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Hello, I will be a first time owner of any animal/reptile of aquatic nature; therefore, a succumb to my ignorance and seek some advice.

1) I have a choice of either adopting a juvenile RES (approximately half-dollar sized) or what I can only assume is a mature juvenile or adult RES (approx 4-5 inches). I will be acquiring a 75 gallon tank. If I do elect for the young juvenile, would this tank size be too impractical? It seems like a disproportionately large size, but I really don't want to progressively upgrade the tank.
2) I read a young RES juvenile will need about 6 inches of water depth. Is this an accurate assumption? I plan on buying the fluval fx5 or Eheim 2028 when I can exploit the totality of the tank's capacity, but these would probably be overkill for only 6 inches of water depth, so which filtration system would you guys suggest?
3) I plan on utilizing a mercury vapor bulb as my UV and heat source. I recall reading that this should be on for 10-14 hours a day, but to provide constant/24 hr background heat with an infrared bulb. What do you guys think of this?
4) What are your experiences/opinions of UV sterilization equipment which can be used directly after filtration? Perhaps more suited for the paranoid, but which I can still conceive as having some practical purpose.

Thanks!

Hi and welcome A 75 gallon tank would be no problem for a small turtle, they're great swimmers. Some tall plastic plants are nice to give then a little resting area. Is the larger one a male or female? Females get larger than males, and a 75 gallon may not be big enough for a fully grown female slider. If the larger turtle is a male, it might be good to adopt him rather than teh smaller one, since you can't determine its sex yet. Mercury vapor bulbs are great, and you're right about the lighting schedule. You don't, however, need to provide a constant heat source day and night for the basking area. Most turtles sleep in the water, and it's more natural that the water temp stays constant and the air temps drop at night anyway. About the UV filtration, it's not necessary by any means, but it's not going to hurt anything either. Have you read over all the info on www.redearslider.com? It's got a lot of really good info for new turtle owners.

Congrats on being a smarty pants and really reading up before buying! you definitely came to the right place!!

A 75 gallon tank will suffice for at least a few years with a juvenile turtle. Eventually you will need about 100-120 gallons. Fluvals are great filters and do very well with turtle waste.

I agree with Oct about the tall plastic plants. RES like to sleep underwater at night with just the tip of their little noseys stucking out. underwater resting places are a must.

I would suggest not getting the tiny turtle as they are difficult to sex and often hatchlings are a little more fragile.

Make sure to get large river rocks for the bottom of the tank (go for ones that are at least as big around as a ping pong ball so they can never be swallowed).

The infrared bulb is not needed, because the water will be kept at a constant temp via the heater.

Six inches of water depth is probably the minimum amount of water for a little turtle. Fill up the tank to a point where a turtle can safely dive and not smack the bottom. around 1.5 times the carapace length is fine but more is better. Turtles can never have too much room to swim and a super fluval may create a heavy current without a lot of water

Male turtles are slightly easier to care for simply because females will tend to undergo periodic egg laying upon maturity.

Best of luck to you and your soon to be lifelong companion

Thanks octpusgirl8 and Bladedvixen for the replies. Perhaps I should pursue the larger and matured RES. Although I still have not finalized my decision, if I did adopt the juvenile I can still fill the tank to 20 inches in height and it should be safe? Of course, granted that I provide a resting area near the water's surface which will allow the turtle to breathe while remaining mostly submerged, correct?

Thanks again!
Michael

You can fill it as high as it will go without them being able to climb out. For resting places, I have two suction cup soap dishes about five inches from the surface and it works fantastically.

As it would seem, a huge tank for a little turtle seems like an overkill, but ive learned the hard way, buy as big as you can right off the bat, this will ensure you dont spend as much over the years with upgrades, he/she will grow into it, and then out of it, and its better to upgrade never or once instead of 3 or 4 times, bc upgrades cost, and usually about 200 to 600 every upgrade.

The half dollar sized one is practically a baby and the 4-5 inch one is just matured and has more growing to do. A male will grow to 7" to 9" long (straight shell length) and a female 9" to 11" or even 12" long. So...before you know it a 75 gallon tank is going to be the minimum size for your RES!

I had a UV sterilizer for my outdoor pond. I suppose it worked but not that well - I still had some green water from algae. This year I'm not using the sterilizer and instead have let duckweed grow on the surface of the pond. The duckweed shades the water, which discourages green water algae, and it also consumes the nutrients that would feed algae, and I'm having clearer water this year without the sterilizer than last year with it. The bottom line is I wasn't that impressed with a sterilizer's effectiveness. And for an indoor aquarium, one really isn't necessary. A right-sized tank with a good quality filter will be clean and odor free with minimal maintenance.

Someone made a comment about how the older turtles are hardier than the little ones. That's true - they are less prone to illness. It's heartbreaking to get a cute little turtle only to lose it, so if it were me I'd opt for the larger one. Also, if you get an older one you can chose the sex, which can be very handy.