Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. We have a snapper that we acquired from a friend who moved away. We need some help on the enviroment set up. We have a great 55 gal tank. We put reptile sand on the bottom and have the basking setup and rocks and such. We also have a Zoomed internal filter.

Now our problem:
I think it is the sand. It is under the water, is this good? I have been reading so much about disease and such and i think we should get rid of the sand. The turtle enjoys the sand because he burries in it. is this good or bad? Also i think the sand was clogging the filter. I guess my basic question is should we rid the sand? What should we put just gravel or nothing on the water area?

Also any other tips you have I have been reading and learning things from the net but haven't spoken to someone with experience so any help is appreciated.

Also I was going to purchase the Zoo Med501 External Turtle Filter . Is this a good choice?

Thanks

take out the sand and just use gravel and give him places to hide, like driftwood and plastic reptile hides(if they will sink). for a filter, whispers are the best in my opinion. they now make them as internal filter that you suction cup to the side. these are the only filters i will use for a turtle tank. other "turtle filters" seem to be used for a couple hatchlings at best. and since you should plan on him getting bigger than that, they wont be of much use for long. what are you feeding it? is it a common snapper or an alligator snapper? how deep do you have the water? does he have a basking area if he wants to get out and dry off? what lighting do you have?

We have the sand on one side and gravel sestup with his basking area, which is a turtle thing that he hides under. I am unsure which type he is.

The water isn't too deep, but deep enough to almost cover the little filter. I need to get a different filter, which one do you use? For the lighting we have a reptile light 60 watt and a regular light setup, is this what you would recommend?

Thanks

Jenn

filter: whisper rated for twice the gallons there are of water. so if you have 20 gallons of water, you need at least a whisper 40. if the water is high enough you can get a hang-on-back whisper, otherwise you need to get an internal whisper that suction cups to the glass and is inside the tank.

lighting: he should be able to bask if he wants, the basking area should have a heat lamp over it. the rest of the tank should also have a full spectrum UV fluorescent lamp.

what are you feeding? i use just pellets. how long is he? are you going to remove the sand? a pic would let me figure out what type he is. where did your friend get it? (if you know.)

Any of the Fluval, Filstar or Ehiem canister filters will do a good job. The Ehiems are the best of the lot but a but pricey. Either of the others will do a very good job. Just remember to get one rated at twice your tank size.