Habitat - Indoor

Right now i have large stones in teh bottom of Sal's tank, I dont want the bare bottom, because i dont like the look of it. I wanted to know if sand would be okay to use with a reptofilter for frogs newts and turtles 90 GPH. The box says it suggests not using sand, but i was wondering if anyone on here had used it and knew whether or not that was a hard "No really don't use this, i have warned you" or a "well you probably shouldnt but really it doesnt matter THAT much."

I'd say move the filter up higher to give a couple inches of clearance from the bottom of the filter, where the intake is, to the top of the sand. Your gonna be upgrading tanks soon and I would recommend, if your on a budget, wait for the $1 per gallon deal at petco or petsmart. Then you can get a 40 gal breeder or even a 55 gallon, for $40 or $55, respectively. When you do that your gonna definitely want to upgrade to a canister filter. Again there are cheap deals out there that would not break the bank. I wouldn't be concerned with sand, I think it is stated for when using the waterfall décor, cause the filter intake would be on the substrate. Being, your using the filter alone, you can just move it higher. You could even add a bit more water too and see how your turtle is adjusting. Do you have a couple fake plants you could add to the tank for a place for your turtle to rest if he/she gets tired? I don't suspect a hatchling turtle would kick up the sand into the filter, anything is possible tho.

i decided to wait on the sand, just because it wasn't necessary for the moment, though i did get him some plants for his tank, anacharis, as well as a hidey log for the bottom of his tank, and he really seems to like it, but now he wont come out of the plants to bask. he is small enough that he can kind of float one them and he just doesnt seem to want to come on to his dock to properly bask and dry up. is there something i can do to encourage him to leave the plants alone? should i give him a week or two to adjust? i know that basking time is important, so we decided to leave his basking lights on all day yesterday, incase he just didnt feel comfortable basking with us in the room, so he could at night when we would be alseep

No need to leave his lights on 24 hrs. Like us, they need to get their sleep, a day/night schedule is very important for them to get their sleep. He will bask when he needs to as long as the basking temp is right. Also a high water temp will provoke them to not want to bask. He probably doesn't feel comfortable basking in front of anyone. So it is important to give him his privacy. Did you get fake plants? What is the basking temp and the water temp?

his water was at 82, we lowered it to 79 and he started basking again, his heater temp got bumped up when adding plants (live ones) and i didnt notice, so he didnt want to leave the water

Good deal, glade you got him basking again:)

Habitat - Indoor :: I have some questions regarding sand in the bottom of a tank

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