Red Eared Sliders in new tank with custom rock background

This is the new 40 gallon tank I set up a few months ago for my 2 red eared sliders, Gamera and Leonardo. This tank is set up with a custom rock background made of styrofoam and cement. The floating basking island on the left is also made of foam and cement. You can also see a waterfall on the right side made with large pieces of lava rock. The smaller fish in the water are red minnows and the larger ones are gold comets.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• red eared slider
• turtles
• herps
• reptiles
• aquarium
• vivarium
• paludarium
• planted
• tank
• herpetology

[Bluegargoyle]

Update- in the last few days, the ballast in my fluorescent 48” fixture finally burned out and died. Made a horrible smell. Now I’m off to Home Depot to buy a new fixture and probably spend the rest of the day getting it mounted. Then I need to see about getting some hanging plants installed where the turtles can’t eat them.

[blackhawkfan1011]

how do you clean the tank with all those feeders?

[Bluegargoyle]

@blackhawkfan1011 On the far right of the tank, hanging outside is a Magnum HOT that does most of the heavy lifting. The waterfall is powered by a small Exo-Terra 350 hidden behind the rock. That, plus I clean the glass with an algae brush and siphon the gravel like any other tank. I *strongly* recommend using a canister filter- turtles are messy so overkill in filter selection is the key.

[damafiafz]

hey want to ask if i install water fall in my semi-aquatic fish tank so it wil give enough oxygen to the fishes or i hav to put seprate oxygen system help plz thnx

[Bluegargoyle]

@damafiafz - It really depends- normally air pumps and stones help to aerate the water by using bubbles to break up surface tension, which allows gas exchange. They do not directly put oxygen into the water as some believe, and circulation alone does not do the job. Agitation of the water surface is what is needed. If your waterfall agitates the surface of the water enough, then an air pump might not be needed. If it's anything over 10 gallons though, I'd probably still use an airstone.

[Onesavedbygrace]

uhm...quick question... i see all those lil rocks... your turtle doesn't eat it?

[Bluegargoyle]

You mean the gravel at the bottom of the aquarium? No, they don't eat it. They do dig through it a lot, looking for more food.

[loco1985padro]

Looks awesome but your red ear sliders needs water atleast three to four times there length almost time for a new tank. But hey ur doin good so far nice job

[Yakuzagang5]

Looks nice, but needs to be a little deeper. The little guys are gettin big lol

[4sm0ke2guam0]

@Bluegargoyle yo what model of a magnum filter do u got, i had bought the magnum hang on canister filter pro, after reading up i realized it might not work so good. it has been hard to find a filter thet doesint need a full to top water level to properly work without extra strain. so i just ordered a 350 magnum pro :D what do u got n how well is it working for ya?

[1904geckos]

i made a background for my lizard tank but what do you use to have it in the water?

[Xaonq]

I love it, its perfect :$

[1201rico]

omigawd........ my turtle would die and go to turtle-y heaven....

[MriBackup]

How do you clean it?!