New 75 Gallon Turtle/Fish Tank - need some advice :)

[MikeDVB]

Hey guys!

This is primarily a turtle tank for my son's Yellow Belly Slider. I plan on adding some smaller goldfish/feeder fish - if the turtle eats them great if not, well I'll feed them .

That said we have a 75 gallon aquarium and a mesh lid but we also have a decent filtration system set up [canister that sits below the tank in the stand, hoses run up and over the edge of the tank]. I didn't think about it beforehand but this keeps the mesh lid from sitting flush.

I figured I could take some tin snips and cut out some slots in the lid for the hoses/etc but I feel like there has to be a better option out there.

I'd really just like the lid to sit flush primarily so it doesn't look Ghetto .

I'll post some pics up after bit.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

A slider will go into a feeding frenzy on those fish. You think of turtles as slow and fishes as fast, but I bet it won't be two minutes before all there is left are a few heads and tails floating in there. I had a rescue for a while that was injured playing in traffic, and even in his injured state he was like a school of piranhas. Repeat about every week.

 

[bobbittle]

I always cut my mesh lids for filters when I kept turtles.

Make sure you're providing a dry basking area with a heat lamp and UVB lighting. Crucial for shell development. I always preferred the Zoo Med floating turtle docks so I could keep the water level as high as possible.

 

[LegatoRedrivers]

A slider will go into a feeding frenzy on those fish. You think of turtles as slow and fishes as fast, but I bet it won't be two minutes before all there is left are a few heads and tails floating in there. I had a rescue for a while that was injured playing in traffic, and even in his injured state he was like a school of piranhas. Repeat about every week.

May just be our turtles, but when we gave 'em feeder fish it seemed to cause some digestive issues. I.E. the tank water got *real* murky, *real* quick. Might also be that we got the feeder fish at petsmart.

On a completely unrelated note, anyone want to adopt two turtles?

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Everybody poops.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

My daughter's Red-eared slider never did like to eat live fish. Maybe he was just lazy because he liked dead ones.

 

[MikeDVB]

He is in there with 8 fish now and he isn't eating them but he did chase them around. He is very fast - almost surprising.

Will be placing some Java moss tomorrow on some driftwood. Want to have some plants to help keep amonia down and it looks good and the turtle can eat it ;-).

I think I may take some angled steel and mesh and fabricate a custom cover for it to accommodate the filtering and lighting. Just not sure if I should paint or maybe powdercoat.

 

[MikeDVB]

He does have a "turtle dock" and a heat lamp as well as a water heater and a uvb lamp.

How do I know if the heat lamp is sufficient? He has been basking under it for hours. Turning around occasionally to get the other end.

 

[MikeDVB]

 

[IndyLongColt]

No help here, just wanted to say that setup looks nice! Never had turtles, just cichlids.

 

[CindyE]

Turtle and kid look very happy!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

One thing that I think many people get wrong with reptiles is over-feeding.

Reptiles don't require near as many calories as birds and mammals, and will live much longer if they are fed less.

 

[tatic05]

May just be our turtles, but when we gave 'em feeder fish it seemed to cause some digestive issues. I.E. the tank water got *real* murky, *real* quick. Might also be that we got the feeder fish at petsmart.

On a completely unrelated note, anyone want to adopt two turtles?

Were they goldfish? Goldfish dont have a real stomach so they pretty much constantly poo out undigested food.


Nice looking tank Mike, I have never had a turtle but would like to some day.

 

[shootersix]

way back when(in the stone ages) i worked at a pet store, i HATED the turtle tank!(with a burning firey passion!) they stank!, we had two filters (magnum 350) running all the time, changed the carbon/ammo chips 2 times a week!, and still to this day i remember the funky smell!

now the turtle will have a hell of a time catching those feeder fish that are in the pics, they are zebra danios, (another fish i hated) they are fast! im talking fast! you know, ferrari/lambo fast!, one time when i was moving i had cought all of the fish in my tank but the danio, i had to drain all the water out before i could snag that sucker!

i know you have the mesh tank lid and dont want to cut it, but the only other option thai i know of would be the glass top/light strip combo, the glass top has a plastic strip on the back that can be cut for filter inlet/outlets

cool tank, and it looks like "lil mikedvb" likes it! good luck

 

[bobbittle]

way back when(in the stone ages) i worked at a pet store, i HATED the turtle tank!(with a burning firey passion!) they stank!, we had two filters (magnum 350) running all the time, changed the carbon/ammo chips 2 times a week!, and still to this day i remember the funky smell!

now the turtle will have a hell of a time catching those feeder fish that are in the pics, they are zebra danios, (another fish i hated) they are fast! im talking fast! you know, ferrari/lambo fast!, one time when i was moving i had cought all of the fish in my tank but the danio, i had to drain all the water out before i could snag that sucker!

i know you have the mesh tank lid and dont want to cut it, but the only other option thai i know of would be the glass top/light strip combo, the glass top has a plastic strip on the back that can be cut for filter inlet/outlets

cool tank, and it looks like "lil mikedvb" likes it! good luck

Glass top will block uv light, and could crack under the heat from the heat lamp. Horrible idea.

 

[bobbittle]

He does have a "turtle dock" and a heat lamp as well as a water heater and a uvb lamp.

How do I know if the heat lamp is sufficient? He has been basking under it for hours. Turning around occasionally to get the other end.

Put a thermometer on it when he isn't. Looking for mid to high 80's. He looks pretty dang happy up there so you're probably spot on with the temp.

I would recommend taking the big rocks out though, he could crack his shell on them when diving off the dock into the water.

 

[MikeDVB]

No help here, just wanted to say that setup looks nice! Never had turtles, just cichlids.

The tank is really for the turtle although I'm going to do what I can to get some live plants and some decent fish in there. If the turtle eats it - oh well - I'm not putting anything real expensive in there.

All in all I'm happy that my son and wife are happy with the turtle and his environment. We spent more on it than we planned but this tank will be a permanent fixture in our living room for a decade or more .

Turtle and kid look very happy!

Yup. He woke up about a half hour ago and I could hear him upstairs saying, 'Icky turtle.' He was icky when we got him because his prior environment wasn't .... as nice and roomy. We can already see a large improvement in the appearance of his shell and skin - it's getting its shine back.

One thing that I think many people get wrong with reptiles is over-feeding.

I was told to only give him enough food that he can/will eat within a few minutes once per day. I.e. not so much that there is any left over or it taxes an extended period of time for him to eat. I'm still nailing down what, exactly, that amount is. I'm hoping the turtle won't eat more than he needs in one session but I have more research to do.

Were they goldfish? Goldfish dont have a real stomach so they pretty much constantly poo out undigested food.

I was told to avoid goldfish and I'm glad I did. I was gonna get some of the small ones just to swim around because I knew they were fairly hardy and cheap but I was talked into Danios instead .

Nice looking tank Mike, I have never had a turtle but would like to some day.

So far he's fun. We'll see how much upkeep is required to keep everything clean and smell-free. Do have a canister filter that cycles the tank about 6 times per hour as well as a UV light which should help keep algae/bad stuff at bay. It will only work on stuff actually loose in the water so it won't hurt my good bacteria in my filter/etc.

way back when(in the stone ages) i worked at a pet store, i HATED the turtle tank!(with a burning firey passion!) they stank!, we had two filters (magnum 350) running all the time, changed the carbon/ammo chips 2 times a week!, and still to this day i remember the funky smell!

I know the smell you're referring to and I am hoping to avoid it . We got him the food that is supposed to be good for him and cut back on the smell - beyond that cleaning the tank very regularly should help. The filtration I have on the tank is overkill as well.

now the turtle will have a hell of a time catching those feeder fish that are in the pics, they are zebra danios, (another fish i hated) they are fast! im talking fast! you know, ferrari/lambo fast!, one time when i was moving i had cought all of the fish in my tank but the danio, i had to drain all the water out before i could snag that sucker!

Yeah... So I had 8 in the tank and got 4 more at the store to put in my new 10gallon planter tank [Just wanted to help kickstart the cycle a bit since it's new and I treated the tank/added the bacteria]. Well it took me longer than expected to set up the new 10gal so I ended up putting the new 4 in the big tank... Needless to say I got 3 out of the 4 back out and gave up on the 4th. I spent about 45 minutes trying to catch *one* of 9 [in an admittedly large tank] and had no luck. The wife tried and had no luck either. We actually ended up taking out most of the decorations and still I was ending up with nothing but 'net'.

i know you have the mesh tank lid and dont want to cut it, but the only other option thai i know of would be the glass top/light strip combo, the glass top has a plastic strip on the back that can be cut for filter inlet/outlets

I'm not so much against the mesh lid as much as I'm against this *generic* mesh lid. I think I'm going to source myself some wire mesh and some angle iron and spot weld myself a custom lid with a couple of hinged sections for the filter lines/power lines/air lines/etc. This way I can close them if I don't need it or flip it open if I do - to make it a bit more 'universal' also where it sits down on the tank nice.

In the meantime I think I am going to modify the one I already have [cut some holes] to accommodate what is running into the tank now.

cool tank, and it looks like "lil mikedvb" likes it! good luck

He loves the turtle - I'm not sure he has any preference on the tank yet though :P.

Glass top will block uv light, and could crack under the heat from the heat lamp. Horrible idea.

Not a great idea but the effort on the part of the other poster to try and help is very much appreciated regardless.

Put a thermometer on it when he isn't. Looking for mid to high 80's. He looks pretty dang happy up there so you're probably spot on with the temp.

The platform he is sitting on actually measures ~110 degrees - it doesn't seem like it's too much though because he will sit under it directly for a couple of hours - that said - he does get up periodically to turn around [the output from the heat lamp is pretty narrow/confined as it's a smaller lamp]. It is only a 25watt halogen bulb - the pet store people said we needed a 50watt but I think it is fine considering how close his platform is to the top. We are going to be lowering the water a bit and turning the filter return into a waterfall in the corner soon so maybe we will have to go to the 50 watt.

I would recommend taking the big rocks out though, he could crack his shell on them when diving off the dock into the water.

We're going to be moving them all to one side of the tank and building a 'waterfall' as well as another spot he can get up out of the water if he so desires and then likely planing java fern and some other tall leafy plants around the rest of the tank with some small decorations.

That said when he dives off of his dock currently he doesn't dive deep - he goes about 1/2 of the water depth down and he usually shoots off to the side away from the rocks.