Habitat - Indoor :: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Turtle tank setups and other indoor configurations.

Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 11:53 am   Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Howdy,

My turtle Shelldon is now about 6 inches and I wanted to upgrade his habitat to more space. A great offer came up on a 150 gallon shallow tank (48 x 36 x 20) and I got to be his final aquarium. However, I have never dealt with an aquarium that size. So I was hoping to get some ideas for how to deal with it.

1) Filtration - How many and what type of filters should I use for an aquarium this big? In my current setup I have an Emperor 400 Power filter and a Penn Plax 700 Canister (Rated for 65 gallons). I'm not sure If I should keep these or sell them as I have a buyer for his old tank and I could also sell him the canister and power filter. My thoughts were I could keep the Canister and get a second one, but that seems like it wouldn't handle the needs of the size of the new tank. So I might just upgrade to a Penn Plax 1500 (Rated 200 gallons). But I worry that it might not be enough since the tank is wide. Should I also include a couple of Power Filters to help?

2) Lights - Is it better to have one long UV light or a few short ones.

3) Heat - Any recommendations for heating this amount of water? I currently have an Aquatop 300 W, but it's only rated for 75 gallons. Would two of these take care of 150 gallons?

4) Miscellaneous - Any recommendations you might have to improve the quality of life of Shelldon. What kind of things to keep him loving life.

I appreciate any responses.
Thank you all in advance. I've included a picture of the tank.
Tanks.jpg
New Tank for Shelldon
Tanks.jpg (23.37 KiB) Viewed 5312 times
Akira5284
 
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 12:45 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Lovely tank.. He is gonna love that.. I don't have any advice, but I sure would love to see a pic of Shelldon while we wait for others with more experience to respond.
Midland Painted--Philbert--SIP :(
1-2 1/4" Mississippi Map Turtle(Male)--Atlas
1-2 1/2" Western Painted Turtle (male)--Titan
40 gallon tank
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unclejoe
 
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:03 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Very nice size. Couple of concerns... the glass looks very thin. You might want to measure it and make sure this is an aquarium and not a terrarium. The silicone looks a bit worn, and if that's the case you need to re-seal it. It's not hard but it's a real pain to do on larger tanks.

Filtration... go straight for the FX6. Do the tank include a stand?

I'd either go for a long tube + a halogen lamp, or a MVB. The basking area would need to be setup in one of the corners.

You can probably get away with two 300 watt heaters. Usually it's 3-5 watts per gallon of water.

What's his diet like?
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steve
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:36 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Howdy Steve,

Thanks for the reply. What am I looking for to distinguish between an aquarium and terrarium? The info I've found seems to mostly focus on the sealing job and how well it was sealed. I still haven't picked it up so it's not to late to back out when I go and grab it.

For filtration, that's one awesome looking canister filter, but I doubt my wife would let me spend that much. Any other recommendations for a more budget conscience spouse?

Diet: He gets pellet food mostly and am trying to get him to eat more greens. In the past it was difficult because I he lives at school and I had to bring him greens from home. I have recently gotten a mini fridge at school so he will be seeing more greens in his diet. Any other suggestions?
Akira5284
 
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:50 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

I am not sure if this is something you would wanna do with your students around, I am not sure of their ages.. But I like to give my turtle live prey once a week or so.. I am not a person who likes to watch but I also wanna let him be able to use his brain and his natural instincts. YOu can do this by giving him minnows, snails, earth worms, just to name a few.. Also maybe some cuttlebone for birds for calcium? you need to peel off hard backing before giving it to him though..
Midland Painted--Philbert--SIP :(
1-2 1/4" Mississippi Map Turtle(Male)--Atlas
1-2 1/2" Western Painted Turtle (male)--Titan
40 gallon tank
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unclejoe
 
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 10:18 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Terrariums do not hold significant amounts of water, they are mainly used to use snakes, lizards and small mammals. Therefore the glass and seals are thinner. To check the seal, look at how thick they are, any parts missing, chewed or loose. A compromise in the seal could cause a leak at any time.

Could you sell the old tank and equipment? Some of the other teachers on here have had fund-raising events for their turtle... it would also be a good idea to save some of those funds for emergencies.
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steve
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 2:13 am   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Howdy again,

Thanks Steve. The glass and seals looked pretty good. The guy I got it from does Aquariums for a living, his wife just wouldn't let him keep this one. He said it was recently tested and it looks to be in good shape.

I do indeed plan to sell the old setup to someone who is interested in starting his first turtle habitat. So that will help a little bit. I'll look into the forums a bit more and see about maybe trying a fundraiser. I think that would be awesome as I really do like the look of the Fluval fx6.
Akira5284
 
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Post Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:52 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Alright, more advice needed. I went ahead and did measure the glass thickness to be safe. It came in at .226", which is a little on the thin side so it might have been a terrarium at some point. My question is, should I use it or try to sell it and keep looking for a better tank for a forever home? According to http://www.bayoureefkeeping.com/pages/DIYGlassAquarium/ the thickness is safe so long as I keep the water height to 14" or less, which would be about 100 gallons of water for Shelldon to swim around. I'm tempted to try and use it.

Any advice or suggestions would be welcomed.
Akira5284
 
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Post Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:37 pm   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

It is true that shorter tanks can have thinner glass but I think it depends on the risk you want to take here. My problem is that if this was made as a terrarium, the silicone application will be more conservative and more prone to leak. If you take a look at some larger aquariums, you'll see a generous amount of silicone.
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:38 am   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

steve wrote:It is true that shorter tanks can have thinner glass but I think it depends on the risk you want to take here. My problem is that if this was made as a terrarium, the silicone application will be more conservative and more prone to leak. If you take a look at some larger aquariums, you'll see a generous amount of silicone.


So if I want to try it, would it be advisable to go ahead and apply more aquarium silicone to each corner?
Akira5284
 
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 10:44 am   Re: Suggestions for Final Home Setup

Depends on how thick/thin the previous application is. Silicone will not adhere to the silicone that's cured below it, so it does not add much protection. It might help temporarily, but I think we're looking for a long term solution and I can't safely say this is.
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