Equipment Review and Discussion

Hi there! I've been looking at what I need to get together to start turtle keeping and I've got a few questions that I haven't really come across a solid answer on.

First off, the tank. Right now I'm looking at getting 2 RES's - babies. I know that a 40 gallon tank is the minimum and have seen that it would support 2 baby RES's for a short while before needing to upgrade. One thing I want to avoid is chronic upgrades. So, I've found two interesting tanks on Craigslist (pet stores are unreasonably expensive in my view), one is a 55g and the other is a 135g tank.

My questions are this:

1) The 55g tank's dimensions are reportedly 48x12x21 - from what I've read for RES turtles wider is more preferable to higher tanks. Is 12'' to narrow for two baby RES's?
2) This may seem like a dumb question but with the 135g, is there any con to going that big with baby turtles from the get go (start up cost and such aside, just strictly in terms of environment/health/etc...)? The 135g I'm looking at is here: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/for/2664565909.html - are there any concerns any veterans could point out to me?

Another question I have is I'm looking at buying online - specifically I've seen many people point to turtleshack [not reputable] - however, I'm a bit hesitant buying animals online and there's the fact that many of those sites are like digital puppy/cat/etc mills. Is there a better place? I live in NC so while I can own them, it's not legal for stores or other people to sell me any.

My main suggestion would be considering one turtle instead of 2. Its impossible to tell the sex of small turtles, and if you end up with 2 males or a male/female combo it can get ugly.

Go ahead and buy the biggest tank possible, I wish I would have gone big from the start.

Also you could consider adopting an unwanted older turtle, there are tons of larger turtles that need new homes

I've read that while RES' can be fine solo, they are "social" animals, in the sense that having another in the same habitat makes for a healthier turtle....is that true or just some creative marketing?

Ok...I'm now seeing the [not reputable] tag in my post, I'll take that to answer my question about them.

Any *decent* online vendors, or should I take a trek out of state for one? Like I said, NC bans the sale of them but not owning them.

Check out local rescues... they will likely have some of various sizes. Even out of state ones might be willing to ship a RES to you.

Once you get your lucky res into a 135 gallon tank, get some fish to liven it up. or for a late night snack.

I was planning on some fish after a few months, maybe adding some ghost shrimp after the first year - I've heard before that time it can be a choke hazard of sorts for hatchling RES's?

Also, just found out the 135 gallon tank I'm looking at is close to 10 years old. I'm going to look at it mid-week...beyond the obvious looking for scratches, small cracks and signs of silicon-repaired areas, is there anything to look for that the novice tank-buyer may overlook? The age makes me hesitant but it's double the size of the next biggest one I can find for roughly the same price.

Have them fill the tank in front of you.

Good luck with ghost shrimp. My turtle ate 30 of them in 2 hours. And yes as Happy camper said have them fill the tank.

I checked it out today, and he actually had it setup with fish and everything still. No leaks, only thing I saw was a bit of a salt build up inside the stand. Obviously I was prepared for a bit of prep work given the age, but it looks like the tank just needs a good scrubbing because of the salt water and the same for the stand.

It is drilled, are there any extra considerations for this setup? Or should I plug the tank and just use the filter normally? Is it more effort than it's worth to get a filter to work with a drilled tank this size?

Not worth it for a drilled tank.

A drilled tank is designed to be used with a sump. Sumps are great for saltwater, not so great for freshwater. Plugging the hole is just asking for leaks.

Did you check craigslist for RES? There are usually a lot of people trying to rehome their sliders.

VeipaCray wrote:Not worth it for a drilled tank.

A drilled tank is designed to be used with a sump. Sumps are great for saltwater, not so great for freshwater. Plugging the hole is just asking for leaks.

Why not for freshwater?

Also, I've already committed to the tank and I haven't read anything that drilled tanks were bad for turtles, just more setup work. So at this point, the question is do i set it up using the holes, or plug them and just leave the overflow barriers (I don't know the technical name for these) in the corners where the holes are in place? I'm only going to fill the tank about 2/3 of the way and the barriers go up about 90% so if I just left them in place no water would ever crest them....right?

Turbo.Turtle wrote:
VeipaCray wrote:Not worth it for a drilled tank.

A drilled tank is designed to be used with a sump. Sumps are great for saltwater, not so great for freshwater. Plugging the hole is just asking for leaks.

Why not for freshwater?

Also, I've already committed to the tank and I haven't read anything that drilled tanks were bad for turtles, just more setup work. So at this point, the question is do i set it up using the holes, or plug them and just leave the overflow barriers (I don't know the technical name for these) in the corners where the holes are in place? I'm only going to fill the tank about 2/3 of the way and the barriers go up about 90% so if I just left them in place no water would ever crest them....right?

If you're not using the holes (i plan to use them on my next tank), I would recommend buying bulkheads and sealing them even with the overflows my RES sometimes make a big splash.

Loki047 wrote:
Turbo.Turtle wrote:
VeipaCray wrote:Not worth it for a drilled tank.

A drilled tank is designed to be used with a sump. Sumps are great for saltwater, not so great for freshwater. Plugging the hole is just asking for leaks.

Why not for freshwater?

Also, I've already committed to the tank and I haven't read anything that drilled tanks were bad for turtles, just more setup work. So at this point, the question is do i set it up using the holes, or plug them and just leave the overflow barriers (I don't know the technical name for these) in the corners where the holes are in place? I'm only going to fill the tank about 2/3 of the way and the barriers go up about 90% so if I just left them in place no water would ever crest them....right?

If you're not using the holes (i plan to use them on my next tank), I would recommend buying bulkheads and sealing them even with the overflows my RES sometimes make a big splash.

Hrm. Ok, two questions arise now.

1) If I use bulkheads will the overflow barriers still need to be in place? Or will the bulkhead + perimeter sealant do the trick?

2) Is it still feasible to use the holes with a Fluval FX5 (which I am eyeing, though maybe a Rena XP4 given that the tank will only have roughly 90 gallons in it.) without it being a hindrance to anything?

By the way, thanks everyone for your help so far - really informative!

EDIT: Also, I checked Craigslist. Only one within 3 hours distance is a "full setup" where the guy wants $100 for three of them (hatchlings). I found www.kingsnake.com - any experiences there from anyone?

The overflows serve two purposes - to set the water level and to protect the drains.

1) If you end up just capping them I would then get some hollowed rocks or something to barricade them

2) If you use them keep the overflows - my turtles will easily knock the PVC drain tubes.

My tank has drains and double walled overflows that I plan on using for a sump system.

Equipment Review and Discussion :: Starting from scratch - number of questions.

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