General Care Discussion :: little update and also a question

[wbedoya]

Hey Guys...a little update on my turtle aquarium....Well I finally got my heater and its amazing....the water temperature is currently at 80 degrees and before I installed it earlier today it was around 71 72 degrees which wasnt so bad either but now i dont have to heat the house so much to keep the tank warm lol.....its a bit cold too, its around 52 outside (I keep my tank inside)....I also got an angel fish which I'm very happy about as well....It makes the tank look so much better lol.....Ok the negative stuff is I finally bought a uvb light (have a heat lamp already) and used it in a clamp but used it for one day only cause on the second day it wouldnt turn on....I exchanged the clamp and tried the light again and it started working again but exactly after one day it wouldnt work....whats goin on here? is there a special clamp I should get for a fluorescent bulb that generates uvb? by the way I will have pics up soon...

[TheComputerGremlin]

Congrats on the heater, though 52 isn't that cold! It's currently in the teens here in Washington DC and my furnace is working in overtime to keep the cold out.

80 degrees is probably a little too warm, try to get it to stabilize around 78 degrees if possible. You only need it around 80 if your turtle is sick, but since it's still little, you want it around 76-78 degrees.

Is the angel fish in the tank with the turtle? Are you attached to the angel fish? Have you double checked to make sure that when your turtle eats the angel fish, it's not toxic or poisonous? Your turtle will inevitably eat any fish that you put in there, so never put anything expensive, exotic, or poisonous.

As for the bulb, that's an interesting issue. I never used a clamp lamp for my UVB, but others on the board have without any issue. Have you tried exchanging the bulb? Is the bulb rated for the clamp lamp you have? Clamp lamps are rated based on wattage, so let's say you are trying to use a 100W bulb in a 75W lamp, it will burn itself out. I have a hood for my UVB, one of the ExoTerra ones I think, and it's worked fine with no issues. Maybe consider buying one of those instead?

[planet.caravan]

My experience with the clamp lamp and UVB lamp (what I have in my setup righ tnow) is that after you turn off the light you gotta let the lamp cool for about 15 mins before turning it on again. If you try to turn it on and off it wont go.

[jay2487]

I think you should trade that 10.0 reptiglo in on a 5.0 26w reptiglo. The 10 is for desert reptiles from what I've read and could be bad for an aquatic turtles eyes. Probably getting to hot and shutting off. I think those new flourescents have some kind of safety in them like that.

[wbedoya]

I'm not attached to any of the fish inside my tank....I have 5 guppies, a black molly, and the angel fish which is the size of a quarter....I really dont care if any them get eaten all I care is for the well-being of my turtle perdy (name)....If I loose the angel fish, O well, $6 down the drain....by the way I only paid $2.99 at pet supermarket for the angel.... everybody keeps sayin they are $6 lol....Anyways, Gremlin did bring up some concered about the angel fish being toxic or maybe poisonous once it gets eaten...I read about them and I didnt see anything that said that they are poisonous or toxic....If anybody has any additional info on angel fish please let me know whether its ok to keep them with RES turtles.....to decribe the angel, its black and white almost like a zebra....the black is a bit dominant though...Thanks!

[jay2487]

I don't think Angels are toxic, the only one I can think of offhand is spotted puffers. I'll do some research and get back to you