hello everyone, I finally found a worthy turtle forum, I have been reading it for a few hours now and I definitely want to share and get some good suggestions and input.
I have two red eared sliders, one is a 2" baby that I "adopted" and another one is a 5" that I have had for 2 years now. I really enjoy them, their tanks and the fish that live in there as well.
here is the latest video of my bigger male's habitat. Its a few months old and has changed a bit since then.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtHRKv6fBc8[/youtube]
It is a 55 gallon riparium style tank. It houses the 5" male RES, and an 8" tiger oscar. the koi in the tank has been sold.
the filtration system has a Odyssea CFS500 canister filter running through an undergravel filter tray via a custom PVC attachment. cycles the tank about 8 times an hour.
the basking platform is made of corkboard sheets(hobby lobby) glued together with silicone to make steps.
the lights are a 50 watt red heat bulb 10" away and a Repti-glo 10 26watt UVA/UVB compact fluorescent bulb 12" away. There are 2 of these along with a regular 5500k compact fluorescent for the plants on the other side of the tank. the total wattage used for lighting is 115 watts.
The canopy is custom made, it is raised by a 12" plexi layer that has the door. the reflector is an aluminum sheet that has a layer of reflective mylar glued to it.
the food that the turtle eats is a mixture of calcium powdered turtle pellets, canned peas, carrots. He also picks up any fish pellets that the oscar misses. I also give him shrimp every week for some extra protein.
the plants are mostly red mangroves that are suspended as well as a a DIY riparium planter with an arrow plant and a pothos plant that is slowly taking over the tank. There are also a few "lucky bamboo" plants.
I would like to set up another tank for my 2" baby RES but first I need some inspiration, a quest for this vision has led me to this forum.
I saw that there is a thread about basking areas http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15260&start=180 but I could not find a thread where the whole tank setup was included. If someone could help me out here it would be awesome!
