Habitat - Indoor :: crush's tank set up

[francinemarie]

-Her ramp going to the basking area


-Very very simple basking area & ramp. It is entirely made up of egg crate & being supported/held by suction cups. It is very accessible, I've seen Crush get on the basking platform & start basking. The platform is lined with one of the liners for cabinets. She has tried to escape & was unsuccessful . I currently only have a UVA because I am still saving for a UVB. If you're worried about her calcium intake, she's doing fine & is a VERY healthy RES (you can see pics of her in the Photo Gallery in this forum). The water is a bit cloudy because I just cleaned the tank & sifted the sand (Crush kicks the sand around a lot ). The next time I clean the tank, I plan on switching 2 those big suction cups (the ones being used for the ramp) with 2 of the small ones (being used to hold up the basking area) because sometimes she accidentally scratches at 1 of the small suction cups & falls off. Then it becomes unstable.


-This is on the other side of the tank. An Aquaclear 300 HOB filter. The output or "waterfall" strickles down onto 1 of her old basking platforms. It helps break the noise of the water splashing back into the tank & also serves as something for Crush to grab onto when she comes up for air.


-This is a pic of the entire tank (50 gallons). If you can see it, there are some green fake plants in the water (bottom right). She plays with them & sleeps in them .

all comments or advice is welcome. hope you liked the pics & thank you for looking!

[Raphulk]

did you clean the sand before you put it in the tank?
I don't what everyone else has experienced, but when I clean the sand thoroughly I don't have any dirt clouds in my water.


anyways, those suction cups look good, but I think they are the ones with the metal hooks? if those get wet or maybe evaporation? they can get rusty.

I also wouldn't depend on them for long, my suction cups don't last long anyways.

hopefully one day you could make an above tank basking area (ATBA) so you can fill the tank all the way and hopefully use the entire tank for your big turtle

[francinemarie]

did you clean the sand before you put it in the tank?
I don't what everyone else has experienced, but when I clean the sand thoroughly I don't have any dirt clouds in my water.

anyways, those suction cups look good, but I think they are the ones with the metal hooks? if those get wet or maybe evaporation? they can get rusty.

I also wouldn't depend on them for long, my suction cups don't last long anyways.

hopefully one day you could make an above tank basking area (ATBA) so you can fill the tank all the way and hopefully use the entire tank for your big turtle

I did rinse my sand, but maybe I didn't do it long enough .

The 4 suction cups that are holding the basking platform do have metal hooks. I knew that they can get rusty if they are wet, so that's why I used them for the platform. The ones holding the ramp are entirely plastic & i plan on buying 4 more of those to replace the 4 being used on the platform. thank you for the warning though .

I also plan on somehow making an ATBA, so that I can fill up my tank. I just haven't been able to think of what materials I can use instead of egg crate. I'd like to use plexiglass but I don't have any tools that I can use to drill holes into the plexi .

thank you

[Azfar]

You may ask the people at the place you buy plexiglass to drill some holes for you. I bet no charge on dat if they got time and tools to do it. When I want to buy the plexi, I ask the people to cut with the measurement I want and drill the holes too.

[francinemarie]

You may ask the people at the place you buy plexiglass to drill some holes for you. I bet no charge on dat if they got time and tools to do it. When I want to buy the plexi, I ask the people to cut with the measurement I want and drill the holes too.

oh thank you. would you happen to know if home depot does the cutting or drilling of plexiglass? that's where I plan on buying it all from.

[Raphulk]

You may ask the people at the place you buy plexiglass to drill some holes for you. I bet no charge on dat if they got time and tools to do it. When I want to buy the plexi, I ask the people to cut with the measurement I want and drill the holes too.

oh thank you. would you happen to know if home depot does the cutting or drilling of plexiglass? that's where I plan on buying it all from.

I went to Lowes to get my plexiglass.
I bought the sheet and they cut it for me to the measurements I wanted (free of charge) I'm pretty sure they'd be nice enough to drill holes too

[francinemarie]

You may ask the people at the place you buy plexiglass to drill some holes for you. I bet no charge on dat if they got time and tools to do it. When I want to buy the plexi, I ask the people to cut with the measurement I want and drill the holes too.

oh thank you. would you happen to know if home depot does the cutting or drilling of plexiglass? that's where I plan on buying it all from.

I went to Lowes to get my plexiglass.
I bought the sheet and they cut it for me to the measurements I wanted (free of charge) I'm pretty sure they'd be nice enough to drill holes too

Oh I didn't know Lowes does that, thank you! Ahh, now I don't have to worry about all the cutting of plexiglass, yay! thanks so much.

Would you happen to know how I would glue the pieces of plexiglass together? Do I just use silicone glue?

*note: when i save enough $ for the ATBA, it will be made without the ramp because I already have a ramp to use. So when start making the ATBA, it'll be just the platform.

[Raphulk]

I actually opted not to silicon my plexiglass together.
although it is a very sharp look, I didn't have the right kind of glue at the time.
fortunately my lazy concoction was good enough.
I just drilled tiny holes in each plexiglass and tied them together

haha

observe
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

[francinemarie]

I actually opted not to silicon my plexiglass together.
although it is a very sharp look, I didn't have the right kind of glue at the time.
fortunately my lazy concoction was good enough.
I just drilled tiny holes in each plexiglass and tied them together

haha

observe
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

haha yea i remember seeing your ATBA before, still looks good . So it ispossible to just silicone the pieces of plexi together?

[Raphulk]

haha yea i remember seeing your ATBA before, still looks good . So it ispossible to just silicone the pieces of plexi together?

of course! it is a cleaner look as well

just do your research and find some that is water proof

[francinemarie]

haha yea i remember seeing your ATBA before, still looks good . So it ispossible to just silicone the pieces of plexi together?

of course! it is a cleaner look as well

just do your research and find some that is water proof

haha ok, thanks!

[LorJ]

Would aquarium sealent work?

[francinemarie]

Would aquarium sealent work?

I think as long as it says 100% silicone on the product it should work.

[theartbook35]

As said, I would be worried about the metal hooks rusting, since rust does give off tetnis, and if it's harmful to people then it is probably harmful to turtles too.

Honestly, I recommend gravel rather than sand. Sand will get kicked up in the water, and can get trapped in your turtle's airways. You don't have to really worry about them ingesting the gravel because their food floats. If they were to pick up a gravel rock by accident, I would naturally trust them to dig it out of their mouth with their feet, as they do when they break apart their food while eating. (Turtles are pretty observant little guys. My male knows me so well that he always runs to me when he sees me, and shows no fear of me at all. The female hates me for some reason, even though she knows I am the one who brings the food).

If you want your turtle to feel more secure, it should have plenty of aquarium plants, a tunnel to hide in for maximum privacy, and some flat river rocks so it can dig under them and move them around to feel more at home.

You can get live plants which your turtle will snack on, but these are hard to maintain. Turtles like plants with big leaves to hide under, they like lillies, vines draped over the water and various other bottom plants. Hairgrass plants are also very natural looking, and make good hiding places too.

[francinemarie]

As said, I would be worried about the metal hooks rusting, since rust does give off tetnis, and if it's harmful to people then it is probably harmful to turtles too.

Honestly, I recommend gravel rather than sand. Sand will get kicked up in the water, and can get trapped in your turtle's airways. You don't have to really worry about them ingesting the gravel because their food floats. If they were to pick up a gravel rock by accident, I would naturally trust them to dig it out of their mouth with their feet, as they do when they break apart their food while eating. (Turtles are pretty observant little guys. My male knows me so well that he always runs to me when he sees me, and shows no fear of me at all. The female hates me for some reason, even though she knows I am the one who brings the food).

If you want your turtle to feel more secure, it should have plenty of aquarium plants, a tunnel to hide in for maximum privacy, and some flat river rocks so it can dig under them and move them around to feel more at home.

You can get live plants which your turtle will snack on, but these are hard to maintain. Turtles like plants with big leaves to hide under, they like lillies, vines draped over the water and various other bottom plants. Hairgrass plants are also very natural looking, and make good hiding places too.

I mentioned above that I'm planning on replacing those hooks with the plastic ones .

I never tried this idea before, but I think bare bottom with some huge river rocks would look nice. At least I tried the sand idea & I would try to take some out, but Crush loves the sand. She finds it very comfortable to sleep on at night.

I was thinking of hiding places to use for her, but tunnels won't work for her because she's so wide & huge. It would just take up tank space. I have more of those plants you see in the whole tank picture & I can add them . I won't get live plants because she'll just eat them