Please Help with decorating UPDATE - Tank Completed

[Guest]

maybe I'm just dumb...but I don't understand your diagrams at all...lol

i am a bit confused as well but i have no experience with making land.. water mix tanks

 

[nomadofthehills]

Are you offering heat above the basking spot for your turtles?

 

[azn_fishy55]

i am also confused on how to read the fiagram XP.but from what I do understand I think number one is better but then I couldn't understand nuber two one bit lol

 

[Guest]

i can tell you this much, the smaller tank inside is not attractive looking, i think a slate ledge propped up with another piece of slate (glued together at a 90 degree angle) would be more attractive and probably the cheapest option if i were going to do a basking area.. hey this is making me want to build a turtle tank!!!! Maybe that's what ill do with my 55 when i buy my new 72 gallon bowfront!!!!

 

[Steven A]

Sorry that use do not undertsnad my diagrams but the final out come will be visible in a week or so so just qait lol.

Ashley Nicole - Turtles are great I didnt think they would be when I first got them but they wait on a morning to be fed (just like fish) mine dig just like fish lol.

I think the tank will look good once complete. .... I have created the sides i.e. glued rocks onto styrofoam to create the natural effect. This will allow there to be seperate area i.e. one land area (fro basking) and a water area for swimming etc ...
The basking area is going to be sand. And alot of it lol. This allows them to carry on digging lol.

I can not wait to see what the final outcome is. I hope it works.

 

[Guest]

we can't wait either.. be sure to post pictures!!!

 

[Japola44]

I was just reading this and you said you wanted a water fall. You can easily buy a small submersable water pump that you could put under some rocks and have it pump water out the top. In fact in my room i have a little pump for a fountain i had set up a few years back. You could do fine with a 50-80 gph pump. i think it might be less notacible then a filter, and maybe cheaper...

 

[DeSudet]

I don't know how well it would work, but I'd check some landscaping places out. Especially any that have a good reputation for ponds and such. I'm sure they'd be able to help with the waterfall you want. A lot of those ponds have simple stacks of slate glued together and hollowed out with a submerible pump. Something like that, with driftwood or other slate angled around it could also give them wet or dry basking surface to choose from.

 

[Steven A]

Regarding the waterfall - I tryed just a quick fit yesterday of one of the boards in the tank and also the 'lid' so that i could see what the waterfall looks like and well it is not a waterfall lol, but it does look good and provides a little rocky basking area lol. I think I will leave the waterfall and sea whether there will be room for it.

Thanx for all the help. I am just now wiating for alot of sand so that I can create the basking area.

I hope it all works out lol.

 

[Steven A]

Well it didnt work , The whole thing was a waste of time and money however we ended up with a nice looking tank after alot more time money and sand lol.
I am very happy with the final outcome and I think the turtles are as well lol.

Thank you every one 8)

Here are some images ....

 

[Steven A]

The background lol was my DIY it was meant to resemble the sky and clouds so the tank is meant to be 'Costa Del Turtles' lol.

In the end I went for the beach look.

 

[jrp1588]

not bad

 

[Steven A]

Thanx jrp1588

 

[Guest]

well it looks nice.. i still thiink some slate piled up in the basking area would look awesome and a HOB filter pouring into the water or onto slate wouldn't look bad either. Do you have a pic of the whole tank???

 

[jgc8fan]

If you really want to invest a little (or a lot) of cash they do sell special inserts for turtle tanks that are made for most popular tank sizes. Basically looks like a big rock formation. The filter is built in. The filter return is at the top, and the water runs down a stream/waterfall. The store I saw these in had them for 20g, 29g, and 55g with a tag saying other sizes could be special ordered. Saves on the weight of having all the rocks/gravel in there too. I don't think they were cheap though... I think the 29g was $50, and the 55g was $100.

Okay... I found them... It's called a River Tank Ecosystem... The filter isn't included, but it's made to be used with certain filters. The run from $50-$170. It was made by a company called FinnStrong, but Perfecto bought it from them.

 

[jgc8fan]

Now I'm considering taking my old 29g and making an amphibian tank... Maybe not turtles, but I like the idea. Now that I'm thinking of it I would find a piece of flat granite (or some other flat rock), and lots of smaller pieces (about 4" roundish). I'd epoxy the granite pieces together so that it would have 2 columns of stacked pieces epoxied together on one side, and the other could be epoxied offset making the third leg kind of like a staircase maybe put some curves into it as well. With river rock gravel I think it would look really neat. Probably wouldn't bother with a waterfall. That way there would be swimming space under the basking area.

 

[Guest]

Now I'm considering taking my old 29g and making an amphibian tank... Maybe not turtles, but I like the idea. Now that I'm thinking of it I would find a piece of flat granite (or some other flat rock), and lots of smaller pieces (about 4" roundish). I'd epoxy the granite pieces together so that it would have 2 columns of stacked pieces epoxied together on one side, and the other could be epoxied offset making the third leg kind of like a staircase maybe put some curves into it as well. With river rock gravel I think it would look really neat. Probably wouldn't bother with a waterfall. That way there would be swimming space under the basking area.

i like that idea.. saves on taking up the swiming area with rocks/sand.

 

[jgc8fan]

After looking into it this morning I was thinking I might try a newt or salamander, use some more small pieces to make caves for it and such, and find a plastic grating I could cover with plant(s) to close off one corner so that the heater and filter could sit in there without worrying about the sallie coming in contact with either... If I ran that all the way to the top I could cut that portion of the hood off so that I could access the filter without opening the tank.

My mind is burning with ideas... The ideas will have to wait till spring though, as I'm in lawn care service, and money's tight in winter for me (of course I'm not complaining about getting a three month vacation every year )

Here's a diagram of what I have in mind...