Video 3 of 3 red eared slider custom turtle tank setup Deep Dive

[MrMfloor]

Do you worry about the turtles not beign able to hybernate with the constant warmth?

[grifloki]

@MrMfloor No not at all. Only reason turtles go into hibernation is that it gets cold and food is both hard to find and hard to digest not to mention they slow down as water gets cold etc. So to survive they need to hibertant so their bodies burn less calories and so they need less oxygen etc. Having constant warmth keeps them always going, just as if they lived in a warm climate, no hard to them. THey sleep every night from 9pm - 7am. and should live 30 + years. :)

[PdawgpNum1]

Sweet setup do you have an instruct able on the gravity feed system.... Nicely done man.......

[DigitalCyanide]

My little sister has a red eared slider. She got it as a gift when it was a hatchling. She didn't feed it properly, didn't maintain basking areas, cold water, and cold air. I was amazed it didn't die! 6 mo ago my older sister rescued it and it's tripled in size - I've got to show her your habitat to give het ideas!

[Thisisgoingnowhere1]

i'm guessing who ever disliked this video is jealous

[high1phaze]

amazin set up..! ur trtles r neat..i have a RES about 16yrs.. check my video out...! mayb u can help with sum pointers on da set up....!

[grifloki]

@Co0ki384 again, a jack ass thing to say.

[pr3ttykitty1337]

Did you like custom make everything in the tank? how much it took you to set up and plan everything and do it ?~ o.o

[grifloki]

@pr3ttykitty1337 Yes everything is custom made. I planned it out for about 3 or 4 months and gathered the materials I needed. I got tank off craigs list. I then made everything as its way cheaper. I probably have $600 into entire setup.

[rollen01]

@grifloki Hey I want to color my tank black to, but the sides are painted a fake oak color. and the stand is oak as well I was wondering if you can give me any tips on how to recolor the side panels of the tank and the stand.

[grifloki]

@rollen01 Its all pretty easy, just sand it, regardless of plastic edging/skirt on tank or the oak base. Then prime it, use regular wood primer for base, (homedepot) and then use plastic primer for edging/skirt. Then sand that after a few days of drying with high grit to get a smooth look, if you got drippy then use heavy grit and then work your way to a high grit for smooth finish. Then paint it the color you want.

[grifloki]

@rollen01 This all assums brushing, you could spray paint it but you need a spray gun in my opinion to get a full nice finish, spray cans just dont look very nice. Brushing is fine as long as you brushing is evenly and not too much in any one spot and then as it sits for a min or two you "back brush" it which evens it all out and will look nice when its done. Many use a roller to roll the paint on large surfaces then back brush it with a brush to even and smooth from roller.

[JPRuiz21]

Hey I have a quick question. The tank obviously didn't come with an overflow? Did you just put a piece of glass on the corner there? How did you attach it to the tank? I didn't get that from the video. Other than that great job on the video and thanks for all the advice.

[grifloki]

@JPRuiz21 I siliconed it to the corner. I made the internal height of it just about an 1/8 inch lower than I wanted the water height to be. I also ensured the external overflow box was at exact same height to when flow stops they have the same amount of water in them to hold the water in overflow (equal pressure);

[grifloki]

@JPRuiz21 this ensures when pump starts filling tank again the overflow picks up where it left off. I recently changed out the dual 3/4" pvc pipes to a 2" pipe and the flow increased by more than 20% and the overflow actually starts easier now. Good luck!

[bobomatrix]

I don't understand my turtles! When my RES were younger and smaller, they were in a tank with some fish, I think the fish's names were something Molly..? And um, I don't understand what happened but, my turtles ate the fish! :'(

I saw meat and bones floating and it was gross! Can you tell me how I can keep fish in there with them, without being eaten? Thanks! Please reply back! =)

[grifloki]

I used to always have a few gold fish in the tank but they are slow and dumb and get eaten as well as not that great for turtles. I use minnows and guppies now and if I put 15 in the tank usually 5 or 6 get eaten. I have had 8 guppies in the tank for last few months wihout being eaten because they learn and are fast. I also have a few tetras and bottoms feeders in the tank as well and they ahve been in the tank for a year now because they hide well and are large so turtles are not as interested.

[heathey2]

Great tank and incredibly decorated but may I add that not all Goldfish are slow and dumb, ha.

I have an adult goldfish called Bob who has survived for 7 months in a 200g tank with 5 Sliders. I let my Snapper try the tank out and then the goldfish was a little dumb and went right near the Snappers head and lost two or three scales but it survived. It swims really fast. Also why are you not supposed to put a background on the tank?

[mirl424]

how did u get that night light thats cool

[grifloki]

Thats not a night light, its a Red night heat lamp. They like the temp to be in the 80's during the night and high 80's to 90's during the day so this comes on with timers at night etc.

[mirl424]

WHERE DID U GET IT THOUGH

AT A PET STORE?

[grifloki]

Yeah its a reptile nigh heat lamp. Zoo med makes some but there are a variety of types. Mine are 100watt as i have a large area for them but 75 watt is normal if you have a smaller tank. Ensure it doesnt get to hot for them, you may have to adjust the height so that is stays in the high 70's to low 80's at night and for day basking light high 80's to low 90's in basking area.

[brandon429]

I keep turtles too and this is great!

[1412Rybread]

your vids are awesome

[OoCINoO]

my turtle has none of this stuff and its about 6 years old :( time for a change :)

[smcnamara50]

I really love this tank setup. You did a great job. I'm just setting one up myself and plan want to follow some of the design elements you have here. I was wondering what type/model pump you are using? Is there anything you would do differently (other than larger) if you were going to do it again?

[grifloki]

The pump i have is two California 1000 GPH pumps. One is for under gravel pipes and the other is for main return and water fall. I have since put an inline water heater on the line to the water fall so its heated. I have also made the overflow pipe one 1 1/4 PVC pipe to get better flow. Lastly I would change my undergravel pipes to be more of a grid layout system under the rocks and not just two pipes as I believe they are not enough but that will be what I change in next setup.

[smcnamara50]

With all the waste the turtles create, you kind of need outflow from the bottom of the tank which the overflow doesn't provide. I was thinking of setting up a grid like you mentioned, but sucking out into the overflow area instead of just pushing water in. Not sure how I'm going to do it yet though. Any ideas?

[grifloki]

Sucking out will lead to clogs in the under gravel grid and will eventually fail. My next design I planned on building a box to go the length and width of the tank that would be acrylic. Glue it all together and on top have tons of 1/8 holes, possibly 1/16" holes drilled in. Then use a 100+ GPH pump to supply it with water, pump could even be hidden behind a rock internally or under tank with either a check valve or a hold drilled 1 inch below surface of water on supply line to stop backflow.

[grifloki]

This would force debris off bottom at all time. The box would only be an inch or two thick and I planned on keeping it 2 inches smaller than width so I could put rocks in front or put a piece of trim across bottom to hide it from outside. It would then be covered with rocks still and water would always be rising from bottom. It would need support braces glued inside it to support the weight of the rocks etc.

Let me know what you decided to do as I am still a year or two way from my 300 gal build

[smcnamara50]

300 gallons? Wow! Well, I see your point about clogging, but I wasthinking more of directing the flow toward the overflow. I like your idea of a box pushing water up, but won't the tank look dirty if you just keep pushing waste up from the bottom? I'm thinking more along the lines of a pvc grid (under lighting grate and under gravel) that pushes the water on the bottom toward the overflow end of the tank and then upward toward the overflow.

[grifloki]

Per looking dirty, nah, as soon as they waste or food tries to fall tot he bottom it will get pushed back up and the flow to the overflow is strong enough things dont have much hang time in tank, they get washed away. I wave my hand on bottom of tank once a week to kick up junk and it gets sucked down to filter in a matter of 2 or 3 minutes and tank is crystal clear again. You could try directing flows as you mentioned but getting it to evenly push might be hard.

[smcnamara50]

I guess the 1,000 gal/hr pump does the trick. I've not seen that much flow yet. I guess its stronger than I think. I may try your way, but with PVC instead of the acrylic box and see how it goes for now. Where do you buy Rock Wool? Don't people use that for hydroponics? Thanks again for your tips and for the videos.

[iphone12302]

oh is your night light for the trtles always on mine isnt

[grifloki]

Yes my night light is on all night to give them heat in the tank. The red is meant to not disturb their sleeping. The night light is on from 8pm to 8am and the Day time light is on from 1pm to 8pm.

[ratmanryan]

Thats an awsome setup! How long have you had your turtles?

[grifloki]

2 years now.

[schanookie24]

dude thats a hardcore set up

[PhatassKid619]

nice tank...i want something like that some day

[chiandela]

thats a nice ass tank man, check mine out. just got it up and running about a week ago

[Twiggy9238]

so all you do to clean your tank is change the insulation? no water changeing or anything

[grifloki]

I clean my filter every 4-5 days and every couple mnths I try to do a 25% water change, because my live plants and bacteria in my filter keep it pretty stable. I also dont add just tap water, I have water in 5 gal buckets that sits for a week letting junk evaporate out, I add a gallon a day from that. By doing this the concentration levels in my water are not that high with junk from tap water. I also have a bag of carbon I change monthly in the sump. 4 the most part it stays pretty balanced.

[britandrob]

great setup if you dont mind? about hom much have you invested all together in this tank?

[grifloki]

I spent around $500 - 600 now. I got tank and other things off Craigs list and ebay along with building much of what I needed from scratch(trickle filter/canopy/lighting system/parts of stand) and pulled parts off old hardware I had laying around(lights/wires/transforme­rs etc); I tried to spend as least as possible. I researched what it would of cost me to buy everything new and not build anything myself and it would be over $4000 for a similar setup with trickle filter/canopy/lights etc etc.

[Dall5000]

My red ear (female) will try and eat any decor' I put in the tank. Any way to prevent it? I feed her twice a day.

[grifloki]

not really other then feeding them so they are "FULL"(as if that is ever true). In reality you just need to add more to their diet. Turtle sticks is not enough at all, there should be veggies in their diet and some meat. After a year or two they tend to be into veggies more. I have live plants in my setup, anacharis, water hyacinth, frogbit and javamoss. This all keeps them full plus I still use turtle sticks and have live fish.

[grifloki]

They also like dandelions (no pesticides),

carrot tops, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, bell pepper,squash

[reptilefan100]

cool man

[pizzawoman15]

/very cool tank. Do you have halogen lamp for your turtles? I have 3 turtles 1 is 7 months already, 2 new turtles this week. What equipments do you have in your turtle tank? I want to get them, but not like your tank that big.

[grifloki]

For my lighting I have the following: (made by-Zoo Med) > (1x)Repti Basking Spot Lamp Bulb(day);(1x)Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp(night);(1x)Reptisun 10.0 FLUORESCENT bulb(day); (2x)T8 FLUORESCENT(day). I also have a water heater hidden in the rocks with good water flow over it to heat the water to 72 - 76 degrees.

[grifloki]

CONT to other reply: I know of people using regular desk lamps but the ones for reptiles have uvb and uva which regular lights do not, which is very very important to health (need to replace every 6 months as they get weak and ineffective). I also have plants to absorbe nitrates and put oxygen into water along with added bio filtration. The Waterfall creates ripples in water to make it more realistic for sound and currents etc along with adding oxygen to water as well.

[spikedude2091]

yeh i also use my filter like a waterfall/ natural sound system

[grifloki]

They use it to clean themselves sometimes by putting their heads and shells under it and sit there for a while. Its only used as a water fall as its filled from pvc pipe, its the only function it has (no filter media).

[spikedude2091]

wow man!!!!! great setup! i wish i had some nice peacefeul RES, my snapper moves everything in my tank so i really cant set anything up other than big rocks to bask and sleep

[CichlidWonder]

do you know anything about southern painted turtles? we just got one and still we're trying to learn as much as we can about it. anyways thanks

[CichlidWonder]

your turtle tank is freakin awesome. I have a red ear slider about 4 inches long and i wanted to get another one. If i put another turtle in his tank which is a 30 gallon could they live together ok?

[grifloki]

Well there are two things you need to deal with. First being, for every inch of turtle you need 10 gallons of water. My tank is shy by 10 - 20 gallons but my filter is ovr kill and keeps things very nice. I plan to get 250 gal in 2 yrs. Secondly, sometimes introducing second turtle with an older one in a small tank they tend to not get along. They like space and if they want to be friends they like to do it on their own terms. I highly recommend having more than one though as they need company.

[grifloki]

ran out of room, wanted to say their companionship is very key to live living a long time I have heard. I had a friends turtle die within a year or two after its companion died, broken heart/depression. My two turtles always do everything together for the most part. Very rare I see them at different ends of the tank unless chasing something or the current moved them while they were sleeping int the plants etc.

[CichlidWonder]

cool thanks. 250g wow. thats alot of commitment to turtles. we got goldfish and cichlids and soon to have lizards. but thanx for the info

[grifloki]

Yeah well I have 3 kids who are very interested in animals etc. We have 2 American BullDogs (85 and 105 lbs), a Cat, another fresh water tank in my daughters room and the turtles. My son wants a tank in his room so there may be another setup soon. :) I have always been interested in Turtles and we sometimes turn TV off and just sit for hours watching them, they have personalities too so its fun to play with them in and out of the tank. Well good luck with the lizards.