Habitat - Indoor :: New Tank Setup - Ideas or Suggestions?

[thirdeye10]

Just upgraded my turtle to it's new 54 gallon tank

- I'm running a Jebo 828 Canister Filter (aka the poor man's Eheim Canister Filter) - I replaced all the 4 stages of filtration (sponges, bio filteration..etc.) with Fluval parts
- Running an air pump and have river rocks on the bottom








- I'm eventually going buy the Magnum 350 Canister Filter for the tank

Any other suggestions?

[Daniel3507]

i would take the bricks out. they could damage the shell because of how rough they are. also your going to need a uvb bulb

[ilcapo21]

It looks good, just a few things, do you have a basking area, if so can your turtle escape it looks like the waters pretty high. The rocks look good, but when your turtle grows it may get its head or legs stuck in the holes in the brick. Also bricks are pretty abrasive, they could damage the turtles shell or plastron, or possible even break skin. All else looks good, i like the corner tank.

[Chrisbarnett]

Anyway you can put that filter intake any lower?

River rock is already going to trap debris, so if you can have your intake a lot lower, it may help.

[thirdeye10]

Thanks for all the advice

I just realized this picture was taken before I was done

- The filter intake has been lowered already, I also saw that as a problem, it comes down a little more than halfway

- The UVB light has been put up, I had to mount it to the wall and I have both lights set on timers

- The basking dock is up there, looks rather small now that I have upgraded the tank

- The water level is high and I should look for an alternative so my turtle cannot escape (the top that came with the tank wouldn't allow for a flush fit because of the hoses and filter intake/output - ideas?

- The bricks, I hadn't thought about the surface being so rough, but you're probably right and should reconsider, any suggestion on replacing the bricks?

[Daniel3507]

i went out and bought some egg crate lite diffuser and made walls around my basking area with it. its easy to cut so you can get a good fit. that way you can keep the water level high.

[BullDog]

I second on taking the bricks out. Besides being rough, the one that's leaning on the glass could fall and break your tank, which would suck!

I would replace them with a couple of fake plants. Safer for your turts and tank, and adds some colour to the tank

[emma]

I would get some fake plants just like bulldog said, Those are like my turtles favortie things in the tank. They love to hide in them

And you could add some sand to the bottom of the tank and maybe take out some of the river rock. I have like 10 river rocks in my tank but they are a little bit bigger than yours.

[untsmurf]

I agree with the brick comments and egg crate is a wonderful lid!! You can cut out holes so that you don't have to move your lamp, you can keep your tank full, and you can cut it so it's flush with your tank. You'll just have to secure it on there. I used scotch tape to secure mine, it works great.