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I am building a new basking area this weekend and i wanted to do even more changes to the tank to make it more interesting, I was wondering if there is a way to put in live plants either above the water in the basking area ( not under the lights just above the tank... or in the water but i do not want to put sand in the bottom of the tank and make a mess and destroy my filter... is there a way to use like a terricata planter and keep the soil just to that... any ideas anyone..

and Ideas on which plants to use...

Instead of using real plants why not try fake ones? You can get some really nice fake plants that have suction cups that can go anywhere.

My turtle seems to think everything is food, so i want to use real plants, I have a few plastic ones laying around, but i also want to use real ones because some are really healthy... just not sure which, or how to do it so he doesnt make a mess

WHat a lot of people do is to use fake plants for decoration but to add some live plants for food. Anacharis is a popular choice.

Keep in mind that anything you add will likely get eaten or at least ripped to shreds so live plants as decorations is a hard thing to do.

I figure they'll get ripped and eaten, but thats quite alright, anything to eat and i figure they'll grow back, are there plants that the turtle will eat that grow out of water that i can have dangle into the water from above???

if your turtle is anything like mine, dont plan on growing anything within his reach...he will shred it, my guy even eats the roots of his Amazon Sword!

edit - I guess if hes a smaller turt u could probably get away with it if u had enough of it...

Thank you all for your comments, but I am still at a loss, I really want to use plants that he'll eat because I keep reading plants should be about half of his diet and it would be easier just to grow something rather than keep buying it, is there plants grown out of water that he'll eat, than I could just take some of the leaves and put it in his tank, I would prefer something more like a vine.

What i did was bought a 30 gal aquarium on craigslist for 13 bucks and just have it growing in there....Very simple to maintain, basic plant nutrition tabs bought at like petsmart will suffice...

All i do with mine is watch the algae and make sure the current is circulating, anacharis grows easily and im trying amazon sword now, its going okay.

RES will eat amazon sword? didnt know, I was going to try anacharis but I believe they illegal here, thats what i hear, and I cant find them, something about people have released them and its not native here. But I have seen amazon sword

You can use the aquatic plants from the feeding section... www.redearslider.com/plants.html

I have water lettuce & water hyacinth in my tank. Both are floating plants so no soil is needed (the roots just hang down) and the turtles love to eat them - especially the hyacinth. I have had a problem getting them to stay healthy indoors - but I think with grow lights it wouldn't be an issue. I have an outdoor pond & just bring in fresh when the tank plants start to brown.