Turtle tank substrate

[nanoreefer22]

So I recently came into a new tank from Iseayu, thanks a million!, and I wanted to know what kind of substrate would be best for the bottom of the tank?

I wanted to do finer gravel, but I know they eat the rocks and i'm not soo sure thats good for them.

What do you guys use, if anything?

Right now it's just the glass bottom.

 

[Domboski]

What kind of turtle? Assuming it is not a tortoise and needs some humidity, I'd go with the coconut shavings. The blocks are real cheap and easy to clean up.

And safe

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Paper towels, ceramic tile or turtle turf for terrestrial turtles and water for aquatic turtles.

 

[nanoreefer22]

They're RES turtles

 

[Domboski]

Then I'd say coconut shaving for the land portion (if there is one) and I'd go bare bottom on the water side. I have natural rock on my water side and it is just a PITA. Everything gets trapped in it and the turtle constantly pokes around through the rocks and knocks up more crud. I have a fluval 405 filtering that side of the tank and it still gets dirty .

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I have had res turtles for many years. I find that medium to large natural stone substrate works the best for all aquatic turtles and then just put a large rock or pile of slate on one side of the tank for him to bask in with the water to that level. Also avoid all in one in tank filters like the plague ie: fluval 3 and the like. The turle will just F*** with it until it pushes it up out of the water. go with a canister or aqua clear hob if you dont mind the noise of the splashing. try not to opt for the no filter route aquatic turtles are dirty little sob`s turtle

 

[eric]

For red eared sliders I would recommend no gravel or large smooth stones. Smaller gravel and sand can be eaten and become impacted in the intestines. Turtles and water turtles in particular can scratch their shells on course surfaces, this is even more important to take in consideration when designing their "land" area that they would sun themselves on. Artificial plants siliconed to a flat surface and placed on the bottom of the tank would be a close approximation of their natural environment and be easy to clean. Pm me if you need more advice.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I disagree i have owned many aquatic turtles of all varieties for many years, and have never seen one eat gravel, or scatch its shell. But if it did scratch its shell it would heal quickly.
Aquatic turtles are very hearty creatures
My only poor exprience is with feeding them goldfish, they dont have much nutritional value and carry parasites that could effect the turtle
(terrapin Really)


dont sweat it too much they are faily easy to take care of
My children do it!!

 

[jejton]

Unless its a long tank, use a turtle dock as the land portion. They only need it to bask, not eat or roam around, so it doesnt need to be anythng special. This will allow you to optimize their swimming space and leave you with less to cleanup.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thanks for the all the advice guys! From experience I know they eat gravel, my turtles have done it many many times. After I saw that happening repeatedly I ditched all the gravel. Right now the tank is barron, just a floating island and a filter.

I guess after all the comments I'm gonna leave it as bare glass, it just looks so BLAH.

The tank is a 33long btw.

Dom,

These guys get weekly water changes since I don't have the best filtration(fluval 3 in tank)

 

[ssmtcarlo]

Id recomend bare bottom, only because its much easier to clean. RES produce a ton of waste. JMO

 

[artie1209]

paint the outside bottom of the glass like we paint the back of reef tanks

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

It all depends on how much "flow" you have in the water portion. I have done barebottom, large rocks and small rocks with tree trunks. If you have little flow, you want a barebottom, if you have large water movement, you can have substrate in the water portion. I found the best way of filtering for the Redearred Sliders is a sump/refugium combo. 1 1/2 year without water change-no smell and still clear water until I move to Flushing then I use a wet dry filter that chained with my FW fish shelter, I do not have the time to setup light for growing plants this time, so the water is greenish.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Check out the newest innovation in turtle basking areas

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I love it! May do the same thing for my RES...................

 

[REEF MANIA]

Thats cool nice creation. I just got my son a Russian Tortise.

 

[Domboski]

Wow! the eggcrate doesn't melt under the heat lamp? Cool idea!

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thanks guys

I wanted something that wouldn't take up any space in their tank and this way they can't splash water onto the heat lamp. I had two bulbs crack because of them splashing at me for food.

So far so good with the heat lamp and the eggcrate. I keep the lamp on for about 8 hours and no signs of melting yet :knock on wood:. I cut a hole out in the eggcrate right under the lamp and used some eggcrate scraps to keep the light from resting directly on the structure.

The turtles took a couple days to figure it out but now they love it