Habitat - Indoor

Yes, if you are just using a tee, you will want to use a check valve if your air pump is below the level of the water. That is why I recommended the gang valve, most all of them have the anti-siphon feature built in, and you can control the output pressure.

I'll put the check valve on tonight, and the gang valve when I get back in town next week. I already had the check valve and no way to get the other before I left. Thanks for the advice!

I'm finally back from my mini-vacation and while I was gone I had my fingers crossed thinking about the turt's new setup. Well, when I came back everything looked and smelled fine. The water did get a little cloudy right before I left, but it cleared right up. It seems as though the feeder fish has now become a permanent tank mate. The water temperature has been a consistent 78F, but I think I'll set it to 77F then re-calibrate it. I did have a question about basking area temps. Since mine has a large surface area, the temperatures vary by nearly 10 degrees (low 80's to about 91F) using an infrared thermometer when doing spot checks. However, the little sticky thermometer I have that's elevated an inch or so above the dock and near the lights reads temps around 78-80F. I guess my question is, should I trust/rely on the surface temps using the infrared, or the air temps recorded by the sticky thermometer?

Even though the temp gun is reading the surface temp, it should be more accurate. Some people place a small rock or something that is the height of the turtle and measure the temp... or you can measure the turt's temp when it's up there.

I'll try the rock and see how that works. Thanks Steve!

Ok, since now that Christmas is over, and the wife and kids are out visiting the in-laws, I decided to get back to work on the tank setup. Three projects i'm want to finish before everybody gets back are adding the pool filter sand, re-running my air filter lines, attaching the aquarium background my son picked out, and adding a few more subtle decorations.

Last night I began rinsing the sand and actually added about an inch to the tank to see how it would look. It was cloudy for few minutes, but cleared up pretty fast. Almost immediately upon putting it in the tank, Tuck started to eat it. Obviously, I was a bit worried at first, but as time went on it seemed as though his nips at the sand became more investigatory in nature and he was mainly poking at anything that wasn't the uniform cream color of the sand. I think he even vomited some of it up. One thing I tried to do was to feed him before I put the sand in, however, he is an eating machine and my efforts to curb his appetite were futile. Tonight I will be adding another inch or so and be done with the sand.

I also bought a gang valve for my air filter, as well as more air line tubing. My biggest difficulty is where do I place my airstones? I obviously want to keep them away from the water intake, but due to my extremely large basking dock my space is somewhat limited. I''m going to keep one along the right front side wall of my tank, and attempt to place one opposite it on the left side near my water output. I need more suction cups!

Lastly, I bought a ClearView background for the tank, as well as some of their background adhesive. We will see how it all works out and I'll post some pics later!

Everything went fine yesterday. I ran new air filter lines with a gang valve. (Thanks PridgNYC for the advice) As far as the aquarium background, I found that the "adhesive" is more like a gel, and it is very messy. Granted, I didn't follow the preparation advice they gave, and I ended up with the messy gel everywhere. Plus, trying to slide a slimy piece of plastic under the filter tubes is very tricky and I nearly yanked the water output out the tank. The ends of the background started to curl up, so I had to end up using tape anyways. I never got around to adding more sand, but as soon as I do I will post some pics.

Last edited by Mr. Tuck on Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ok, I did add more sand...and I bought a new camera last week so the pictures are still coming. I'm already planning (in my head at this point) my next and last build as I've learned much from my many disasters. I tried to do this build on the cheap; meaning buying and building the best stuff and doing it as cost effectively as possible. I've had my filter a little over a month now, and so far I'm loving it. I bought the Aquatop CF 400 UV and although it is an "off-brand", it is probably one of the best off-brands out there. It is absolutely silent, except for when the waterline drops a little too low and it starts to pull in a little air from the intake arm. I'm not sure if this is a manufacturers defect, or if it is due to me setting it up a little wonky. Either way, I look at it as a built in alarm for when its time to add more water anyways.

Speaking of disasters, with this being my first true canister filter and there being no clear set of directions on how to disassemble the filter for cleaning, I tried to figure it out on my own...which let to a middle of the night water exploding disaster. Lets just say, the water shut-off valve is right next to where the hoses attaches to the canister. Make sure you use it and also have the filter plugged into a GFCI outlet or adapter just in case you forget and try to open it up while it is in the cabinet and the hose is in the tank continually siphoning water into it and you just so happen to be standing in a pool of turtle water.

Whoa, what happened to cause the accident? I've had my share of filter accidents

OK...When I decided to clean it, I said to myself 'I have no idea how to keep the water from gushing out.' So, I had the bright idea of propping up the water intake, letting the filter run and purge some of the water out of the hoses...which in theory could have worked. However, after I did that I had to go into my cabinet to remove the filter (hoses still attached) and I realized that the hoses were not long enough for me to remove it from the cabinet. I decided to pop it open right there...with the hoses attached with I and the filter inside of the cabinet. That's when water began to gush out of the canister. I was in shock at first, so for a few seconds (or minutes) I just watched from inside the cabinet. I then started pushing down on the lid...with the water spraying out as an attempted to stop it. I ran and got some towels. Water was still leaking so I propped up my power strip (plugged into a GFCI adapter) and ran for a spare dish pan. I maneuvered the filter inside of the dish pan while water was still leaking out (not gushing) I stood up and realized that the water intake hose had slipped back into the tank. Once I finally got some advice, everything was a snap. At the time I had not known about the water shut off valve. For the record, I did consult the manual first and the part/valve was not clearly identified. I just had to spend the next hour decontaminating everything and mopping up water.

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:24 pm **Purigen**

I have a question about Purigen. I followed the instructions to regenerate it on the website using bleach/water, then water/Prime. At first there was no obvious smell to it, however after I had it sitting out for an additional 8-10 hours or so just to dry out, I noticed a funny smell to it. I'm not sure if it was bleach, residual turtle waste, or both. Is this residual smell normal? Should I re-dechlorinate it or start the whole process over? In the mean time I did swap it out with a new bag.

Is the purigen white again? I've sometimes gotten a bit of smell after it's drying out.

Also, if you take your dirty purigen out (it will stink), and you can't get around to regenerating it right away... a ziplock bag is your best friend.

Yes, its pretty much white. I was just wondering about the lingering odor I'm smelling...which is kind of fishy...is anything to worry about, or just normal?

: I moved things around a bit, but this is pretty much how his tank looks.

Looks good, how is that basking area holding up?

Habitat - Indoor :: Tucks New But Temporary Home - Build Thread

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