General Care Discussion :: Away for a while

[Miss Tee]

Hi all--just to let you know both Miss Tee and I are alive and well! Just having some housing "issues" here.
She is now HUGE-6 1/2 inches, and is doing very well. She is a ravenous eater, and bites my finger if I am not careful. Last Sunday the little emeff drew blood!
Her diet is a couple tiny lettuce leaves, one blueberry, and 1/2 Turtle Jello Shot per day. No more pellets--she really needs to shed more...she has alot of retained scutes.
She's still in the big tank, and Miss Diva has the best of everything--Eheim-Jager heater, XP-3 filter, ABTA, UVA & UVB. I change the water every 6 or 7 weeks, but it is a pain in my a**, b/c after I drain the tank (hose out the window!), i have to make 20 trips back and forth to the kitchen with a bucket to re-fill...
Anyway-just wanted to let you know we are still around....Would not know where we would be without the support of this great forum and the people on it!

[happycamper]

Hi
I bought one of these and it has been saving my back ever since!
http://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-Aquarium-W ... 331&sr=8-1
It has a pretty long hose, it reaches from my kitchen sink to my aquarium.

[Love of Animals]

Hi Miss Tee,

Glad to hear from you. Sorry about housing issues. If you ever feel like talking about it pm me. Instead of doing big water changes why not do more frequent small changes. I never change Rocky's water all the way. I just do 20% weekly and a filter cleaning every 4 - 6 weeks.

Happycamper I have to look at your link too. I currently use 5 gallon buckets.

[PridgNYC]

I'll +1 that aqueon, that is the one I got, and it came in quite handy when I was first setting up the tank. Of course, I haven't really used it since then, but it has only been about 2 1/2 months, and I have only been topping off the tank so far which I use one of those 5 gallon water jugs for so it can sit for a few days before being added to the tank.

[Mom2RES]

I'm getting ready to buy that thing today. No way I want to fill 125 gallons with buckets once we are ready to fill it.

[steve]

Hi Miss Tee, glad to see you pop in! You are missed and we do appreciate the update.

[Miss Tee]

@Happy Camper: I need to measure the distance from my tap to the tank...with my luck, it'll be like 26 feet...The device looks great, though...
@Love-this is the first time (since June) that I ever drained most of the water. Usually I do 50% every 6 weeks. I feed Miss Tee in a separate stearlite container which holds like a gallon of tank water. Then when she's done (about 4 seconds) I put her back in the tank, dump the feeding container water, and replace it with fresh. So she's getting like a 2% water change daily!
I can't praise the XP-3 enough-thanks for talking me into it--may have been pricey, but I've had crystal clear water everyday since I started using it. It is true that a bigger tank seems easier to maintain than a smaller one.
Her water temp is 76/77, and the basking is about 85. When she doesn't bask enough, she gets that horrid shedding-pieces-of-skin thing--so I turn the heater down and make the water cooler so that she will be attracted to climb up the ramp to her Turtle-Topper and bask.
Anyway, I am so glad to be past that "new owner/small turtle" paranoia!
@Steve--you've been such a help to me-you'll never know....
Best,
Miss Tee & Miss Tee

[steve]

If you want to have something simple for changing water, you can get clear tubing from a hardware store. Draining is as simple as getting water to siphon out. If you want to refill and/or use a sink to drain the water, you can get a kit that's made to drain/refill water beds. Those are made to be used with garden hoses, which we don't want to use for refilling a tank so you'll need to get the appropriate sized adaptors/fittings to use on the clear tubing. And I'm glad to help out, you've done a great job with Miss Tee!

[Mom2RES]

@Happy Camper: I need to measure the distance from my tap to the tank...with my luck, it'll be like 26 feet...The device looks great, though...

They make a 50 foot one too. Fortunately 25 feet will be plenty of room for me.

[steve]

It's approximately $1 per foot. So if you can find the smallest one or a used one and just replace the tubing.