Photo Gallery :: First tank cleaning and here is the finished product!

[Cim*Forever]

So... First tank cleaning, every thing that could be difficult WAS difficult, but my turtle survived and isn't too traumatized!

Below is a picture of the clean tank.



Below is a picture of the UVB and Heat Lamp


Below is a picture of the hole I cute so the UVB light could shine through the tiny mesh


Below is his little hidey corner


And last but not least!!!!!! ROSSCO!



Any comments on what I could do differently are surely welcome! Thanks guys

[powerofvoodoo]

The tank looks really nice, just make sure the rocks STAY large enough that he can't eat them (I see that they look nice and big now).
Good job on the lights as well.
One thing that I see that needs to be changed, and I think you made a thread about this elsewhere, but I'm not positive, the water level can be raised a lot. RES are aquatic turtles and love to swim so don't be afraid to give Rossco more room to swim around - there's lots of empty space at the top - as long as the basking dock is low enough that he can't escape at the top. If you buy more plants, you can make it so that he has room to stop and rest around the tank when you raise the water level.
Also, do you have a filter and water heater? If you don't, you'll want to invest in those.
But it does look really good!

[Cim*Forever]

Thanks very much for the reply! Yes, I have a stealth water heater and I can't recall the brand of my filter, but it is double the tanks capacity. As for the water level, I don't want to shock him by just filling it all the way up, I plan to have it as high as I can make it by the end of this week or the middle of next week.

Thanks for your comments

[Bumby's Mom]

Fill it up halfway first to make sure he can handle it. I hade mine about 1/3 full then filled it halfway and when they got used to the water depth I filled it as far as I could. My babies didn't start swimming to the bottom of the tank until pretty recently. They mostly swam on the top of the water.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Nice job on that tank!

[roseK]

wow it looks really pretty! i always remove my guy when i clean.. im so violent when cleaning and my tank is bare lol

[Cim*Forever]

Thanks for all your comments

I did remove him when I was cleaning the tank (id be afraid to squish him or somthing) I put him in a green box (you know those ones from super store?) anyways, its just a large walled plastic grocery tote with his heat lamp shining in so he wouldn't freeze, and gave him the opportunity to dry out at the same time!

[emma]

Cute turtle! And your tank looks great....and I agree with the others, you can really fill it up lots more. I filled my tank up lots more after I had it at only about 2 inches. It went from 2 inches to about 10. My turtles really liked the space and didnt really seem to freak out or anything,.