Habitat - Indoor :: new tank!

[ajozwiak]

I put the brick in there for now. If it turns out to be a problem with their shells I'll take it out, but they seem to enjoy it so far. I still need to get a background and the new XP2 filter will be here on Wednesday, but at least it's set up![/img]

[SpotsMama]

Beautiful tank! Your turtles must be happy campers!

Suggestion: Be very very sure there is no way that brick could fall over. It must be heavy and it would do some damage if it fell on a RES. I know it's hard to imagine a little turtle tumping that big brick over but they are remarkably strong - and persistent. And they love to redecorate their tanks - always moving things around.

[adam85491]

Speaking of moving things around, my turtles moved all of their little half dollar sized river rocks from the corner of the tank out into the middle...my mom had to check on them to make sure they were ok since I wasn't home...

[steve]

I'd make sure that the log can be used in an aquarium. Those are normally used in terrariums, and is not intended to be submerged in water.

[ajozwiak]

LOL They do love to redecorate! I had a fake plant held down with river rocks. I watched one turtle attack that thing until it was floating above him. He's ignored it ever since.
I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the brick in there. But if I take it out, I would like to find something similar that isn't as heavy. It's just that most aquarium decorations don't have holes big enough for turtles. I'm afraid they'd get stuck down there!
The log is designed for both uses. It's plastic and it has little holes in it to take in water so it stays on the bottom. It was a pretty cool find!
My XP2 came in today! I think I'll go get a background tomorrow and get it looking the way I want it. I'll post another pic when I do it.

[Tenodera]

Speaking of moving things around, my turtles moved all of their little half dollar sized river rocks from the corner of the tank out into the middle...my mom had to check on them to make sure they were ok since I wasn't home...

Hey my turtle does that too! I have a lot of smooth red big rocks all around the bottom of the tank, but Serra ALWAYS pushes them to the middle...weird...

GREAT tank btw, all those tunnels to swim through must be fun for your turtle...an underground maze...reminds me of an awesome movie?
I should start redesigning Serra's tank into a dark eerie underground maze! *runs off*

[ajozwiak]

I got the new filter set up. Wow!! It was very impressive from the beginning. All this debris had collected at the bottom on one side of the tank with the old filter, but when I plugged in the XP2 it just sucked it all right up! The tank is SOOOO clean now!

I found a picture of river rocks that I liked online so I just printed that out a bunch of times and taped it to the back of the tank. I also taped it to the bottom so it would seem less like they were swimming in midair. Of course, now Bowser can't figure out why he can't reach the rocks on the bottom of the tank. LOL

I took the brick out. They kept trying to wedge themselves between it and the side of the tank. I was concerned about them scratching up their shells and/or knocking it over. I did find this other rock in the closet though and it looks pretty cool. It's their old basking rock from when they were hatchlings!

I also got another repti sun 5.0 for the other part of the hood so they have sunlight all across the tank. I hope that's not too much! It seems like it should go all the way across the tank, but maybe I should only have it by the basking lamp? Anyway, here it is.

[DavidY]

That looks really nice! Pretty neat idea with the background too. The flourescent lights across the top is good and will give them more exposure. I assume they're the tube flourescent bulbs? Those don't seem to have any problems with causing eye irritation as they are not as intense as the compact flourescents. They are only good out to 12" and you can have them as close as 4" or 5" without any problem I believe. Just make sure there is no glass or plastic between the bulb and the tank. Glass and plastic filter out the UVB and you don't want to do that.

[SpotsMama]

Beautiful! I love that background - very creative!

When the UVB tube that's NOT over the basking area reaches it's expiration date, I wouldn't worry about replacing it with another UVB tube. When you have to replace it, you could just replace it with a regular tube flourescent and spare the expense of a UVB bulb.

You could use the money you save on the second UVB bulb to upgrade to a 10.0 for the fixture that's over the basking area. There haven't been any problems reported with the tube flourescents like there have been with the compact flourescents, and I think your turt would benefit from the better bulb over the basking area.

Just a suggestion!

[DavidY]

I dunno, the 10.0 bulbs are specifically designed for the needs of desert dwelling species. More is not always better. Personally, I would prefer to use two 5.0's spread out across the tank than one 10.0 over one spot. Too much intensity will cause damage. It's better to play it safe. If the turtle's shell starts to show signs of MBD or general malformed growth, then I'd get something stronger as these deficiencies can be corrected if caught soon enough. I also don't think it's been determined exactly how much UV is required to maintain a healthy RES. Again, more is not always better.

[SpotsMama]

Do the 10.0 tube flourescents say desert too? I thought it was only the CF's. Before I got the MVB I used 10.0 reptisun tubes for maybe a year and didn't have a problem. Was I just lucky?

[DavidY]

hmm you're right. I looked up the description for the 10.0 linear flourescent tubes on the ReptileSupply website and they say that it's made out of a special UV transmitting quartz glass and the UV will emit up to 20" away. Very interesting. Like I said, I think they're always doing a lot of new research and design to come up with better products. Maybe they went a little overboard with the CF lights.

[ajozwiak]

I'll have to check out those 10.0 bulbs! Thanks for the tip!

[DavidY]

Well, I still think those 10.0 bulbs are too strong. Your light strips look like they are only a few inches above the water. The 10.0 bulbs are meant to be used over a foot away. I would stick with the 5.0 bulbs if I were you.

[Blue Flamingo]

What a great and inexpensive way to make a background. I never thought of that.