Habitat - Indoor :: Taking improvement tips

[EpicTF]

From what I have been reading on the site i have found out Gravel is not a good idea and that i need to get a UVB lamb, but here are some pics of the tank so people can tell me other things i may be doing wrong or give some tips for improvements

[megcornell]

I can't see one in the tank, but you'll also want a water heater to keep the temperature constant and to prevent the water from getting too cool and getting your turtles ill.

You'll also want a better and safer basking area. Stacking rocks is dangerous because just the slightest shift and they can fall or move and trap a turtle underwater, drowning him. Especially with so many turtles crawling over the rocks, you stand a good chance of an accident. Also, you'll want a basking area that's large enough to accommodate your turtles.

Finally, as you may have read, your tank is too small for four turtles. At the very least you can fill it up more for the time being. But, you need to think about upgrading the tank to a larger tank/tanks. You could get two mid sized tanks and divide the turtles into pairs. That way if aggression starts, the aggressive one can just move back to the old tank.

[chrisinva]

I counted 5 turtles....is that right?

[EpicTF]

The one i have now is a 50 gallon tank what size do you think i need to get? Also question about the Heat lamb and UVB lamp. Am i suppose to have both of those directly over the basking area?

[untsmurf]

You need to put the lights directly over the basking area, yes. You need to get either a much bigger basking area, or two. All five turtles should be able to be on the basking area at the same time, without having to pile on top of one another. Those turtles look to be between two and three inches, which means right now they should be in a 100-150 gallon tank. As they grow though, you're going to need to build either a very very large pond, or get a lot of big tanks.

From the looks of it, you don't have a filter or a heater. Those items should be added ASAP. And with five turtles, you're going to want to get a really powerful filter. A canister filter will be your best bet.

Also, you should take the big rocks and the gravel out ASAP. They could eat the gravel and die of impaction. The bigger rocks are taking up valuable swimming space. You can add some fake plants once you take everything out, that will provide some decoration and some hides/resting spots for the turtles.

That's all I can see as of right now.

[EpicTF]

AT first i only had 3 but my cousin decided he didnt want his anymore and had no lamp over his tank at all and the water was dark green, so he gave them to me. Some other questions i have is how much do 100gallon tanks cost and where could i get white sand to put at the bottom of the tank?

[untsmurf]

You can get sand at wal-mart and hardware stores. That's where it will be the cheapest. If you want to pay more, you can get it from pet stores.

Lots of pet stores carry large aquariums. Just looks for a pet store that isn't like Petco or Petsmart. You can also look on craigslist or freecycle. There are also websites that you can order tanks from. It really just depends on how much you want to spend.

[EpicTF]

ok thx for the info

[PcBuilder14]

glasscages.com is a good tank website with decent prices.

[EpicTF]

thx i will check it out