Habitat - Indoor :: tank suggestions

[fungke]

Hello,
i am new to the forum and i wanted to post up photos of my setup for comments and improvements i am new to this and i am overwhelmed by the costs involved..but i am trying to cope taking it one step at a time.
please give me some suggestions.

presently, i have the following:
20 gallon tank
basic stick on themometer
basking area/platform
Water filter
Air Pump for bubbles



side view


the light that i have came with the tank...not sure about the details but i believe it lacks UVA output. thinking about changing the bulb to something that does both. however i did reecntly purchase a 75W Sun GLo bulb from ExoTerra that the pet shop recomended. not sure how to incorporate that with my setup though. also need to consider a heater to keep a constant temperature...up till now, the temperature is set at about 70F which is quite low...but they have been fine (is this something i should change immediately).

your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

[cute is what we aim for]

your warer has to be around 78F for your baby turtle. And more water in the tank will make your turtle happy, they love to swim

[missibsu]

He's such a tiny little guy! I agree with the previous comment about filling it up with water. Your little guy will thank you. Also, you didn't mention anything about lighting...do you have UVB lighting for your little guy? The only other thing I can think of is the thermometer. The stick on ones can be inaccurate. I have one that works pretty well, but I still double check with digital. A decent digital themometer can be picked up for around 5 bucks(USD).

[fungke]

Hello,
thanks for your responses.
i will try to go out and get a proper themometer and heater this week. as for the water level...i wanted to keep it right under the big rocks since i wanted that to also be a basking area but i guess i will fill it up a little more..if i have it filled at 1/4 the tank now...would filling it 1/3 of the tank be ok?

as for lighting i am using an in the box...just a tube lighting that supposedly emits UVB rays....just not UVA.

[Muirner]

A few of those bigger pointy rocks i'd be careful with. These can cause problems if your turtle were to "dive" off of the large ramp and to the water.

I'd go at least 1/3 of the way maybe even 1/2 the way...

What type of light are you using? Is it a super coil? If so these produce 3% UVB, and you want something between 5-10% UVB

[fungke]

Hello all.
had some time today and rather than buying a better themometer, i came home with..




i added a little more water and the temperature is going up. think it will be at 78 degrees by morning.



i am not sure what kind of light i have currenty. however i think that i may be picking this up in the near future. let me know if this is good.


in addition to this, i am going to use a metal mesh to hold up the basking light here



my question is...if i put the basking light right ontop of the tank...will it be too hot for the turtles based on how high the platform is?

just want to say thank you all for your replies.
i am new at this and really appreciate your support.

[SpotsMama]

On the tube light, I suppose it's flourescent. Does it say that it provides UVB anywhere on the box? If it doesn't say so and how much, then it probably isn't providing enough to be of much use to you. You need a flourescent bulb that provides between 5% and 10% UVB light. The bulbs that do will say so on the box. Reptisun makes a good tube flourescent if the one you've got isn't good.

Also, if you didn't know, the UVB lights "wear out" over time; ie, the amount of UVB they put out diminishes over time. Usually by 6 months you have to replace them.

On the temperature at the basking site, it is very important that it not be too hot or too cold. The only way to tell what the temp is is to get a thermometer and measure it. You may have to adjust the distance between the heat source and the basking site up or down until you get the basking site at around 88 or 90 degrees.

On the subject of distance, it's also important to get the distance between the UVB source and the basking site just right. The further between the light and the basking site the weaker the UVB is. For a 5% bulb you may need to be as close at 6 or 8 inches for it to be effective. Check what it says on distance on the box.

[steve]

Here are my suggestions:

www.redearslider.com/startup.html

[VelvetAlley]

Hey! Your turts set up is almost the same as the first 10 gallon aquarium I had sputnik in.

If I had your equipment, this is what i do. You can take the filter and suction it higher on the wall. Let the ramp be your turts basking area, and don't worry if he doesn't go up there right away, he'll find the heat.

As far as basking area temp, there are these small analog thermometers you can get at any pet store, you've probably seen them. Stick one in side the tank near the basking area and you can monitor the temp.

I had the same ramp as you a little while ago, I also have the same heater!

Oh, after you raise the filter up, you can fill the water up higher. Everyone here stresses more water, because of the nature of the turtle. They like all directions of swimming; up down, left right, etc.

Here's some pics of what mine looked like when I started on this forum, and what it looks like now thanks to the help of these folks.

Before: Water Low, Objects every where, questionibly dangerous rock material.


After: No rocks. Deeper water. Better looking tank all around, I think.


Hope this was a help. Your tank looks great btw, like those dark stones.

[fungke]

great setup VelvetAlley.
wish i found this forum before buying a tank. that way i would have gotten a much larger one to begin with and more room to play.

what's the new ramp made out of? and is there a particular reason you abandoned the original ramp?

[Muirner]

Thats always the way to think of it. The bigger the better, if you go big you wont have to upgrade later.

[VelvetAlley]

I got rid of the old ramp because it had a tendancy to collapse. This may have been from my turtles weight, or from him scratching his shell underneath it. He would wedge himself where the ramp met the ground and rub himself all against it.

The new ramp is sturdier, it has three suction cups and more room to walk around on. Lots of people use this ramp if you search the forums long enough you'll find it.

Here's a link

Also if you fill the water deep enough so those black rocks are submerged, your turtle will probably start using it as a sleeping platform. On the right side of my tank I have a submerged stand that Sputnik uses to rest on. It's high enough for him to stick his head out of the water and rest on it.

[fungke]

thanks velvet.
i will have to consider trying to re-arrange my setup sometime this month when i get the basking set up done. i really wish i got a bigger tank...i can't move stuff around too much.

thanks for your input.
i just added more water. the dark rock pretty much fully submerged. i left a less than an inch dry.