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Post Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 12:42 pm   rescuing 3 turtles!

hi, i'm coming into the care of three sub adult turtles(res, yellow bellied slider, and a painted) on friday, so i'm currently setting up a space for them, using four largish tankish(50-75 gallons each) and an above tank basking area crossing all three, so the turtles have their own space, but as they've been raised together i felt it best to allow them to interact. i'll be running two canister filters, two hob filters, and a large sand/gravel filter like is used for koi ponds. i can post design pics here, or start another thread on it, what do you think? i also keep goldfish, guppies, plecos, and an axolotl. my small pond has a breeding population of rosy reds in it.
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:47 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Welcome to the forum! I'm curious to see some pics! You can start a new thread or I can move to an appropriate one. What are their genders?
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:41 am   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Hi, I'm also new! How will your turtles interact if they each have their own tank? If you have a special design I'd love to see it. :0

Are you planning on ever feeding any of your guppies/goldfish to your turtles? I know some people raise guppies competitively. It's like some secret world of guppies.
Also: Axolotls are so adorable! <3 _<3
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 4:03 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

i don't know genders, i haven't even seen the turtles yet, but i'm gonna have all four(maybe five if i can buy this eighty gallon one) tanks next to eachother, long sides touching, with a board stretched across the short sides, so it spans all four(5?) tanks, with a little ramp down into the water for each tank. i've got designs, and i might feed them some guppies but considering how large they are they probably will be eating more greens than not. i'm also picking up a fourteen inch oscar(mostly why i hope i can get the other tank) and i'm crossing my fingers they'll get along, because otherwise i'll have to split them up, which is more work, and if i don't have the eighty gallon tank i'll be really worried about the turtles or oscar not having enough room, as one of them is gonna get shafted. cuz 75 gallons are wider than 65,55, and 50 gallon tanks. the turtles are also gonna be housed with some rescued plecos(one 12 inch, one 14 inch) and some tiger barbs and tetras.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 4:13 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

here are some designs i've been thinking up. one of the members of tortforum recommended i set up the basking area with enough sand to dig in, in case one of them decides to start laying eggs, and i like that idea. i might need to do the basking area stepped with the tank height, but i'm not sure yet, i'll have a very busy saturday when i get all the tanks together. if the tanks are the right heights i was really thinking about setting up some sort of waterfall between the tanks, like from tallest to shortest like you see in ponds and fountains, but i can't think of a way for it to just overflow and not require pumps and a lot of labor intensive sculpting, but that's for another day. if i wanted to spend money i'd get a few of those rubbermaid stock tanks and cut chuncks out the side and then step them up with cinderblocks, but... that's more an outdoor pond than a fish room.
Attachments
turtle tanks, basic basking idea.png
here's the basic idea of the basking area and such, i ight need to make it stepped depending upon the height of the tanks, which i'm ok with, and in the future i might try to figure out a way to waterfall the water from the tallest tanks on down to the shortest, instead of pvc pipe overflows, but... that's another story
above view.png
here we have the plumbing and general layout, i forgot one line out of the sand filter back into the resevoir
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:18 am   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Wow, these designs are super cool. You're like a turtle rescue. :0
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 11:54 am   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Very cool looking plans. With all the work you're adding, it might not be so easy to separate the setup. IN-tank nesting areas also have a low success rate, so I would probably keep the expectations low it.
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 1:21 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

well, since none of the three are the same species, i wasn't expecting anything anyways. i'm planning on posting some pics in an identify me subforum later this week, and i missed out on getting the other tanks, so my dream setup has been reduced in size, to a 75 gal, a 65 gal, and a 50 gallon tank. still larger than the one 55 gallon they were in originally. it looks like the two sliders have got shell rot, and i'm not entirely sure how bad. i'm gonna look for a vet soon, and if anyone has any recommendations for one in the portland metro area, i'd appreciate it.
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 1:24 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

and for seperation, i was just planning upon putting a little fence up along the edges of the tanks if necessary.
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 3:20 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Turtles are deceptively fast and strong, they will escape/push through most barriers. Do you know the turtle genders? It might be easier just to get a large stock tank (300 gallons) but those are not easy to divide if you have to.
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Post Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 12:55 am   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

i finally got it all together by the end of the day, i need to get more uvb lights tomorrow, and start to work on plumbing the tanks together. i put the turtles in, and i haven't seen them on it, but i put them on it and they're in the water now, so we'll see. the oscar didn't seem to mind them being in his tank much, though i'm still prepared to separate them all if necessary. i dumped a bunch of guppies in, i'm getting some river rock tomorrow, hopefully enough to cover the bottom of the tanks and then glue onto the basking area. i'll post pictures sometime this week, sorry i didn't do build photos, but... i am also glad because the number of things i did wrong in setting this up is staggering. that's what happens when you don't measure, or when you don't go to the store to get the stuff you really want to make it work.
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Post Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 12:58 am   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

also, i wish i could do a stock tank, or better yet, a largish pond, but... i don't exactly have the funds for that. i got these tanks, the fish, the turtles, and all the stuff that i used to make it, for free on craigslist. i know the painted is a male, he's the oldest, and i believe it's a western painted. the sliders i have no idea.
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Post Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 1:38 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

Making mistakes and learning from it is a big part of turtle keeping :)
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:40 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

i got some more plumbing supplies to get the filter up and running, so by the end of today or tomorrow i can get that finally set up, but in plumbing it i'm going to have to take down the basking area and set it up some other way with the pipes underneath. after i finally patched all the holes too! i'll see if i can set the ramps up a bit better this time.
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:08 pm   Re: rescuing 3 turtles!

How will they be linked up to the reservoir?
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