Habitat - Indoor :: How strong are turtles?

[Starscream]

I am ordering my tank covers and I want to fill the tank mostly up. That would put the water within half an inch of the top with covers. How much weight do I need to hold the covers down?

[cutepanda86]

I reckon that would depend on the size of your turtle. How big is the ?

[Starscream]

Right now they are just babies. I am looking for the future, full grown turtles. Im getting half inch acrylic, but if I need to hold more weight, I can get thicker.

[cutepanda86]

Well the good news is that the babies won't be an issue but unless you know if you're getting a female or a male, I'd start with the 1/2 inch.

[Starscream]

Start? The 1/2 x 2' x 2' are 60$ each, I need 2. If I go to 3/4 x 2' x 2' , it goes to 100 $ each.

[Kansasslider]

1/2 should be heavy enough.If not you could always mount some type of hold down tabs.

[cutepanda86]

1/2 should be heavy enough.If not you could always mount some type of hold down tabs.

Thanks Kansasslider.

Starscream - you'll need to adjust for things like this in the future. Tank upgrades, filter upgrades, and all the fun stuff that goes with it. Unless you have a giant tank and filter now, be prepared.

[Starscream]

I have a 240 gallon tank now, 8 feet long, lol. I ALWAYS plan for the future. That's why I am trying to find out how strong adult turts are even though mine are just hatchlings. I only want to have to buy these custom covers once.

[cutepanda86]

Well then you certainly are covered. That is a large tank. How are you supporting it?

[Starscream]

It has a stand under it. It all weights about 2500 pounds. 2 fx 6's. White sand. 4' x 2' backing area. Yes I did buy that for 2 baby turtles lol. Total I think that it ended up being around 260 gallons if you included the basking area.

So the tank is 8'x2'x2'. The 4'x2' condo sits in the middle. On either end there leaves a 2' x 2' area. That is what I am putting the covers over.

[cutepanda86]

Wow. I'm guessing there's a concrete floor underneath. Lol.

[Starscream]

Oh yes, a concrete slab.

[cutepanda86]

Good call.

[steve]

What about egg crate as a screen?

[Starscream]

That would work well steve, I am mainly worried about whether or not I will have to add weight on top of whatever I use to keep the turtles from pushing it up and escaping when they are older.