Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: New guy, saying HI!

[camaudio]

Wife just came home with this one day...now i have to take care of it
little setup so far until i learn all the ins and outs

[turtlemang]

Nice looking set up...What is the basking rock made out of? Looks pretty real. I'm sure more people are gonna say...But you need to get rid of the gravel before your turt eats it and becomes impacted. He can die from it.

[Nettle]

Aww, he's so cute! You should probably fill it up with more water, though. The more swimming room, the happier the turtle.

[camaudio]

pretty sure the rock is just painted ceramic
planning on getting rid of those rocks completely when i upgrade the tank size in a year, or is this to long?

water level is up about an inch now, which is the max for the filter setup for now

[saioke740]

it's a long way to go...

you shouldn't have rocks in the tank that are smaller than the turtles head.

[Rottie_mom]

Cute turtle. 1 yr is too long to leave those small stones in there. Your baby will probably try to eat it and can die from it.

What size tank is it? You might want to upgrade the filter system and add water. RES love to swim!!!

[camaudio]

ok, guess ill get rid of the rocks this weekend then

its only a 10g

will prolly upgrade in about a year to something more permanent, 60g+
how fast can i expect it to grow?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Really fast. He'll be too big for that tank within a month. You'll probably need an intermediate tank or just go for the whole 60 gallon now! (Otherwise, a large rubbermaid container works great for a few months.) By a year old, the turtle will probably be 4 inches, depending on genetics, environment, gender. You'll probably be safe with your setup for a few weeks, then you must up the water if you want to remain in the 10 gallon, by three months from now, though, you should be at least at a 30 gallon or bigger. It gives you some time to plan, though, look on Craigslist or in your local newspaper, it's spring cleaning time and many people get rid of large aquariums. As for filtration, whatever your filter says is probably for fish, not turtles. You want a filter that is 3x the number of gallons of your tank and MUST exchange 5x the gallons per hour.

[camaudio]

the filter is a specific turtle filter
its built into the basking area/rock

[megcornell]

You'll soon find that most "turtle specific" products are not really up to par for what a turtle tank needs. The only real exception to this are the "turtle docks" but they really only work for smaller turtles.

Not only are the waterfall filters space consuming, but they just won't compete with the amount of waste your turtle will be producing. Do yourself and your turtle a favor and exchange it for a better equipped option.

You'd be wise to take this time to just completely upgrade his set up instead of doing costly upgrades in between. Trust me, all the additional tanks and filters and heaters add up . Buy the largest tank you can now, and outfit it with durable and quality filters and heaters, it's really the best investment you can make towards a good turtle habitat.

And as for how long you can expect that 10g to last- my turtle was in it about 2-3 months max I think, and towards the end she was really too large for it. Ideally you want about 10g/inch of turtle.

Read through the habitat sections and general care on the main site, they are packed with good turtle info and ideas on tanks.

[camaudio]

ive been reading, and i knew this was gonna be a temp setup
planning on finding a used tank somewhere then building my own stand, filter, basking area, lighting fixtures etc

[camaudio]

some slight modifications, thanks guys!