Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive bred turtles for over ten years now. Ive always used a magnum 350 for my filtration among other smaller things. Ive set up a three hundred gallon horse trough up in my basement for my spotted and blandings turtles but the magnum 350 just doesnt seem to be doing the job. Ive just started researching the possibility of buying a pond filt external for my set up and ive heard of the UV lighting built into the filter to sterilize water. Could I please get some feedback on the different filters and if they are worth pursuing. Thnk you

hello,i envy you.spotteds are pretty but blandings are verrry nice turtles.where i live its o.k. to smush them w/your car but stop & pick 1 up-go to jail.good luck w/them.re.filters i've kept water turtles 4 only 5 years but aquarium fish fo almost 20.the standard for a fish tank filter is approx.3 turnovers/hr.
thats 900 gal/hr in your case minimun.obviously none of the canister filters move that much.the problem i've encountered with pond filters are twofold.either they are enormous(very expensive & not set up for easy cleaning)or not big enough.a filter that will handle 1000 gal worth of koi will plug up in less than 2 weeks with a healthy trio of red ears.turtles put out a lot of waste.have u thought of making your own filter?
i have 2 150 gallon & 1 300 gallon rubbermaids in my house with my own filters.they were cheap to make,custom to my application,and perhaps most important,easy to maintain.good luck.

I share your laws in michigan about running them over but not keeping one. If you could could you please give me directions on how you made your filters? you can email me Tsmik2@comcast.net thnx

Michigan, eh? I live in Gaylord and keep quite a bit. Where abouts are you?

Andrew Myers

g.r.

oh yea im from muskegon. I have a buddy that just married a girl from gaylord her name lisa morris. They both have spotted turtles too. Just to clarify we can possess spotteds as long as they were purchased from out of state right and it can be proved they were captive bred correct?

i asked a dnr agent.he said that there was no way-don't even think about it!
so,i wrote a letter to the dnr office in lansing.they sent back a reply containing a copy of the current mi fishing regulations & a small note saying no provisions were available for either personal use or commercial breeding.
i believe that not being to collect wild herps makes sense if their population is that fragile.i've noticed,around here,that blandings get smushed about the same as snappers.ie.1 blandings/snapper to every 13 painters in the spring.and just think almost all of those endangered/protected turtles are females trying to find a nest site!sorry if i ramble.i was just @ the WCT site and looking @ the asian turtle mess.

so just to clarify we are not even allowed to possess spotted turtles purchased from florida or north carolina?

according to the mi dnr,nope.that means no wood,spotted,blandings,eastern box.there are minimum sizes for snappers & softshells as well.& u may only collect them during a few weeks in the late summer.painters,maps,muds,sliders-take what you want.i think there is a daily possesion limit but thats all.
"I'M FROM THE GOVERNMENT.I'M HERE TO HELP YOU."
smile!

I think that is hilarious. But they have no idea nor will they ever what I do for the turtle populations in muskegon.

three things
1)i,ve seen ocean clear filters.very nice & a step above the normal fluval 404/magnum 350!
2)if my memory is correct then there was a bust on the east side of the state not too long ago.people were keeping & i think selling w.c.protected species.enforcement is out there!
3)anyone who has input on where to begin with the state to try and get a permit to at least posess these critters?i don't think that anyone want to make them $1.75/100 lot red ears,but it would be nice to be able to have a few.i have turtles/snakes from indonesia but i cannot collect from my backyard.hello!?

1. I've tried many different filtration system and, for a large set-up, nothing beats a simple submersible drainage pump from the home supply store connected by hose to a floor drain or laundry sink. Simply change the water once a week as I've done for 20 years in my large tanks and refill with a hose.

2. My rule for non-exploitive possesion of arbitrarily and irrationally banned species: "Don't ask; don't tell"

Hey erico I could not agree with you more on the dont tell. BUt im more of a collect tutrtles till they lay eggs, hatch eggs, and release them with mom back to the wild. But that is still illegal and I know I would never get a permit for that. Oh well I still like doing and will continue to do it. But about filtration your right. I have a python cleaning system that works great in addition to my filters. Thank you for responding.

The breeder that my woods came from is from Grand Rapids. He says the DNR knows about his and comes every once in a while to check things out but don't give him any trouble. I think it sort of depends on the people you're dealing with. But I know they had to go through a lot last spring in the "operation slither" to prove that those animals were collected in MI. Jim Harding even knows that I keep spotteds and I haven't had my door bashed in by the DNR yet. I don't know Lisa Morris. Did she keep spotteds when she lived in Gaylord? Does she still live here? Northern Michigan definitely lacks herp people. I thought I knew all 2 of them already! Either of you can shoot me an e-mail if you want to talk more about Clemmys... a_myers@freeway.net. Later,

Andrew Myers

I highly recommend going with one at the Ocean Clear canister filters. They are modular, come in all different types including UV sterilization, and can connect to almost any choice of pumps (I recommend the Little Giant pumps). They can be plumbed quite easily using flexible Poly pipe. Keep in mind that they are used professionally. I currently have two 300 gallon Rubbermaid tubs, one with alligators and one with spiny softshell turtles. On both of them I have the intake to the pump hooked up to the bulkhead fitting of the tub, since water is pushing itself into the pump, the pump does no work on the suction line. The pump and goes to an Ocean Clear pleated filter. On the softshell turtles I also have a Poly bead filter for biological filtration.

I can't say why ultraviolet sterilization is not use more frequently, especially in turtles, other than the fact that they can be ridiculously expensive to maintain. The bulbs can easily cost $40 apiece!

If you were to get a pump with a pleated filter and Poly bead filter, you could easily be looking at $450 worth of equipment. But I can't emphasize enough that these are quality materials that you will not have to replace for a decade or so. Given the extremely long life span of turtles in general, thinking long-term obviously has its advantages.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/filtration.htm
click here for the link

-----
...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

This is the system I use on several of our 500 plus gallon systems, here at the university of Arkansas. I prefer to run them in conjunction with one of the Iwaki magnetic drive pumps. You can adjust the system to operate anywhere from 250gph to 2500gph.

Good luck,
Jeff