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Two days ago I bought a 55 gallon tank and bought all the other accessories separately. I have some questions on how to set up this tank. The filter I have is one of the ones that hang over the side of the tank. The water comes spashing from the filter itself and onto the tank. The noise drives me nuts and can't let me sleep, so is there a safe way to break up the waterfall for it to make less noise.

Oh yeah, and is the light turtles need the heat light or the UV light?

Look at this topic: http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1405

For light, you can use a UVB bulb. For heat, I use a ceramic bulb that provides no light.

The beneficial rays come from UVB light, the heat comes from a UVA (regular household bulb).

As for the waterfall. I remember one person mentioning adding a piece of plexiglass under the fall to break it, but I don't know if it's been done yet, or how it worked. The other thing you can do is buy a different kind of filter.

you could try filling the water level higher... i used to have the same problem too and then i filled the water higher and it stopped. the closer the water level is to the filter, the less noise it will make. also, your turtle will have more room to swim so he will be happier too

I gotta hand it to you steve, that looks pretty good. Is the piece of plexiglass joined to the filter?

Yes - acrylic to be precise. It's been working very well but you'll need to make sure that your filter can hold it (I don't know what kind you have).