General Care Discussion :: When to upgrade???

[DJ Spenin Spence]

I have a 29 gallon tank and a oh lets say 1-1 1/2 in. RES. my questions is, when to upgrade? i know the rule of thumb is 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle but when to upgrade is my question. I'm going into eith grade so i'm short on cash and pretty soon i'm going to start saving for a car so i need the cheapest tank and stuff without cutting corners at the latest it can happen.

[untsmurf]

I would start saving/acquiring stuff now. By the time your turt needs an upgrade, which won't be until he hits about 4'' you should have the majority of the stuff. Look for used stuff on ebay and stuff that you can make (ATBA, decorations, etc.) instead of buying new from the stores.

[DJ Spenin Spence]

well i got all my stuff from my uncle who was an aquarium addict so i have decorations and cleaning stuff and fish food coming out the whazoo. btw wats an ATBA??? sooo basically all i would need is a bigger basking area and filter and tank. Right????

[untsmurf]

ATBA is an above tank basking area. Basically, you construct a basking area to fit on top of the tank so that you can fill the tank up entirely. Then you encase the basking area so the turtle can't escape but light can still get in. There's a sticky with a bunch of pics in the indoor habitat section.

If you've got the decorations and lighting, you'll want to get a larger enclosure, stronger filter, stronger heater, and a bigger basking area.

[DJ Spenin Spence]

ohhh i made one of those last week!!

[mikee]

DJ-ss One place you don't want to cut corners is the filter pump. Don't use tank sizing for your pump as they are sized for fish. Use the 5x rule or more to purchase a filter. That is at least 5 times the water volume you have in the tank. This is one area that important and will cause you problems in the future if you don't follow it.

[Melvira_Fox]

Craigslist, my friend. The deals on there will make your head spin.

[untsmurf]

holy cow!! A filter rated for a tank 5X larger would be ridiculous, you'd have a whirlwind in the tank, lol. A filter rated for 3X the tank size is all that is necessary. Anything larger is just icing on the cake.

[jozzep]

holy cow!! A filter rated for a tank 5X larger would be ridiculous, you'd have a whirlwind in the tank, lol. A filter rated for 3X the tank size is all that is necessary. Anything larger is just icing on the cake.

5x is overkill......3x is the "rule"
Mechanical filtration is important, but biological is essential.

[marisa]

Yes!

[mikee]

Jozz & Mar-Mod – I use and go by the 5x rule. There are cases when the 3x may work but everything else has to be perfect with constant cleaning and water changes. Many keepers cut the filtration short due to the expense. Also, the 3x rule may work when the turtle is small but their size and poop creeps up on you and when that times comes you begin to wonder why the bacteria gets out of hand. “It was working last year or month?” All of my tanks are above 5x and the one that stays the cleanest has a little swirl in it. It is a 29 gallon with a 350 gph. I have been at this since 1980 and know of what I speak. The only problem you could have is the suction side and you need to split that up with a grate. Good Luck.

[untsmurf]

I think with smaller tanks, like the 29 gallon, could possibly benefit from the 5x rule just because there is so little water that it will get dirty quite quickly. Whereas, with the larger tanks, 75,90, and up, the 3x rule works just find because there is so much water for one turtle that it takes longer to mess it up.

I have Mikey (still only 4.5'' after 5 years) in a 125 gallon with 2 XP3s. The XP3s are each rated for 175 gallons, so I'm actually running at just under the 3x rule and the only mess that collects on the bottom of the tank is the remnants of decorations that my turtle has destroyed.

[mikee]

U-murf – The XP3 if rated for a 175 gallon tank, which means nothing when talking about aquatic turtles. It is rated for fish. How many fish? How big? How dirty? The XP3 has a 350 GPH rating. If you are using two, of course, that is 700 GPH! No wonder your tank is so clean. I can send you a web site that has the rating and gph if you wish. Good Luck!

[untsmurf]

I don't need the website, thank you. My google works just fine I'm aware that the size rating is not meant for turtles. We are talking about two different ratings, I try to maintain 2-3X the SIZE rating for the filter where as you try and maintain 5X the filtration rating. The outcome is roughly the same for using either method, so I think just some clarification is in order.

[Bascomb]

Mikee maybe I can help! The hard fast rule does not consider tank size “rating” and not “filtration” rating. It is a little more concrete, and that is GPH. The GPH rule is pumping at least five times the volume you have in the tank through your filter. The biological filter should be able to handle that. I hope that clears this issue up for you.