I recently picked up a RES from a friend. He said he wasn't able to give it the care and attention it probably needed, so wanted someone else to have it.
The turtle is about 5" long right now, and seems in good health. He's living in a 30 gallon tank right now, but I got a 70 gallon tank that I need to clean out and set up then transfer him over. When I picked up the 70 gallon tank, the lady selling it had a hanging-style filter, but she also had a Fluval 303 she substituted instead. That leaked, but I found someone selling a 403 on kijiji that I picked up for $20. Gave it a thorough cleaning and it's good to go.
I just want to make sure that I've got everything set up properly. It was a big pain to get set up.
Firstly, this filter pumps water out through the output, and as best I tell, siphons it in through the intake, sucking the dirty water up through the three layers of filter media then out into the tank.
I have it set up as follows: Bottom: Black Coarse filter pad (Made for FX-6, because all newer sponges are rectangular), MIddle: Two bags of activated Charcoal, top: Ceramic rings with a water polishing pad to flow through last.
When I mentioned getting it set up was a pain, what I mean is priming the intake. I submerged it to fill it with aquarium water, then brought it down. But the "quick connect" end aren't quick at all, and ended up getting about a gallor or two of water everywhere throughout the process. I had to kink the hose, install it to the filter then let it go as I start it so the air bubble would be sucked down instead of floating up. I was thinking of installing a valve near the bottom so I can prime it, then close the valve mainitaining suction?
The filter itself had quite old tubing, which I replaced some of with braided hosing.
Mainly, all I'm asking is does the setup seem fine? Am I overlooking something?
Here's a picture of the whole tank setup: (sorry about the size, I'll resize them soon
This is the filter, I have it ina pot to check for leaks, etc.
This is the outflow, I've bastardized a fitting to hang on the edge using 90 degree elbows and pipe clamps (Need to find suction cups to be safe)
And lastly Toby is basking in the fake sun
kept trying to bite it and I knew she could have smashed it to pieces if she really wanted. I now use a LCD thermometer and it seems accurate, I'm not sure if you have a heater in order to keep the temps steady.
