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Should have used mopani wood unless your turtles bask on it?

Thats a good question, I have no clue. I do know coming into town there is a semi large rock place of the hwy.

Oh no, this is free from my local lake. I use it to make basking platforms. If you look thru Toku's photobucket you will see the basking platform I built, that he is currently basking on, literally!

I think this site is informal . My name is Stacy . Nice to meet you and maybe we can learn from eachother . You might be able to help with lights? Or your opinion of.

I've never bought slate or worked with it, but it looks like you could get a useable piece pretty cheap:

Slate is hard but all you need is a carbide drill bit.

Hi, I'm Sid, nice to meet you. I mainly research the relationship between reptiles and UV rays, natural and artificial. I'm currently doing a study on my turtles lighting setup and the natural sun outside. I'm also a active member of a group with herp researchers. A carbibe drill, got it I will put that in my fone, do you have to wet the rock or prep it to drill it? BTW thanks for your help with this.

@ ljapa: Wow that is cheap, thanks for sharing. I will go to homedepot this weekend. I'm waiting for the new hosing and carbon to come in anyway (mid next week)

You will need a carbide tipped masonry bit. I would try it without water first.For sure it will be better than plywood .

Ok sounds good thanks.

I like the idea of tile too. Make sure there is sand between it and the glass otherwise it can scratch the glass, though that's not a big deal for most people.

Yeah, I was think about that Steve. I got 75 lbs of sand for that exact reason;)

Small update, got the tank in my room:) Man that tank is heavy. Got some help from a friend. I picked up two slate tiles and a drill bit. So I will be working on the basking branches in the next day or so. Got the filter tubes and am ready to hook up the new FX5. I think I will have it up and running with everyone moved in by next weekend. I'm gonna rinse the sand as soon as it warms up by the end of the week. I had a nice snow storm yesterday with plenty of snow dumped. I will post picks as I built and place stuff.

Take picts of drilling the slate. Hope all goes well.

Will try to

Getting closer to filling the tank. I was able to clean the tank and remove the left over silicone. I needed a latter to get down in the tank, it is almost as tall as me!



I got the new FX5 hooked up just need to fill it but will do that when I get ready to fill the tank.





I washed the first two bags of sand today.......
I spent 3 hrs rinsing it before putting it in. I rinsed....



Then rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed to the 10th power......



Then rinsed it 10 more times plus.....



Finally time to go in the tank.



The first layer is in and layed. Ready to start on the Driftwood platforms.



Next I will build the platforms and then rinse and lay the final layers of sand over the platform's slate tile bases. I'm gonna use two pieces of slate tile two make two bases to support the driftwood pieces. When I get the rest of the sand in with the platforms then I will be ready to fill'er up and start running the new FX5. More to come, stay tuned.