General Care Discussion :: The day has come...

[heliwr123]

The day finally came where my turtle outgrew its basking dock. What i mean by this is every time she gets on, it sinks and suction cups come off.
In the past month i have noticed a SIGNIFICANT decrease in my turtles basking times, like not even 1 hr per day compared to the 4-6 hrs when the dock could support her.
Ive tried the one from exo terra with the magnets, no luck the magnets cant support her either.

Ive looked into those "Turtle topper" basking docs, but come to my surprise they only fit 13 inch wide tanks, mine is 16. Any ideas on what i should do?
My tank does not have a rim, or a top. I dont know how to say it but just glass like in this screenshot
It resembles this: http://prntscr.com/9u0piw
It does NOT resemble this: http://prntscr.com/9u0pw1

Hope she will get back to basking. Its like a half sunkin boat whenever she gets on it

[steve]

How many gallons is it? People do make a small modification to the topper so it can work but no rim complicates things. I would also suggest cork bark but I'm not comfortable in placing that in a rimless tank.

[heliwr123]

50 gallons

[ljapa]

You could build a pvc platform. I don't know what is involved in making sure it doesn't float, but I know I've seen some posted here.

[turtlemurtle]

How large is your turtle? I have a large but not the largest, female slider and I had to buy the largest floating dock that looks like a flat piece of log that pets mart sells but it works great. I do also have a large flat topped fake rock that used to be a decorative filter for a smaller tank. The rock filter thing sucked even for a small tank so I gutted it and just use it as a basking spot. It wasn't quite tall enough for how deep my large tank's water is so I put a 2 inch thick flat sheet of slate rock under the fake rock to prop it higher to the water level. It works really well and it does not go up or down with the water level so you always know if the water level is changing from evaporation, and no matter the weight of the turtle, it's not going anywhere.

[steve]

@ljapa - tile alone will hold it down. but water/sand could also be added in, though I have not seen such a large rimless glass aquarium before.

What's the water level? Commercially, you can look into a resin platform or an acrylic dock.

[heliwr123]

Its a pretty tall tank... cant remember the dimensions. Water level around 90% full, seems to have no problems with it that high.

[heliwr123]

Its getting pretty bad. Turtle shell becoming soft. Im gone the whole day so when i come back the basking dock is always on the other side of tank, and turtle not on it. Need to fix this fast

[heliwr123]

So today i watched this youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9n2v8ARt8Y) and i decided im going to make that dock. Construction will start once i can find the measuring tape

[Kansasslider]

Pretty good video. If you want to make it more stable I would use the 3 way corner couplings on the bottom also. Then fill it with sand for added weight and stability. You might also want to glue it all. I didn't watch the whole vid so I don't know if she glued it or not?

[heliwr123]

I did not watch the whole video either lol.
So what glue would be safe? I HIGHLY doubt that PVC glue with all the toxic and deadly labels will work for a turtle :0

[steve]

LOL

Depending on the design, you may or may not want to glue it. Since there is no rim, I would probably glue it. PVC cement should be fine to use.

[ljapa]

I used pvc glue for my overflow drain, which cycles the water back into the tank. It's been in place over three years without any visible issues for turtle, fish, snails and shrimp.

[Kansasslider]

Yep, pvc glue.

[Kansasslider]

I think locktite makes a plastic glue that's potable water safe also. Just read the labels to make sure its potable water safe.