Habitat - Indoor :: What To Do Next?

[krysten]

So, hopefully I have my filter problem solved and the water will be clear... I built an ATBA for my 2 little guys....Now what... any ideas what to do next to my tank setup? Currently I only have river rocks on the bottom and its starting to look a bit empty

[vear]

Do you have pictures?

[jay2487]

Try some live plants out, anacharis/elodea, cabomba, hornwort, swords, jave fern and moss. All make great decorations and turtle food. What size is the tank?

[krysten]

i dont have any pictures, but ill be sure to get some and post them....the tank is 30 gallon with an above tank basking area that i crafted. i've been wanting to get some live plants for the tank, except i know nothing about them as far as types and if there is any maintenance on them. i do need to get them to eat something other then the pellets...i wanted to try out some fish in there as well for both food and possibly friends lol

[krysten]

i dont have any pictures, but ill be sure to get some and post them....the tank is 30 gallon with an above tank basking area that i crafted. i've been wanting to get some live plants for the tank, except i know nothing about them as far as types and if there is any maintenance on them. i do need to get them to eat something other then the pellets...i wanted to try out some fish in there as well for both food and possibly friends lol

[krysten]

bought a small live plant...didnt wanna go crazy because i wasnt sure if my turts would like them. put the plant down and within 30 seconds they were both going to town on it.

[Phantombaldspot]

I would love to keep plants in my tank, but my turtles eat them up almost as soon as I put them in there. Same with fish. Good luck with those. They can make a tank look really nice.

[vear]

I gave up on live plants. I now have plastic plants. Tomi really likes to lie on top of them (until they bend all the way to the bottom) haha and take naps there. I also have a decoration in the middle, but I only got it when I upgraded the tank to a 75 gallon (didn't want to take up too much swimming area). He likes to stand on top of that and look around. I also have fish. He's only eaten one so far.

[jay2487]

I keep all kinds of live plants with my 5 turtles and while they do tear them up I use plants that mostly can't be destroyed like that. If a turtle bites a sword plants stalk into that sword plant is about done for but if he bites a long piece of anacharis in half well then you have two pieces of anacharis. The same goes for cabomba and hornwort or java moss. If they tear it up just move it around it will still grow. Kristen all you really need to grow plants is the same uva and uvb lights you use for your basking area and a well cycled tank. The plants eat nitrates which are made by beneficial bacteria in the tank and filter eating the turtles ammonia waste and turning it into nitrates. Without live plants they turn to nitrites which are toxic in high levels so plants really help out your little ecosystem

[krysten]

The plants eat nitrates which are made by beneficial bacteria in the tank and filter eating the turtles ammonia waste and turning it into nitrates. Without live plants they turn to nitrites which are toxic in high levels so plants really help out your little ecosystem

SOLD!! That makes these plants worth there weight in gold.

[jay2487]

It really does, imagine how often you do water changes, just guessing but I'd say an average of good aquarium keepers do 50% every week or two maybe a little longer. And then think about the fact that a true professional aquarist, with a perfectly kept tank at the perfect parameters with live plants and a powerful batch of beneficial bacteria will only change his water and vacuum his substrate maybe once a year! Nothing cleans a natural pond or lake, it cleans itself on a permanent cycle. Fish and turtles waste puts off ammonia, which in turn feeds the bacteria, which puts off No2/No3 nitrates and nitrites. This in turn feed the plants which removes any co2 and replaces it with oxygen, which the fish breath. Other byproducts and waste are eaten by scavengers and microbes which in turn feed smaller fish which then have waste which produces ammonia which feeds the bacteria and so on and so forth for ever and ever. You can reproduce this exact system in your tank and once you do, you will never want to go back to the old weekly water change deal