Hi, my pet turtle is getting big, fast, and I would like to put him into a new tank. We have a 50 gal. aquarium not in use, and I would like to do some fancy stuff with it, waterfall, and filter. Would it be easier to mould one out of fibre glass and toss it on, or should I find some rocks?
My other questions are, how would I find a filter big enough to be usable in a 50 gal. tank? We had one before but it hardly did anything, so we need something pretty strong.

Kevman,,,, what type of turtle, how big, and how much water do you plan on putting in the tank ?? you mentioned waterfall,,,so you apparently are not filling the tank,,,,but a rough estimate on the water depth you are trying to achieve would help in the filter requirements

__________________
Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

The filter should be rated for an amount of water at least twice the amount you plan to use. So if you use 50 gallons of water, you need a filter that is rated for a 100 gallon tank. Fiber glass has many tiny splinters that will get into the turtle's eyes, mouth, skin, it's just not a good idea. Use rocks and foam silicone to make the waterfall. Depending on what type of turtle you have, this may not be the last time you upgrade to a larger tank. If you have a red ear slider, an adult needs 10 gallons of space per inch of shell length. So, an adult female will probably end up needing a 90-100 gallon aquarium to live hapily.

Good luck,

__________________
-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

He is a 3 year old red eared slider, I am going to put 25 gal. in to the tank. And rocks, vegetation, etc. I was just thinking about the foam stuff too. And about the filter, I dug up a Canister filter.
My next question is.. Lights, Will I need lights, or will the outdoor UV's do the job? We could wire something up quickly, because my father is an electrician, and is allowed to do that...

Kevman, I like the H.O.T. Magnums for thier ease of cleaning and the way they can be adapted to a turtle tank, we extend the pickup tube with clear pond tubing so that it goes all the way to the bottom of the tank, then you use the outlet to create your waterfall. You definitely nood UV lighting for turts, I use reptisun 5.0s over their basking platform. I prefer real rocks for the turts as they can bite through the foam.

__________________
Answers are great. But I prefer questions!

Visit me at www.jaysreptiles.com

You've got a Red eared slider? I'd skip the 50 gal. tank and go straight for some sort of pond. Do you have the option of making an outdoor pond?

We have an outdoor pond, but I doubt he would want to swim with Pirranah.

How big do Pirranah get? Couldn't you put the pirannah in a 50 gal and set up the pond for your turtle?

Red ear sliders need UVB kevman. Unless you have an outdoor pond setup they need to have a UVB bulb over the tank.

btw, kevman, is the pirhanna by any chance a "pacu"? those are vegetarian (supposedly) and are not particularly aggressive. Your turtle would probably be fine.

__________________
-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

The Pirranah we have are about 1 foot in length, 12 of them, and no, they definatly eat meat. The pond is next to a driveway, I'm not sure I want to put him in harms way. But the 50gal will do until we can find something a little bigger.