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Friends turtle tank!

T

Tucker90

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Joined
28 Feb 2016
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355
Location
Derby
So I have been asked to scape a friends turtle tank,

It is a 150L cube, it gets low light, and I have a limited choice of plants. Mainly amazon swords, hornwort, java fern, java moss and Anubis’s purely because the turtle will eat everything else!

My question is; how do I make this look good?!? Any ideas on hardscape, emergent plants?! I want to try and build the back up a bit! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

This is the poor sods current tank! Can you see why I offered to help them?!?


3fffd27749949407bf97acd81427e64a.jpg




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Turtles do not eat Anubias?.. Good to know..

Lots of drift wood partialy emersed for the turtle to sit on.. Anubias is an epiphyte, it likes it on the wood submersed.. 🙂 Could be quite a quest to find the correct shaped wood to make it look natural..

Something shaped like this with the trunk partialy emersed.
Smooth_Bark_Tree_Stump_Ornaments.jpg

Some swords grow large and emersed from the substrate up.. e.g. Echinodorus cordifolius.
 
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Turtles are VERY dirty, youre friend will need a large filter and lot's of waterchanges.
I would aim for cheap fast growing pondplants as largest mass, and add swords and anubias if all is growing well
https://www.myturtlecam.com/plants.php
 
Edvet said:
Turtles are VERY dirty, youre friend will need a large filter and lot's of waterchanges.
I would aim for cheap fast growing pondplants as largest mass, and add swords and anubias if all is growing well
https://www.myturtlecam.com/plants.php
Click to expand...

Thanks Edvet,

Yeah I know they are! I’ve been in that site! That’s where I learnt what plants I can have!

I’ve bought them a new filter, which turns the tank over 8 times an hour, not the beat but I’m on a budget!

I’ve also got them a water change kit as the poor lad isn’t kept in the best conditions so I’m trying to improve that!




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they don't eat most plants on your list but they keep trying them I think in hope it may taste different the next day..
Edvet said:
Turtles are VERY dirty, youre friend will need a large filter and lot's of waterchanges.
I would aim for cheap fast growing pondplants as largest mass, and add swords and anubias if all is growing well
https://www.myturtlecam.com/plants.php
Click to expand...
anything too small when they push around and play.. you have a floating plant tank which they love by the way.. poking there head out of the uprooted plants.. it's all possible but you have to weight everything or tie plants as well..
in the end I just planted swords and pond grass in terrocota pots with big black river stones on top which were too big for them to move.. if I needed to cut them or treat for elgea I could move the stones and take the pot out.. also dirty buggers.. the big river stones trap allot of crud but it's really easy to remove the turtles and the stones to clean..
 
obsessed said:
they don't eat most plants on your list but they keep trying them I think in hope it may taste different the next day..

anything too small when they push around and play.. you have a floating plant tank which they love by the way.. poking there head out of the uprooted plants.. it's all possible but you have to weight everything or tie plants as well..
in the end I just planted swords and pond grass in terrocota pots with big black river stones on top which were too big for them to move.. if I needed to cut them or treat for elgea I could move the stones and take the pot out.. also dirty buggers.. the big river stones trap allot of crud but it's really easy to remove the turtles and the stones to clean..
Click to expand...

I wanted to put sand in... mistake?




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big grain maybe almost gravel .. well I never tried it.. I no longer have them.. they retired in spain they live in my mates pond now
 
they are very mischievous.. mine we're.. proper diggers
They sit above water most of the day it's at night..
 
obsessed said:
they are very mischievous.. mine we're.. proper diggers
They sit above water most of the day it's at night..
Click to expand...

My plan was to use the existing pebbles and make a shelf/band using some of the wife’s old tights, then bank sand/gravel up.

Throw a couple chunks of wood in with 30 java ferns and some anbius’ tide to the lower branch’s! I’ll maybe fasten the wood to slate under the sand/gravel so they can disturb them too much!

Think it’ll work?!


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Tucker90 said:
My plan was to use the existing pebbles and make a shelf/band using some of the wife’s old tights, then bank sand/gravel up.
Click to expand...
be careful of anything that reduces water volume - back to those “dirty” turtles 😛

I’d just go with floating plants & epiphyte plants (eheim suction cups work very well for years, just crew into the bogwood and attach plants to glass, this will put plants nearer the light and create shaded areas for turtle)
checkout Tropica’s bankwood for inspiration
https://tropica.com/en/plants/aquadecor/bankwood/

Substrate - consider a smaller grain natural gravel (not any of the coated gravels as they tend not to support beneficial bacteria) BUT check for turtle swallowing hazard (species dependent I think)
 
funny..
I wedge my driftwood in I was always worried about the silicone failing so bolted it to slate in the end
the floating platform will shade.. but they need allot of light.. uv and heat lamp.. not an easy project.. to add.. if the gravel can fit in there mouth its to small..
 
obsessed said:
funny..
I wedge my driftwood in I was always worried about the silicone failing so bolted it to slate in the end
the floating platform will shade.. but they need allot of light.. uv and heat lamp.. not an easy project.. to add.. if the gravel can fit in there mouth its to small..
Click to expand...

The light/heat lamp and platform are already in position! The shadey area isn’t an issue hence the Anubis’s and java ferns lack of light demand!


I’ve read so many conflicting views on substrate! Some say sand is fine, others say gravel! Then there’s loads of “bare bottomers)

The last thing I want to do is kill the poor sod!

Might have to consider... slate bottom tank...


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you can have sand but they will kick it up.. maybe into your filter..it's messy.. the turtles are messy.. allot of cleaning.. to be safe I used ping pong ball sized river stones.. added..you have to cover the slate it's too sharp..
 
obsessed said:
you can have sand but they will kick it up.. maybe into your filter..it's messy.. the turtles are messy.. allot of cleaning.. to be safe I used ping pong ball sized river stones.. added..you have to cover the slate it's too sharp..
Click to expand...

FFS why would anyone buy a bloody turtle!

Basically there’s one safe option... horrible disgusting pebbles!




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that was my problem..
I hated all the choices until my local garden centre ordered me black river stones.. mad thing they cost more than the tank. but they are nice.. for stones.
 
Tucker90 said:
I’ve read so many conflicting views on substrate! Some say sand is fine, others say gravel! Then there’s loads of “bare bottomers)
Click to expand...

Maybe because there's different kinds of 'turtles'. Do you know what species it is?
 
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