Habitat - Indoor

Just found out they sell 3 brands of pool filter sand at my local Home Depot: Quickrete, Crystal Sand, and Pavestone. The Quickrete does come in a brown or tan color. I'll pick up one of the three tomorrow...or sometime next week if I cant get to it. I do, however, need to learn a bit more about air stones and how to set them up FAST! Feel free to enlighten me.

Sounds like things are on a roll. Rough guess, that thing is an attachment for their surface skimmer or "surface extractor" as one review called it. For an air stone, you need a small cheap air pump, like a tetra whisper, tubing and a air stone, wand or disc. I've used the wand.. it's OK, but hard to keep in place. The stone I had smelled so I didn't use it and the disc looks pretty good.

Thanks Steve, hopefully this will do the trick. How difficult would it be to attach 2 stones to one filter?

All you need to have 2 air stones coming from 1 pump.
http://www.amazon.com/Petco-Plastic-Air ... B000633ODQ

Thanks ChangTang! Luckily I live near a Petco and 2 other pet stores, because it sells for only a dollar, but $6 for shipping!

Just another note, I set my heater for 78F last night, and this morning the water was at 80.5F. I'm going to turn it down a few degrees for now and try to figure out how to recalibrate it later. Basking area temps ranged from 80F on the fringes, to 92F right under the lights, measured using an infrared thermometer. It's a great range, but is it good enough?

what kind of thermostat are you using? If you're heading to petco... you might pick up one of those 99 cent floating thermometers. They aren't turtle proof by any means, but they are fairly accurate and can be used under supervision to spot check temps. Your thermometer is probably less accurate than the jager heater. Yes the heater could be miscalibrated, but they rarely are.

Well, I have 3 of those strips that you stick on the tank, as well as the ReptiTemp digital infrared Thermometer by Zoo Med. As of right now, the two strips below water level read about 78-79F (hard to tell) and the infrared one read 78.5. The heater is set to 76F...Granted I only reduced the thermometer a couple of hours ago but it seems like the other 3 are in agreement. However, I do overkill so well, I'll pick one of those floating ones today.

As for the air stones, I just bought a Tetra air pump and am about to set it up. What did you think about the basking temps I mentioned earlier?

*Edit*
Also, last go around I smelled the sulfer after the first 24 hours. So far, so good this time. Any reason why I shouldn't put the turt in tonight?

Your tank is going to cycle. Your turt will be fine in the tank, sounds like you have all of your bases covered. I wouldn't add any fish to the tank just yet . Save those for after the cycle. Didn't realize u had 3 thermometers, sounds like u may need to calibrate the heater or turn it down a click for now.

My tank is 76.2, my basing platform right under the lights is 91-92 and My turt is happy as can be basing up there. Your turt will move around and find a spot to adjust its temp. I did find that when I had my tank at 78 and basking platform at 88-89, there wasn't enough difference and my turt wouldn't get out of the water.

Ahhh...makes sense. The water has now been a constant 78.5 since this morning after I turned the thermostat down a little. I will notch it down one more degree and see what happens. Whats you thoughts on sand i.e. pool filter sand specifically and the risks of compaction?

*UPDATE*
Tuck has finally been put into his tank! He seems very confused right now and is lingering around the basking dock. I'll post some pics when he ventures out.

Pool filter sand you can get at any pool supply store, or at many Home Depo type stores. No real risks to the turtle, even if he eats it. Mine took a few experimental bites in the beginning, but pretty much ignores it now. Pool filter sand will require minimal cleaning before use, (I didn't clean mine at all, and just used the filter set up in polish mode to get rid of the minor cloudiness that occurred, took about 24 hours).

For the air stones, you will need an air pump rated for at least the size of your aquarium. You will need a bunch of airline tubing; buy one long one and cut pieces to size. You will need a gang valve, and you will need some airstones. Airline tubing suction cups also come in handy.

For the pump, I started with a tetra whisper pump, but destroyed the diaphragm because I didn't know how to properly adjust for back pressure. I am now using a Marina with my gang valve properly adjusted to control back pressure. Go ahead and get a gang valve that supports 4 outputs, you will need more outputs than the number of stones you plan to use. I am using two stones in my 75 gallon, one directly under the output, and one in the middle of back wall by the heater. Keep your airstones away from the input, they will introduce air to the canister (which you don't want).

Hang the gang valve on the back of the tank and run one or two lines from the pump to the gang valve, (this depends on how many outputs your pump has and how many inputs your gang valve needs). My pump has 2 outputs and my gang valve supports two inputs, but I only ran one airline from the pump to the gang valve, the second output from the pump I blocked by attaching a short piece of tubing with a knot tied in it. (I bought relatively flexible airline)

Next, run a piece of tubing from the output on the gang valve to the airstone in the tank. (anchor with airline suction cups if needed) repeat for additional airstones. You will need at least one output blank so you can adjust for backpressure. Next comes the adjustment magic.

Open the valve to one of the airstones and turn on the pump. Adjust the valve so you get the desired level of bubbles. Now open the valve for the second stone (assuming you are using 2) and adjust to the desired level of bubbles. You may need to go back and forth between the two valves to even them out. The final step is to open an unused valve just enough so that the level of bubbles being released from your airstones does not diminish. This step compensates for the overabundance of pressure that the pump creates that you are not using for the airstones in your system. Failure to do this last step will lead to premature diaphragm failure in your pump and a lot of noise.

I bought the pool filter sand this morning; 50lbs for $5 @ Home Depot. After you mentioned it, I looked it up online and read noting but good reviews...mainly from fish people. (I also found you in my google search PridgNYC!

)I got Quikrete because it was more coarse as well as lighter in color than my other option. I'll probably put it in by mid next week. Thanks again for the suggestion.

I also went and picked up a Tetra Whisper, however I got one rated for half the size of the tank..but the tank is only 3/4 full. We'll see how it works out. No gang valves yet, although the Petsmart right next to the Home Depot has a large variety. I did buy some stones and ran some hose using a T-valve. They seem to be fine at the moment, but when I get back in town next week I will convert to your setup. Question, with this setup would a check valve be necessary?

Lastly, the turtle seems to be loving his new digs. He's FLYING all over the tank. His appetite has increased. He's trying to bite everything, the heater (glad I switched to the Jager), the tubing, the crock skull, the bubbles, etc. I think he's feeling a bit of sensory overload. He hasn't climbed onto the basking dock on his own yet, but he's been chasing around this mystery fish I have in the tank that I couldn't catch to remove either.

Looking good. He's exploring... it might take some time for your turtle to become comfortable enough with the new surroundings to want to explore the basking dock.

Also with the air pump, some Whisper models even have 2 outputs, well atleast mine does...

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