pics from 2016 to Jan 2017.
Now - Feb 2017 - as they have gotten bigger and I've learned more, I'm trying to redo everything to make life better for them. Until I can find the $$$ (and room) to set up a 200+ gallon dream world, this is going to have to work.
Gravel all gone, trying things for basking area - looking at ATBAs, wedging a piece of cork bark in the tank, or improving this PVC pipe "shelf". Filtration also upgraded to a Penn Plax Cascade 1500 (if you've seen my other posts asking about it, I think I said it was a 1000 there - it's actually a 1500).
I know the stacked rocks are pretty iffy in this pic - they are VERY temporary. I put the PVC shelf in tonight, and stacked the rocks to help them for tonight. Gonna take down the stack before I go to bed and come up with something a little safer tomorrow.
I will try to keep this thread updated as I add/change stuff. Hopefully I can help someone along the way - either by giving them an idea (I sure have studied other people's ideas enough LOL) or I can serve as a "don't do it this way" for someone!