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My turtle (around 4inches) just got an upgraded tank (from a 29 to a 55gal). In the 29 gal. I didn't know what to do as far as a basking area was concerned so the best I came up with was shoving the gravel to one side and making a big hillside...which didn't work to well, the hillside little by little came tumbling down and soon there was no more basking area and plus all that gravel made the tank STINKY STINKY. So this time what I decided to do was build a DIY basking platform/dock out of pvc pipes, pebbles, cork bark, and aquarium sealant. I'd like to post some pics of the progression of the dock as I'm making it...but I don't know how to post pics....[/img]

Sweet, I love upgrades!!! First things first, you NEED to take out any gravel, pebbles, or rocks that are the same size, or smaller then your turtle head. If they are smaller the your turtles head, your turtle will eat them, and they will get stuck in his intestines causing death. This whole process can take a long time, and you may never see him eating the gravel, but that is because when you are there he can beg you for real food, but when there is no one in the room, they can get REALLY BORED, so they try and find ANYTHING that they can eat, including the gravel.

And read though this if you would like to learn how to post a pic...
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1811

Hi Keeper. N4784N is right on target. Gravel in a turtle tank is a big hazard. Not only is it dangerous, but like you said it's really hard to keep clean it takes a lot of your turtle's swimming space.

Have you seen some of the pictures of custom made basking platforms on here? Here's a discussion on the topic:

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

There are photos of some nice platforms here:

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

Yes I've seen those platform photos before and got my inspiration from them. My DIY platform should be finished on Monday Here's some pics of the progress so far...






Don't worry about the gravel...the gravel was in the old 29gal. tank but its long gone now and won't be coming back into this new tank.

Turtle and tank pics to come soon!

Oh my, you are doing some very detailed hand work. The stones look like barnacles on a ship!

Yeah its taking FOREVER and a day to put all those rocks on haha. But I think it will look nice and more natural than just leaving the pvc exposed.

I thought I would be adding cork bark today but dummy me got it shipped UPS instead of Priority so its just sitting in a warehouse somewhere in town til Monday

Make sure the rocks are big enough that even if they get knocked off or come loose, your turtle can't eat it.

What kind of glue are using on that? I've been looking into doing something like that when I get a bigger tank.

That pvc looks VERY good
Itll compliment everything else in your tank well

Did you use Silicone?

powerofvoodoo wrote:Make sure the rocks are big enough that even if they get knocked off or come loose, your turtle can't eat it.

Hmm I hope they don't get knocked off...some of them are pretty small. I'm using aquarium sealant. Its probably going to go into the tank unfinished cause this is way too much detail work for me and I'm running out of sealant AGAIN which is driving up the cost of this "cheap" project idea. I've been working on it for two hours tonight and it basicallly looks just the same as the last pic I posted haha. I'm thinking I should have used clear tubes for the "legs" instead of the pvc and then I could have dumped some gravel into the tubes but oh well can't turn back now.

You could also think about switching to bigger rocks, simply to make the project go faster. Bigger rocks take up more room so you won't have to apply as many.

if you're using a 55 gallon, why not fill it to the top and make an above tank basking area. It will give your turtle alot more swimming area.

I wanted bigger rocks but of course ALL the LFS around didn't have anything bigger.

I can't do an above tank basking area right now cause I have the turtle tank sitting on the bottom shelf of a stand that holds 2 tanks and on the top shelf I have another 55 with freshwater fish. But one of these days I'm definitely doing the above tank idea!

I'm so excited to hopefully get the corkbark onto the dock today. As for the pebbles...I'm going to add a few more today since I'll already be working on the dock once the corkbark arrives, but after that I think I'm giving up on the pebbles. New pics to come today, be on the lookout!!!!!