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Your setup looks good but needs more water and it's a good idea to remove the gravel. Many of us use a few river rocks but do not cover the bottom completely. It's so much easier to do the weekly cleanings this way. (I found this out the hard way of course ) and your turtles do not need the gravel that they could ingest in their tank.

Just a question, the light in the hood, is that your UVB light? If it is just make sure there isn't a glass or plastic in the hood between the light and the tank. Glass or other obstructions filter out the UVB rays that turtles need. Also I don't see your heat bulb for your basking area or water heater, do you have them and I just can't see them? Maintaining the proper water and basking temps is a must for your turtles health.

The lighting unit rests atop a glass sheet, so it is protected from the water. Maybe I will replace it with a screen instead. The bulb in the unit is a 15W Repti Glo 5.0 tropical terrarium lamp that emits 30% UVA and 5% UVB light. I haven't picked up a water heater yet, but it usually remains a constant 79 degrees. The vet said I should try to keep the water between 80-84 degrees.

The suggested temperature for hatchlings (turtles under 1 yr) is around 78 degrees. Higher temperatures make for more active turtles and induces them to over eating. Good idea on the screen for the top instead of the glass as the glass is pretty much negating any benefical rays of the UVB light.

I agree with Sonyj on the gravel.. I'd not put that much in and use larger rocks. Makes it much easier to clean. After a few times of ripping that stuff apart and having to clean it, you'll learn the same lesson most of us did It make look nice but it's a LOT of work.

A side note, I'd submit that picture of your babies for the Monthly Photo contest. They are so darn cute..

The turtle's eye(s) on the left looks weird...

He has swollen eyes from a Vit A deficiency (referred to in an earlier post).

NavyPAO wrote:The lighting unit rests atop a glass sheet, so it is protected from the water. Maybe I will replace it with a screen instead. The bulb in the unit is a 15W Repti Glo 5.0 tropical terrarium lamp that emits 30% UVA and 5% UVB light. I haven't picked up a water heater yet, but it usually remains a constant 79 degrees. The vet said I should try to keep the water between 80-84 degrees.

30% UVA isn't enough to provide the adequate heat source that they need to bask under. There basking temp should be around 90 degrees. While the water for hatchlings remain at a constant 78 but no higher. The vet might have told you to up the temp a little to 80-84 while the little one is sick. This is a normal move when turtles are sick to help there immune system fight off illness as well as separating sick turtles from non-sick turtles when you have multiple ones. But after the illness passes return the water level back down to what it should be.

If you put a screen between the light and tank be sure that the openings are at least 1/2 inch big in the screen or you are still blocking/filtering the UVB rays that your turtles need.

I had the same gravel when I first got my tank. When I moved the turtles to a larger tank the following week, I found the same small pebbles in there after a few days even though I didn't put any inside. There were quite a few pebbles between 3 baby turtles. Just a warning.

If you remove the gravel and just put 30 river rocks in to barely cover the bottom it will add another 2 gallons of swimming room for your turtles. They love deep sea divin'!

UVA light doesn't provide the heat source for a turtle. The 30% is fine along with the 5% UVB rays. Since the light is a UVB light, it won't give off heat, so you do need a heat source, which can be a regular lightbulb.

If your turtle has been sick and the temp has been higher for a while, once the turtle is over the infection, I'd turn the temps back down gradually, not all at once (a rather large jump from around 83 back down to high 78's for a little one that's been ill).