Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently house my five yearling spotted turtles in a large sweater box "tilt tank". They seem to be doing fine. But I thought it might be time to upgrade them to something a little better (something that doesn't require complete water changes every other day ). I thought I'd get a larger tank with a filter and some nice aquatic plants.

I've been researching filters and I like the sound of the fluval plus 3 (or 4? or 2?). I was just wondering if this would work well. I know swimming isn't exactly the the spotteds' forte. So would the filter function in 3-4" of water? Could I make it a little deeper and just put a bunch of watercress or something in the deep end so they don't drown? Also, could the filter itself possibley suck them in and drown them? If this is a terrible choice, what other filters might do the job?

Thanks in advance!

Andrew Myers

Hey,
I use a magnum 350 cannister filter in about 4 inches of water for my spotteds and it works great. I just put extension tubes on the intake and exhaust. It really works well.

-Jesse

I keep some of my c.b. 03 spotties in a med. waterland tub. It is excessive but I am cooling all my other turtles and the tub was empty. I have the water about two and a half inches deep. The spotteds are about two inches long and growing fast. I use duetto (dj 100)filters and never had any problems. They stick to the bottom of the tubs and can operate in only one and a half inches of water. My water is always crystal clear but I never feed my babies in their tanks, I use feed tubs. I have three stacks of flat rocks, 8 broken clay flower pots, and 5 branches for basking and hiding. I also stack gravel in every corner just for a safe place to crawl out of the water.All my other hatching are in 40 breeder tanks but their set up is the same.
Tom

I also have used the duetto filters, they work well and come with attachements that you can use to create waterfalls, etc. I used two of them in a 40 gallon before switching to a Fluval 104 which also works well. My wife demands crystal clear water since we have the tank in our family room and both systems work well but require weekly cleaning.

Regarding the plants, I prefer live but I saw some plastic ones that look like breeder grass but are about 1 foot square. They looked ideal for a turtle tank since they are big enough that they wouldn't be dug up easily by the turtles. They were also somewhat realistic looking unlike breeder grass.

Thanks for the replies. The Duetto dj 100 looks pretty nice. Can it handle around 20 gallons of turtle water? I also have another question about the plants... Would duck weed (Lemna minor) clog the filter? I'd like the tank to be really natural looking. I thought some duck weed might be nice. Thanks again,

Andrew

The duetto dj 100 pumps 90 gallons per hour max. On the box it says 20 gallon max. My duettos work great in about 18 gallons of water with 5 two inch spotteds.( about 2 1/2 inches of water and 3'x3' area)As for the duck weed, I agree it looks great but it always jams my filters.

Sounds about right. How often do you have to clean the filter? Also, would I need to let it run for a week or two to let the bacteria build up? Austin's turtle page product reviews says that they're really bad filters but I'm assuming they mean for giant RES or something. If it works well for you then it must be ok.

Andrew

I clean my filter about once every two weeks. I just remove all of the sponges and wash them out. They kept the tank clean from the first day I used them. I didn't have to wait for the bacteria to build up. As for a filter for big redears I use under garvel filters with power heads. After a few days of the bacteria growing the tanks stay clean for months. I never feed my turtles inside their tanks to cut down on waste. Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Duetto. Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Andrew