General Care Discussion :: New RES owner

[emurf]

Hi
I'm a new RES owner , just bought Squirt today.
I bought a 28 liter tank , a filter , a water heater , a floating dock a calcium stick and a tub of Supa turtle food.
1st question , do I need anything else.

Also from reading through the website I noticed something about a 4 inch law. My turtle's shell is only about 2 inch's . I'm living in Ireland maybe the rules are different here.

[BullDog]

Welcome!

First thing in addition you'll need is a UVB bulb. You can get compact fluorescents that fit in a regular light socket, or you can get the tube kind that go in aquarium hoods.

Secondly, the 28 litre is about 7 gallons, so it's already too small for your RES.
A rule of thumb is 10 gallons per inch of turtle (38 litres per inch, or approx 15 litres/cm). If it's possible, take back the 28 litre and buy the biggest you can afford. If you can't take it back, that's OK for a short while, but start looking for something bigger. When your RES is full grown, s/he'll need a tank thats 70-120 gallons (265-450 l). It's better to start big, instead of buying multiple complete setups along the way!

Finally, the 4" rule is just in the United States. I'm not familiar with the laws in Ireland, but I know there are a few other members from Ireland.

Read through the main site (redearslider.com) and feel free to post any questions you have

[TheComputerGremlin]

Don't worry about size, it's only a law to keep stupid people from putting them in their mouths. However, smaller turtles require more attention because they can get sick easier.

28 liters, that's around 6-7 gallons, that's a little small. You may want to consider taking back the tank and replacing it with at least a 20 GALLON tank, if not 50 GALLON. The filter, you want to make sure it's rated for 5 times the water exchange in GPH (you might need to do some converting for that one). Last, you are missing lighting. You need a heat bulb and a UVB bulb, the heat can be an incandescent bulb (check a few different wattages and see which gets your basking area up to around 90 degrees F) and the UVB bulb can be bought in a pet store, look for one that gives off 5% UVB.

If you write down any specific brands/models of things (like filter), we can better help determine if it's good enough.

Yay for people from Ireland, I want to visit there so badly! Good luck with your new turtles. Post pics of your turtle and just of Ireland!!

[emurf]

my water is gone cloudy ,why?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Brand new setup? It's called new tank syndrome. You can do a search on the site about it, but it has to do with the bacteria needing to build up and your levels are all over the place until they get settled in. It's harmless if it lasts for a few days, and you can do 25% water changes for a few days until it's gone.

[marisa]

A 7-8 gallon tank is really small for a 2-inch RES. How much water is there in it?

What kind of filter do you have in the tank?

I'm wondering if the cloudy water is just the result of the waste your turtle is producing and the filter's inability to keep up with it, especially if the water depth is on the shallow side...

[emurf]

Ok I got a UVB Lamp and I'm using an incandecent bulb for heat . How long a day should they be on for each day?

[res08]

8-12 hours.

[emurf]

I just bought a new 51 gallon tank on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... SA:GB:1123 . It has a filter system that is describes as follows "The filter system uses a powerhead pump to draw water up into a filter compartment in the hood. Access to this filter compartment is via an opening flap at the rear of the hood. This means that the filter can be claened without disturbing the tank and fish.".
It also has 2 fluorescent lights.
What do ye think?
Can one of the lights be used for uvb and the other for heat or does the heat lamp have to be a bulb?

[SpotsMama]

On your original question, here's a helpful link:

http://www.redearslider.com/startup.html