Habitat - Indoor :: So excited!

[Schimpf]

Some time on Friday my dad is bringing me an 80 gallon tank with all the fixings plus two boxes of old fish stuff for me to go through and sell what I don't use.

The tank has a 4 foot long light so It'll be interesting to find a UVB light for that. But it comes with two filters a fluval 404 and the other I don't know what it is. I'll find out what the other one is when it gets here. Frankly if its any kind of filter on top of the 404 it will be perfect.

Now I just have to figure out how I am going to set it up.

I've thought really hard about it and I might not go back to sand. While I LOVE the look and have had 0 issues with it. I have very little time to keep it maintained. I've had to miss out or have been late for many family things because it takes a good amount of time to make sure its IMO perfect. But I'll give it a try and see how I like it.

Anywho, Friday... can't wait!

[vear]

What kind of maintenance are you doing to the sand? I really don't spend much time at all with it. I simply pick up debris from the top when I'm siphoning the water out. Although a bare tank is of course easier.

[Schimpf]

I siphon the sand but because of my set up with the bricks for the basking area I have to take that all out and siphon that too. It takes me 1 hour to clean his tank. Which I just don't have the time for. Plus he like to dig so his poo gets deep into the sand. X(

[vear]

oh no. Sounds like a lot of work. Have you considered an ATBA? There's a sticky on it here. It would give your RES more swimming space and clean up would be a ton easier!

[PridgNYC]

Actually with sand it is okay that his poo gets into it. The sand will create a natural bio filter. Bacteria will colonize it in different layers depending on how much oxygen is available to them. Just be careful if you are using play sand, its variable sized grains produce more compaction which could result in pockets of hydrogen sulfide gas which can be released when the turtle digs. Pool filter sand is better, because it doesn't compact, and it provides a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria. Do a google search for deep sand bed filtration, and you'll see what I mean.

[Schimpf]

Thanks everyone. I did decide to use the sand but only a shallow layer.

Merlin got the new tank yesterday.
My dad has had an 80 gallon tank sitting him his living room for years, empty and dirty. He offered it to us a while back but at that time we didn't have Merlin so we declined him offer. Now that we have Merlin we asked if the offer still stood. It did!

Yesterday my dad dropped it off and I set to work trying to clean it up.


I had some help taking the water out of the old tank.


Here is the new tank now:




Merlin seems to like it, though he didn't like sitting him his little container waiting for me to set it up.


I think he approves.

[Love of Animals]

That looks great! When Merlin gets settled in you should add some fish. They'll give Merlin some exercise.

[Schimpf]

Thats an idea. Thanks

[PridgNYC]

What kind of filtration are you using on that tank?

[Schimpf]

Fluval 404 I also have three HOB if I need to use them in the future. Right now he is 3.5" in about 60-70 gallons of water. So its perfect for now. Maybe in a year or two I'll need a better one.

[PridgNYC]

I was just wondering because I could only see the intake, and it was in the middle of the tank. Ideally with a canister, your intake and output should be on opposite ends of the tank to create a cross flowing current

[Schimpf]

Unlike the newer Fuvals, the in takes and out put area connected together so there is two tubes side by side. Its rather annoying. Thats why I'll be hooking up the HOB filters in the future.

[Love of Animals]

He looks like king of the mountain there.

[PridgNYC]

Unlike the newer Fuvals, the in takes and out put area connected together so there is two tubes side by side. Its rather annoying. Thats why I'll be hooking up the HOB filters in the future.

Most people that used that generation of Fluval just redid the tubing. They don't have to be next to each other. You can buy the tubing online, and the connectors. The trick is to not restrict the intake. It's a siphon, so you want to let gravity do as much work as possible, and don't allow any joints to be above the surface of the water. This will prevent air entering the system and reducing the efficiency of your canister filter or possibly causing damage to the impeller.

The problem with HOB's is that they are not designed for low water levels. They are designed with the idea that the water level will be about the same as the water level in the filter. They don't have the pump power to efficiently fill their tank from 6 inches below the tank.