Habitat - Indoor

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:18 am

Alright, I got creative with it. The Rena XP4 made a current at first, it pulled my turtle in. After a while, I made the output point down. It came with a net thing for the input so my turtle couldn't get stuck. Right now the water is really calm, clean (I can't even see something in the water, not even the tiniest spec but what do you expect from a 265 gallon filter for a 15 gallons of water) and my turtle seems more active since it's not trying to get away from the bad stuff in the water. I also raised one more gallon in the water to make it 15 gallons, good enough for a 1.5 inch turtle. All I need is the UVB/UVA fixture. I have the mercury vapor bulb in my room right now, I just don't have a fixture to hold it in. Think I might go to pet smart to pick something up.

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:12 am

Mercury Vapor Bulbs are not recommended for tanks smaller than 55 gallons. Since the bulbs get so hot they can throw the temperature of the water up and down too quickly, this is not healthy for your turtle.

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:59 pm

papoopeepoo wrote:Mercury Vapor Bulbs are not recommended for tanks smaller than 55 gallons. Since the bulbs get so hot they can throw the temperature of the water up and down too quickly, this is not healthy for your turtle.

I know it's not recommended but I'll give it a try and monitor the water. I was thinking of the Exo-Terro Glow Halogen. But I could just pick up two generic lamps from Target and get the Compact Flourescent and a Incandescent bulb. But I have the mercury vapor right now...... actually I have two mercury vapor bulbs. How long is their shelf life?

Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:58 pm

TurtleKeeper48 wrote:I'd be really concerned about that big filter with the turtle being so small. The turtle doesn't have to get completely sucked up the intake pipe to get hurt - there was just another post recently about a turtle getting it's foot stuck in an intake pipe and drowning.

That happened to one of my adult turtles with a XP3, luckily I saw him in time before he drowned. His leg was puffy and purple when we got it out for a few days! Those stupid plastic inlet tubes come off so easily, after that I silicone it and it's still fell off again.

Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:45 pm

Mine is doing fine for right now. I know those plastic pines come off easily so I pulled it in really hard. Took a lot out of me to take it apart. But my turtle is doing fine for what I see. He had his foot on the net thing and he easily just swam off. You could use some non toxic duct tape.

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:18 pm

Habitat - Indoor :: Filter too strong?

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