my 150 gallon pet turtle tank – as first set-up
Filed under aquarium, community tank, equipment, fish, habitat, my pet turtles, photos, products, red ear slider turtles, turtle pictures, turtle tank, turtles
(I’ve updated this article with a newer post, Guided tour of my pet turtle tank)
In mid-July this year (2008), I finally moved my two red ear slider turtles to their new home. I first showed a picture of the 150 gallon tank in an old post, first Chinese New Year . It took a while before I finally set-up the tank because I was trying to sell it first since it was just way too big, even though me and AG had measured how much room it would take up. Failing that, I finally set it up in mid-July.
Here’s the front view of the pet turtle tank. It measures 48" wide, 30" deep, and 24" high (or 4 ft wide, 2.5 ft deep, 2 ft high). I divided the tank for each turtle using egg crate (light diffuser), the left side for Rex, the right for Cinderella. The background was (I later removed it) a foam 3D background, with fake plastic leaves hanging off the top. Basking area is corkbark and is attached to the egg crate. Two xP3 filters are used, each with a Hydor ETH external Heater. I have a 24" UVB light and two ceramic heat emitters. In each pet red ear slider turtle’s space, or territory as I like to call it, there’s driftwood, 2 river stones, and two cichlid "caves". 3 zebra danios, 3 long-finned leopard danios, 4 electric yellow cichlids, and 1 red zebra cichlid share the tank with the two RES turtles.
Here’s Rex from a side view of his territory. The blue thing is a fish feeder which I used to keep the turtle food in one place. I later took it out because the turtles eventually always removed it from the place it was suctioned to, and it didn’t matter if their food went all over the tank, they (or the fish) would still find it.
Close-up of Rex’s territory. I was attempting to have some moss grow on the driftwood, but with the pet turtles in there, they just wouldn’t give it a chance to grow and attach to the wood.
Cinderella in her territory. I added the air bubbles on the front of the turtle tank and under the divider because that area was becoming a dead spot for water circulation and a lot of waste would just pile up in the area.
Top view of Cinderella’s territory. The white eggcrate "tower" on the right is something I made to try to have some anacharis in the water to help clean out the nitrates and stuff. I eventually removed it because the anacharis just didn’t survive. There’s a roll of mesh inside the "tower" to protect it from Cinderella, but I think it just blocked all the light and killed the anacharis.
Top view of Rex’s territory. You can see their old 5.5 gallon tank on the left, which I converted to a natural (low-tech) planted tank.
Both turtles enjoying being able to swim freely in their new aquarium but still hanging out at the front, begging for food.
An angled view of the tank. I don’t plan on filling the tank up to the full 150 gallons because, honestly, I don’t know if the floor can hold the weight. The turtle tank is in an old apartment building and we don’t know where the support beams are. The tank is positioned on a corner of the building, so that gives the floor more support than anywhere else on the apartment, but there’s still a question of whether the floor can support the weight of 150 gallons of water. Anyway, I fill the pet turtle tank up halfway (about 75 gallons) and do water changes once a month. The water in the pix is obviously less than half, but that’s cause I didn’t do a water change before taking the pix.
Another front shot. You can see both my pet turtles, Rex is swimming on the left side and you can see Cinderella sticking her head out just above the two cichlid caves on the right.
Rex taking a nap. He’s hanging on to a suction-cupped piece of mesh that has some moss sandwiched inside it. He enjoyed sleeping on it in his old tank and he enjoys sleeping on it in his new tank too.
Here’s Rex smiling for the camera! His mouth looks yellow because he was eating the 3D foam background. I removed it because of that and the fact that it hurt Rex (I’ll explain in a future post).
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February 11th, 2010 on 7:50 pm
thanks to everyone for your answers! since i added a lot more bio media yesterday my tank looks a lot less cloudy today. i think i will have crystal clear water. im thinking about exchanging the xp3 from the place i got it and getting the xp4 since it is only 40 bucks more. i think that will be plenty for my set up. why not more filter for a little more money? i think i am going to remove the gravel, glad you guys know your stuff! saved me a lot of trial and error. thank you both very much for taking time to help out. above the tank basking area? how do you keep them from climbing out? sounds cool. would very much like to see some pics of it. and by the way, what exactly does forlogos mean?
February 11th, 2010 on 11:07 pm
more filter is always better
An above tank basking area will need walls of course to keep turtles from falling out. Think of it as adding a vertical extension to your turtle tank, but with a floor. They are the way to go to maximize the amount of water. The best above tank basking areas are DIY, but there are a few commercial products out there, like the turtle topper.
I made up the pseudonym forlorogs a long time back in college. I had wanted to sell logos, so I would be for logos or forlogos. The logos thing never took off, but I kept with the name. Incidently, logos is also ancient greek for wisdom (or something like that).
You are most welcome!
February 15th, 2010 on 3:41 pm
got the xp4 last night and set it up. working just fine. cant wait to get pics up, waiting on the water to clear a little more tho. for logos, thats funny, i thought that it was some foreign name for turtle! lol. thats cool tho. do you know of any sites that have instructions on DIY above the tank basking area? would like to check it out. the turtle topper isnt big enough for my tank. i think i read somewhere that they are for tanks up to 55 gallons or something like that. the xp4 is doing well. i have read some bad reviews of the whole xp line and i think that most of them were due to improper set up or there were a few that really did have bad filters. i am having no trouble what so ever with mine. it works like a top! i think that most of the people probably had air in the filter somewhere or didnt read the instructions thru. anyway i would def recomend it to anyone!
February 18th, 2010 on 1:06 am
I agree with your thoughts about the bad Filstar XP series reviews. I am glad that you are loving it!
It would be cool if forlogos did mean “turtle” somewhere.
I don’t know of any site offhand, but I would recommend searching through some of the turtle forums. Turtle Times I recommend on particular – and they have had many discussions on above tank basking areas
February 16th, 2010 on 12:31 pm
hey just sent you some pics of my tank,crush,and tiny! hope you get them. let me know if you did or didnt. like i said before im not computer literate so i dont know if i did it right or not. thanks!
February 18th, 2010 on 1:08 am
Yes, I received them – they are awesome!! I will put them up in several days and will let you know when I do. Thanks!!!
February 18th, 2010 on 8:31 pm
sweet! thanks, i didnt know how they would turn out, the only camera we have is the one on our cell phones. cant wait to see them up! the water in my tank is getting better by the day, the xp4 is amazing!! will have crystal clear water in no time!
February 19th, 2010 on 1:36 am
Yes, that is wonderful!!