Habitat - Indoor :: new rubbermaid bin setup

[swlin]

It's a 50 gallon rubbermaid bin. Any comments welcome.

[Arisu]

Looks great. The double-stacking looks like it helps. Are both your turts in this 50 or are they separated? Did the water level and filter work out okay?

[swlin]

yeah.. they are both in this 50 gallon tank. I hope this will ease their tension. I raised the water level a little bit and the filter works okay. You might be able to see that I taped the tube.

[notoch351]

I also like the idea of using 2 bins for extra support.
And I really like the way you did the basking area Very creative.

What are you using on top of the egg crate?

[BullDog]

Nice! I like the basking area.

[sanoske312]

very creative basking area, may i ask what is it made out of?

[ilcapo21]

Wow that looks much better than mine. I had the same container, but ur setup looks great.

[zoologist]

looks great! i'd beware of the tube you have in the bottom. make sure they don't get stuck in it and drown.... that happened to a friend of mine's turtle.

[swlin]

thanks everyone. The basking area is made of egg crate. I superclued drawer liner on it.

[swlin]

looks great! i'd beware of the tube you have in the bottom. make sure they don't get stuck in it and drown.... that happened to a friend of mine's turtle.

i am sorry to hear that. I will make sure they don't get stuck in it. Do u have any suggestions as to what I can do?

[Breger3]

What a creative idea! I will have to keep that in mind as ours get bigger!

[notoch351]

Swlin- I would just often check that s/he can easily pass through the pipe.

[megcornell]

By adding the second tupperware bin you've made it harder to check the actual bin holding the water for signs of wear.
I'd consider taking the second bin away. When I had a tupperware bin as a set up, I would check the corners almost daily for signs of fading or cracking, and with two bins you just can't do that. I also don't know that it (the second bin) actually helps support the first one. I forget who explained it, it may have been jenaero-- but the second bin actually puts more stress on the first one.

[marisa]

I once tried what you're doing (and have written about it elsewhere). The interior container does not sit completely inside the outer one---there is a small gap between the two bottoms. When the inside one has water in it, there's nothing to support the bottom and it will (trust me) eventually develop cracks and leak. The containers are not meant to hold water and are prone to leaking anyway (I went through 4 of them in less than a year). The gray ones are more flexible and last a bit longer than those with colors.

To support the container, it would be better to build a frame for it or use pvc pipe placed widthwise inside the container nearer to the top. You'd have to drill two holes to fit each piece of pvc pipe through and cap the ends.

[Arisu]

Marisa,
Both Swlin and I are very aware of the dangers of the gap between the two bins (I've written this where you've written your post elsewhere, too) but we both have material between the two bins (i think swlin is using sand) and I'm using wood so there is no gap. Honestly, the two bins thing has really worked great for me and is undeniably supported better than one single one. there isn't a hint of bowing and everything is really sturdy. the inspection thing, however, makes sense but my bins are almost translucent.



So I believe with the proper techniques, 2 bins works great.