redearslider.com

Petri's new tank!
60 gallon tank with and XP2 filter. No stand yet, so it's sitting on the floor. The filter is a little noisy and it wasn't easy to prime, but now that it's going I should be okay, right? I used aquarium silicone to glue the rocks to the base of the plants. There's a string of plants floating on the right. I guess I need to put more rocks on those. This is just a basic set up because we're going out of town this weekend and I wanted to get him into the new tank with filter. I have some rocks and more plants from the old tank that need to be cleaned first. And I'm going to start working on a larger basking area.

Tank:


Basking Spot:


Filter:


Plants:

Looks great! Two things I see as potential problems...One keep an eye on those smaller rocks. I had a couple of plants that were siliconed into decoration and they came loose. So, I suppose that some of those rocks could come loose too. Just something to keep in mind.

Also...you mentioned not having a stand yet...are you planning on getting one? I realize that you probably had to cut the tubing short so that it would work sitting on the floor, but I think it's too short if you put it on a stand. Good news is, you can buy more tubing!

Looks great!

I would say if possible put the intake and out take for the XP at different ends of the tank.... this way you have a current thing going on and the outtake will push the dirty water to the intake.

Like I said, this is a temporary set up until I get a stand built. Everything had to be on that side b/c the other side would've been in the hallway. The current is pretty strong. It pulled one of the plants across the tank.
Do you know where I would get more tubing? Hardware Store? I realized (after cutting) that the way I did both pieces from one tube means that the longest I can make it next time is going be half the length of the one tubing I have left. I should've cut a short piece off each one.

Most petstores carry the extra tubing...I think mostly because every so often it needs replaced anyway. It isn't exactly easy to clean the inside of those tubes, lol. Check to make sure the petstore carries that filter first, or they probably won't carry the right size tubing. Save a piece of your extra that you cut off, and it will help you match what you need in the store.

Big name pet stores like PetSmart and Petco around here don't have tubing. The only place I can buy mine by is at a smaller pet store called Aqua Zoo. And they sell it for $1 a foot. Not bad at all.

Hardware stores like Home Depot sell tubing but you can't buy it by the foot. I think it's like 20 bucks for 10 feet or something like that. So if you have some petstores in your area that specialize in selling fish and fish supplies I would try there.

Oh btw the tubing for the XP is 3/4 inch.... i've changed and replaced my tubing quite a bit...

That's frickin huge

If it were me, I'd throw some river rocks in the bottom and maybe a reptile cave and some feeder fish. Just to make it a lil more interesting for him.

Small, local hardware stores have tubing you can purchase by the foot. They come in different thicknesses, so I don't know how well they will lock and seal into place. Big Al's should have the Filstar brand tubing.

I paid $3.99 for a replacement set of tubing for the XP3, just to have on hand in case the filter gets used the regular way (don't know if the price has gone up since then).

It looks really nice, but IMHO would look nicer (more natural) if the plants weren't arranged so symmetrically (perhaps your turtle will take care of this).

fishandcandy, it would be good if you could support the tubing near where it arches when it comes out of the filter to lessen the pressure on the motor. You should be fine until you have to stop the filter and do a cleaning, then it most likely will be a relative pain in the butt to get it going again.

jenaero wrote:That's frickin huge

If it were me, I'd throw some river rocks in the bottom and maybe a reptile cave and some feeder fish. Just to make it a lil more interesting for him.

Yeah, it's boring right now. I have a cave and some rocks to put in later. In a week or so I should have a stand...
We bought a skillsaw today to finish it.