General Care Discussion :: newbie - I want to do a better job with care of a YBS

[Kansasslider]

Not so sure your rope ladder will work. Different ideas arnt a bad thing but I don't think that's going to work.

[vear]

yay!

[steve]

I'm curious to see the big rocks and rope ladder.

[tjurhs]

the "rope ladder" works great.

She hides under it, crawls up the side of it, and basks when on top of it.

[tjurhs]

Well the 2nd tank also sprung a leak. The first two tanks I got at PetSmart, they're called Top Fin. The now 3rd tank I got from an aquarium shop. It cost $25 more than the ones at PetSmart, but if they don't leak, I'm happy

[tjurhs]

Not so sure your rope ladder will work. Different ideas arnt a bad thing but I don't think that's going to work.

Here's a pic of the rope ladder

[tjurhs]

here's the under side where she's hiding

[Kansasslider]

OK that's different! Cool! The stones in the tank look nice. I had them in the beginning stages of turtle keeping myself. I learned real fast that all the do is trap a lot of debris. Might I suggest sand instead. It will make cleaning the tank a whole lot easier.

[tjurhs]

Kansas,

I tried sand and it made a giant mess! I probably used the wrong kind, anyways, now I have the 1inch river rocks.

How did you go about cleaning it? I read that all I really need to do is empty out about 3/4 of the water and refill with new (spring) water?

[Kansasslider]

You need a syphon like a python to clean sand. I think mine is actually made by aquoen the large size works good. There are some vids on you tube. You don't need spring water tap is fine. I run my tap water through a whole house carbon filter.

[tjurhs]

I'm not planning on going back to sand, the tank is all set up with 1inch river rock and I am TIRED of messing with it.

how do you clean the waste from under the 1inch size river rocks without removing them?

[Kansasslider]

Its not really something that can be done. That's why I always reccomend sand not river rock. I don't blame you for not wanting to mess with it. I hated trying to clean the rock!

[ljapa]

You can dip the siphon into the rock, and it will get lots of waste, but you will struggle to get it all.

I had river rock in my 20 long. When Tobi moved to the 55 and the 20 became a fish tank, I went with well rinsed sand for the 55 and just put sand on top of the rock for the 20 that became a fish tank.