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I'm glad I found this board to help me out because I'm in a bind. My cousin had a hatchling RES that he just purchased and kept it in a tiny bowl that was filthy. I felt really bad and asked if I could have it and he gave it to me. I'm low on cash but I knew that the life that I could offer the turtle would be better. So now he's a 10 gallon and I have a basking lamp and a zoomed basking dock. I'm saving up for the UVB Light Hood, the UVB Reptisun 5.0 light, a good filter and a bigger tank. Since I don't have a filter, I clean the tank every day. I'm really trying to do good for this little guy. But my main concern is the water temperature. Since I know it's vital, I just purchased a Visitherm Stealth 50 Watts. But I wanted to know if it would be safe to use the heater when I don't have a filter to move the water. I'm afraid that there will be coolor pockets of water that will shock his system and give him a respiratory infection. Is there a way to set up the heater to distribute the heat as evenly as possible until I get the filter or should this not even be a concern?

I'm not really sure but maybe if you lay it kind of diagonal.
and maybe when he swims around he will move the water.

I'm sure someone more experienced will get on and answere your questions

Your doing a good thing though, that turt is really lucky.

Hi and welcome to the board. You are right that there will be cool spots without water movement. If the room temp is about 75-80, I think that will help. And once the water has warmed up, the cool spots might be less of a problem. For a 10 gallon tank, you can get a very basic filter... a Whisper filter can be as low as $10 and its not real efficient but it can help reduce the water changes and provide some water circulation.

Costs of Necessary Items

You don't need a UVB Light Hood, and there are many other options for stretching the buck.

A clamp lamps is a cheap option, you don't need a nice one with a ceramic base for a UVB bulb as they dont generate much heat at all. The bulb itself will still be kinda pricey but look around online, they're frequently cheaper than you would find in stores. I'm so glad you recued your little turtle from a slow painful death, i rescued my turt from a sad situation a few years ago without quite knowing what i was getting myself into, but i've never once looked back. The're fascinating little animals and well worth the money and time in my opinion. Good luck getting everything all set up!

As long as a heater is in the water, it doesn't need to circulate THAT much. The good news is that heat travels faster thru water than it does in air (20 times faster to be exact, so the heat won't build up as much as you think it would).

That's great that you are taking care of this little guy!!! Welcome to the board too, BTW.

The turtle swimming around will generate a little circulation.

Thanks for all the responses. I feel better about the heater now. And thanks for the suggestions, I will follow them. Yeah, I didn't know what I was getting into either. I was shocked when I looked online and read about everything they need. But I love him so much, I don't regret it for a second.

Turtles are such neat little creatures! I never thought I'd love a reptile but I do!

SpotsMama wrote:Turtles are such neat little creatures! I never thought I'd love a reptile but I do!

I totally agree! I love my Sheba & look forward to going home every day to her.

you could stir the water with your finger to circulate it, well you clean it every day so it shouldn't be much of a problem anyways. It's good that you save its life =)