This tank was made by a company near Saginaw Michigan, their name is Aquatic America. The make some smaller reptile tanks on a regular basis, but this tank here, was made at my request, purchased through a local fish store. Aquatic America does not do direct sales, you have to buy from a retailer that does business with Aquatic America. I did talk with the owner/fabricator directly about my needs, he was very helpful, however again, they typically don't really deal with consumers directly and will not sell directly.
I had gone through several ideas before I settled on the tank I got. I had considered having a external sump filter along with over flows, holes drilled in the tank, and all that kind of associated plumbing and such, however I decided that for me, having all that stuff was going to be more then I wanted to deal with. I considered MANY ways to best build a tank, in a way that would work well for me... for a variety of reasons I wound up going with what I have.
The tank is basically a 120 gallon tank, with half inch glass (not tempered). One of the end panels is 16.5 inches high rather then the full 24 inches you'd have on a standard 120 gallon tank. In theory the tank could be made with thinner glass, however I've had my large turtle bang into the side of my tank on many occasions, and the thought of him breaking thinner glass and 80 gallons of dirty turtle tank water and glass all over my hardwood floor was too much to bare. I insisted on 1/2 glass, figuring it was cheap insurance .
My long term intentions, are to build a wooden stand next to this short end of the tank, building a dry land area on the outside of the tank, with a ramp that goes into the tank and down into the water. In this stand , I will put canister filters, the plumbing will go to the sides of the ramp and ideally, look very nice. However, at this time, I don't have time to make this. So, what you see in the photos bellow , is intended to be temporary, but actually works just fine as it is.
The 'land' you see in the tank, is a custom built thing I made 14 years ago, it's made with Fiberglass that's been wrapped around a styrofoam core, astro turf glued onto the ramp. This is a floating island, it easily supports the weight of both my turtles, could probably hold even one more full sized turtle if I had one. This island took me many hours to make but has survived for 14 years now, and still works. Being it floats, i don't really care if the water level changes a bit from time to time. In my old tank, I let the island flow freely, but with my new setup, I decided to 'tie' it to the tank a little, to keep it from banging into the glass when a scared turtle scurries off and into the water. Even though in my old tank, this never caused any problems, I just decided I'd rather secure it a little in my new tank. Again, I eventually intend to abandon this floating island and build dry land for my turtles on the outside/end of my new tank.
So, the reason I chose 16.5 inches of max water depth, really has to do with my desire to build the land off to the side. The tank builder thought it would be best to have the 'frame' around the top, and I want my turtles to easily climb from the land and into the tank, to do this, they will have to walk under that frame. So, I needed at least 6 inches of clearance between the frame and the to of the side glass.
I had considered just doing a above the tank basking area over a standard 120 gallon tank... however, I decided, I didn't have time to build such a structure. My old 120 gallon tank that I had for 14 years, wasn't in good condition, so It was time to replace it.
What I haven't told you, is that my turtles and myself , had to move out of my home for over 7 months last winter. I had a pipe freeze at my house in early December , that resulted Major water damage which took the remainder of the winter to fix. My turtles went to my parents house and lived in their basement... My wife , my daughter, and myself lived in a hotel until Memorial Day of this year(May 26th) . When we moved back home, there were thousands of little things that needed to be done, turtle habitat was not at the top of my list of things to fix/build. In fact there was a time, when I thought I was going to have to find someone to adopt my turtles permanently , as I didn't know if I had the will or time to get them a new place to stay in my home. I lost many nights of sleep, just thinking about all this and what to do. In the end, I bought this tank for just over $500 and set it up as you see in the photos. My turtles continue to be a part of my family... but for a while, I wasn't sure they would be.
Note to anyone thinking of buying a turtle or keeping one... They can be wonderful pets... but they are a lot of work.
Ok, excuse my dirty water... needs to changed... But here are a couple shots that show my tank setup as it is right now.
Long time turtle owner (15+ years).
One Painted turtle, one Yellow Belly Slider, 120 Gallon tank filled to maybe 80 Gallons
