Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hello from Turkey!

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Post Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:58 am   Hello from Turkey!

Hi everyone! This is Emre from Istanbul!

Last week, I saw two baby red eared sliders in a pet shop (it is completely illegal to buy/sell RES in Turkey ans nearly impossible to find), which were about to die since the temperatures are going down to 20C (68-70F) nowadays, and they were kept in a small plastic thing, 1 liter - 0.25 gallons of water and without any heating equipment.

As I have 2.5 yo son, I did not want to take the risk of salmonella, but I could not stop myself to adopt!! (of course I paid the black market price) these babies. I started to build an aquarium, 60cm*50cm*50cm (150 liters - 40 gallons), with a 20cm*50cm basking area on top. I am really inspired by the examples here, especially for the basking area. I will share mine when I finish building it!
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:26 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

Welcome to the forum! Salmonella is pretty easy to deal with, just treat your turtles and supplies as if it were raw meat but also keep it out of the kitchen and sink. Looking forward to what you come up with!
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:17 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

This is my aquarium with a basking area on top:
Image
https://imgur.com/a/IU536uh

I will start to use my canister filter after cleaning it, add moon light and UVB 5.0.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:22 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

Very nice looking set up! What are you using for the ramp?
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:03 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

steve wrote:Very nice looking set up! What are you using for the ramp?


Basking area is made out of glass and it is one piece with the ramp, so ramp is also glass:

Image

For the ground of the ramp, I used a non slip bath mat:

Image
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 12:59 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

Yes , Nice !

To me the bulb looks like an incandescent type , is it ?
A baby turtle growing so fast needs a specialty UVB also along with a heat source bulb. Or one that does both like Exo Terra Solor Glo in a low wattage for your setup. Or you could get a cheap "CFL" type about 5.0 and another fixture and have both over basking area. A heat bulb is used to entice a turtle to get under the specialty UVB bulb.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 3:53 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

litefoot wrote:Yes , Nice !

To me the bulb looks like an incandescent type , is it ?
A baby turtle growing so fast needs a specialty UVB also along with a heat source bulb. Or one that does both like Exo Terra Solor Glo in a low wattage for your setup. Or you could get a cheap "CFL" type about 5.0 and another fixture and have both over basking area. A heat bulb is used to entice a turtle to get under the specialty UVB bulb.


Current lamp is just for heating purposes as you mentioned. The only brand for UVB 5.0 available here is Exo Terra and the price tag is just woww :) I ordered from China and waiting it to be delivered. For now, I am putting them out in the direct sun for 2-3 hours with a shade that they can use if it is too hot, and giving them one drop of vitamin D with their sticks every week.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:11 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

I understand , the natural sun is great.
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:03 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

litefoot wrote:I understand , the natural sun is great.


But those sunny days are almost over, hopefully I will receive the UVB bulb next week.
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:55 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

Nice work. Is the tank custom made too?
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 4:40 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

steve wrote:Nice work. Is the tank custom made too?


Yes it is also custom, same guy did both for me. Actually majority of the tanks here are custom, it is cheaper to get it done instead of buying a branded one. Tank and the basking area I have (only the glass work) costs around $35. If you go for a branded or exported tank, that will be at least 5 times higher.
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 4:49 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

I also cleaned my canister filter and started to use it, guys did not like it because of the strong current, I will add more materials to the cartridges to lower it.

Image

And today a friend gave me some shrimps and snails. I thought they will be useful for cleaning and since my RES are still babies they would be fine. But one of the guys is chasing the shrimps and trying to bite the snails for the last 10 hours. I started with 20 shrimps and now I can count 4 :evil:
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 12:20 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

That's pretty cool that you can get it custom made. The picture isn't loading for me. Shrimps, snails, and anything else you put in the tank will need some cover and hiding spaces. I don't think they will do a particularly good job cleaning either but I guess it's worth a try. Did your filter come with a spray bar?
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:51 am   Re: Hello from Turkey!

I used a local picture upload website, try this:

Image

I can upload to imgur using vpn but can't see the picture :)

Spray bar is making too much noise if I place it out of water, and I do not like the look inside the water (I am already using the inner filter with spray bar). The current will be fine after it gets dirty and I add more media. I love the apple snails, they are very good glass & root cleaners, and they are free :)

My turtles turned out to be fast adapters, they started to bask quickly, but they slide to the water so fast that they will damage themselves :( I try to be quiet but as soon as someone enters to the room they get crazy. I am planing to cover the class of the basking area, do you have any suggestions?
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:50 pm   Re: Hello from Turkey!

To get the spray bar back above the water you can make the holes a hair bigger to quiet it down. Use something with a small point , ice pick , small nail and try in small increment's until you get the sound and or affect you want. Little larger holes will quiet it down a lot. You can also remove the spray bar part and let just the open tubing shoot water across the surface for a different effect.

With the canister filter try and make different nozzles to control the fast flow , be creative . Maybe even make a splitter to have half at surface and the other half going straight down. Or just put an inline valve to slow it down just a little or both (DIY) nozzle and a valve?

Basking area: how about cutting some cardboard and "wrap" basking area for some privacy "no" cover may hold too much heat in. Colored construction paper or magazine pictures as a background. A natural picture to help them feel safe and comfortable. That is until they get use to all going on around them. They will get comfortable in time and will not jump in the tank when you enter the room. Instead in time they will wake up and give you the "look" , we are trying to sleep up here. We were having good dream's , you woke us up running around out there. Turtle have remarkable expression's !
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