Is this the best I can do for my baby slider turtles?

[maverick786us]

I am new to turtle world I have a pair of baby turtles, and I bought this tank for them.




The boys are enjoying their new home. I provided them basking area, I feed them twice a day, the filter is on 24 X 7, the Ultra Violet light is turned 12-14 hours a day. I clean the tank every week and change water. Like Aquarium Is it possible to have a substrate layer with nitrifying bacteria that will break down ammonia and clean the water for the turtle in a tank like this?

 

[Yvonne G]

Turn the tank around so the cord isn't draped across the water, and try to figure out a way to hang the light so it points straight down. Hang it over the landing dock. gravel would make it pretty hard for you to change/clean the water.

 

[wellington]

The basking light needs to be over the dry dock area.
You can keep their home cleaner by feeding them in a separate container. They do need water to eat though, so be sure to fill the feeding box with water, a heater and let it sit over night before using.
Also, do you realize they get really really big and will need a pond not an aquarium?

 

[EppsDynasty]

Great advice given so far, I would just add 1 x a day feeding not 2 is what I've always done. Also the amount fed is in small amounts, if it is not eaten in 4 hours I remove it.
I say 4 hours due to most babies such as yours get a little shy or scared so I give them plenty of time to eat.

 

[mark1]

Like Aquarium Is it possible to have a substrate layer with nitrifying bacteria that will break down ammonia and clean the water

absolutely........ you just need familiar with different methods and ways of filtering water..... external filters, undergravel filters....... i've had many external filters that held more water than the tank itself......

 

[maverick786us]

The basking light needs to be over the dry dock area.
You can keep their home cleaner by feeding them in a separate container. They do need water to eat though, so be sure to fill the feeding box with water, a heater and let it sit over night before using.
Also, do you realize they get really really big and will need a pond not an aquarium?

I tried feeding them in separate container when I recently brought them, but I have realized that they didn't touch it, they eat only when I throw the food in water and they see it floating they catch it. And yes I don't feed them much, 4 grains of brown food and 2 grains of green one

 

[maverick786us]

The basking light needs to be over the dry dock area.
You can keep their home cleaner by feeding them in a separate container. They do need water to eat though, so be sure to fill the feeding box with water, a heater and let it sit over night before using.
Also, do you realize they get really really big and will need a pond not an aquarium?

Right now they are too small (size of a coin), inside a pond they will become food. Once they reach 15 inch or above, I will look for a pond for them or I will buy a customized fish thank with capacity of 100 gallon

 

[maverick786us]

absolutely........ you just need familiar with different methods and ways of filtering water..... external filters, undergravel filters....... i've had many external filters that held more water than the tank itself......

I have a 50 Gallon fish tank with beautiful aquascape. I am just waiting for the tank to cycle and roots to take firm grip before adding my Oranda Goldfish.

From my knowledge all I know is a cycled tank only needs 10%-20% change in water once in an year. I am not sure if it works the same way with turtles. I change the whole water every week, wash clean the tank and fill the water. I live in an apartment with limited space otherwise I would have tried a 100 gallon tank with beautiful aquascape that has more length and width with a basking tray for these turtles and some fishes to give them company.

 

[wellington]

Right now they are too small (size of a coin), inside a pond they will become food. Once they reach 15 inch or above, I will look for a pond for them or I will buy a customized fish thank with capacity of 100 gallon

Yes, not now, as I said when adults, they will need a pond. A very large pond. A 100 gallon tank won't be big enough as adults.

 

[mark1]

aesthetics really isn't my thing , hopefully when i retire i'll work on it.......for the most part i keep mine outside in small ponds...... when i have kept them in aquariums , i used larger gravel, as i find it easier to clean...... i use a diy filter plate raised enough so as to hold a good amount of water under it..... i draw the water from under the filter plate with an external canister filter, and return it through a diy above tank filter/bucket filled with as much filter media as i can fit in it........ i do exactly the same in the ponds outside......i have a lot of turtles and a lot of small ponds, along with not a lot of time ..... my ponds seldom need maintenance, years...........

this is a 29 gallon home depot cement mixing tub, i haven't maintained it in 3-4yrs..... i bury it with sticks and leaves in the winter and uncover it in the spring....... it is one of the main sources of water for my box turtles....... it's an undergravel filter , and a diy external (filter)2 1/2 gallon bucket

 

[EppsDynasty]

@mark1 ....beautiful. Most (as in just about all) people do not understand 'How' a filter works. It is not mechanical filtration that does the work, it is a Bacterial thing. Bacteria does the hard work of cleaning the water. @maverick786us .... you need to allow the water to go through an algae bloom, then you can start building the right bacteria needed to have clean water ... this takes at least 6 weeks if everything is right. There is no aquarium that will be big enough for them when they are close to full grown.

 

[maverick786us]

aesthetics really isn't my thing , hopefully when i retire i'll work on it.......for the most part i keep mine outside in small ponds...... when i have kept them in aquariums , i used larger gravel, as i find it easier to clean...... i use a diy filter plate raised enough so as to hold a good amount of water under it..... i draw the water from under the filter plate with an external canister filter, and return it through a diy above tank filter/bucket filled with as much filter media as i can fit in it........ i do exactly the same in the ponds outside......i have a lot of turtles and a lot of small ponds, along with not a lot of time ..... my ponds seldom need maintenance, years...........

this is a 29 gallon home depot cement mixing tub, i haven't maintained it in 3-4yrs..... i bury it with sticks and leaves in the winter and uncover it in the spring....... it is one of the main sources of water for my box turtles....... it's an undergravel filter , and a diy external (filter)2 1/2 gallon bucket

Amazing this reminds me of my childhood and teenage days when my old man was in army and government allocated him big houses with garden. Now I live in big city apartments so I don;t have the luxury. Otherwise having a self sustaining pond like this.....



for the turtles is the best thing to have. Fortunately unlike fishes, turtles have a long life so by the time my red sliders fully grow I will figure out something for them.

 

[maverick786us]

@mark1 ....beautiful. Most (as in just about all) people do not understand 'How' a filter works. It is not mechanical filtration that does the work, it is a Bacterial thing. Bacteria does the hard work of cleaning the water. @maverick786us .... you need to allow the water to go through an algae bloom, then you can start building the right bacteria needed to have clean water ... this takes at least 6 weeks if everything is right. There is no aquarium that will be big enough for them when they are close to full grown.

As mentioned in my previous post, I have a 50 gallon tank that I got last weekend, I will wait for 3-5 weeks before introducing my fishes in that thank. I have all the items needed to ensure the plants remain healthy and I have nitrifying bacteria which I sprinkle every week and I have that 5 in 1 pack that contains fertilizer, K and some additional nutrients for healthy growth of my plants.



I have 3 more thanks thats are fully cycled now, contains substrate to provide nutrition to the plants, and help nitrifying bacteria form the colony, who break fish waste (ammonia) into nitrite and then nitrate, which the plants consume thus purifying the water. Though I am also using filters in these tanks, but these plants plays an additional role of bio filter.

I am sure you guys in this forum are experts and know better than me about this, my aim was not to provide a recap of this, I just want to know that can I achieve this with turtle tank? If you look at my original post, you can see my turtle tank only has 50% of water filled, if I feel the bottom surface of this tank with substrate (gravel, commercial aqua soil, and sand) grow plants, do you think I can convert this thank into a self sustaining tank that will clean turtle waste convert it into nitrate and let plant consume it. Though I will keep the filters.

Last week I brought a sucker loach into my turtle tank I thought that fish might clean the algae, but unfortunately that loach couldn't survive for more than a couple of days. I have the same loaches in my fish tanks and they are excellent in cleaning the tank and get rid of algae

 

[mark1]

water filtration for a turtle is no different than for a fish, which is no different than your local sewerage plant is doing for your city...... an aquarium is a little more limited in surface areas as opposed to an outdoor pond, and is not subject to rain and snow....... as Dana said above , it's mostly about the bacteria..... bacteria need a surface, a pond can be made to where almost the entire system is a surface for bacteria.......... an external container for media is helpful, a lot of people dismiss under gravel filters , imo, they are an essential part in building a "self sustaining" system..... when you remove the sludge/mulm from a properly working undergravel filter it is completely odorless, smells like clean dry dirt.......

advice i have given people who have had trouble keeping fish, "don't clean your aquarium to good , or all at one time"...........

the entire system becomes a filter....