Habitat - Indoor :: Our Moe's New Home & Setup! (w pics)

[Bleuberry]

Hey all! Just wanted to share what we've learned and done so far for Moe, our newly adopted RES. We've only had Moe for just under 3 weeks since he was re-homed with us from friends who were moving and we've been working hard to get him home into tip-top turtle shape. Just wanted to thank everyone here for some awesome ideas, great links, fantastic instructions, etc. Moe's home is still in progress and we'll keep working on it, but for now here's the deal:

Note: We're uncertain about Moe's age. The guys we adopted him from had had him for 2+ years and they rescued him from a sketchy situation themselves. His shell currently measures 4 5/8" so I'm not sure if that helps clarify anything. We've been feeding him the Repto-Min pellets every other day as well as greens (red leaf lettuce, kale, and bok choy today, for example) and he seems pretty happy with that. He's been shedding a bunch of retained scutes and his shell is looking good!

Set-Up So Far...
- 55-gallon tank with stand
- Penn-Plex ATBA (I think it's ugly as all get out, but for now it's working just fine)
- Fluval 406
- Aqueon circulation pump 700
- A decent heater... can't remember which brand is was!

And then today I followed the (awesome!) instructions in the sand thread and spent the afternoon washing, filtering, rinsing, and installing it. We've also added a bunch of plants and a the two halves of a broken pot plant for Moe to explore. We're pretty happy with it so far... any thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Here are a few pics:

(Before sand)




(After sand)



Moe napping in his basking area... he's slowly starting to Superman - one leg at a time! It's so cute seeing him figuring it out!


The whole set-up, so far!


PS: Sorry about the picture quality - they're from my phone so not awesome.

[ljapa]

Looks like your doing great!

I love that first picture with the sand.

The only comment I have is that with the intake in the middle of the tank, you'll want to watch for low flow areas under the ATBA. You may need to pay extra attention there when siphoning for water changes.

[steve]

I think Moe still looks pretty young. The previous owner probably had him when he was a hatchling or yearling. He looks pretty happy in that nice tank!

[Mart396]

Gotta love the reptology turtle topper, despite I do not own it. Your turt looks healthy, nice tank setup I like it.

[ataraxiamb]

He looks young. His colors are all very bright. Love what you've done with the tank.

[apondfortimmy]

This makes me want sand so badly now. I love how that looks!

[emilybean]

Your tank looks great! I really like the broken pot in there

[Bleuberry]

Thanks for your feedback everyone! This new set-up has been great so far. Moe's loving it!

Regarding the water flow with the placement of the intake (ljapa's comment) I've got the circulation pump lower down on the opposite end of the tank so I've got some decent water circulation right now. Not perfect... still trying to figure out how to get things working to its most efficient! Hopefully some little tweaks here and there will be the key!