130 Gal Planted Turtle Setup - Worklog

[boasist]

Originally Posted by gmccreedy

i thought activated carbon helped get rid of the tannins. o well.

It does the job, yet purigen is supposed to be carbon x500, so far so meh....it is recharging now, so my mind may sway once back in the tank.

Looks great! Havn't seen too many planted turtle tanks, so I can't wait to see how this turns out.

You and me both man!!! I put him in here for about an hour tonight, after I tested the waters, he seemed to have fun, the eco was kicking up rather easily, but it wasn't clouding or even leaving floating particles, so that is good.

is there a current going through all those layers of substrate on the basking side? just wondering if it'll become anaerobic or not.

Bad answer...No there isn't. It was a mistake on my part getting this filled up in the first place, I was doing a water change one evening and came back to realize that I had filled it up too much!!!! Arghhh indeed to say the least, this is going to be a pain yet I am going to have to try and drain this as best as possible. Atleast down to the solid rock part.

[fishymatty]

Is this turtle only or fish/turtle? I really hate to break it to you but plants and turtle=turtle and shredded lettuce.
I had an oscar and a red eared slider living together for over a year. They were best friends until feeding time then the oscar beat up the turtle. I tried to grow plants but you know how excited the turtle gets when you enter the room well put some plants around him then watch him go crazy.

beanie and steve

[fshfanatic]

Originally Posted by gmccreedy

i thought activated carbon helped get rid of the tannins. o well.

Looks good!

Carbon will remove tannins. Slowly. Most carbon is crap anyways. If you want a product that will remove tannins from wood almost instantly, use Seachem Purigen and use double the amount recommended. for the volume of your tank. I did this and turned the lights off and went to bed. In the am when I turned the lights on, the water in my 180gal was crystal clear! The really great thing about this is that it is rechargeable! I have been using the same stuff for almost 8 months and it is still working great.



I use 3 of the bottle above in my 180 and 2 in my 125. I swap them out every 4 weeks and havent had a single problem with this stuff. I love it.

[natx]

I think he said he was already trying that stuff, like five posts back.

Also, its probably the cork bark panels that are leeching tannins. I've had mine underwater for a year now and they still make the water tea colored. Personally I don't mind because I like the swampy look in my turtle tank.

[boasist]

Originally Posted by natx

I think he said he was already trying that stuff, like five posts back.

Also, its probably the cork bark panels that are leeching tannins. I've had mine underwater for a year now and they still make the water tea colored. Personally I don't mind because I like the swampy look in my turtle tank.

Agreed, I knew I should have been more patient and boiled these things before putting them in.

[boasist]

I just did a quick test of my water....oh man this is pretty steep.


GH - 10 drops - 179ppm
KH - 7 drops - 125.3ppm

Not sure exactly where those above two fall exactly on the scale, both a little high for plants though it seems.

PH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm

So this water needs to soften. I'll have to measure what the water is out of the tap to see the effects of the tank.

[Uriah Heep]

boasist, do you have a heat lamp and a UV light for your turtle? I don't see anything like that on your setup.

[boasist]

I do.

Currently using a reptisun 10.0 48" t12 bulb, and a 100w heat bulb.

Awaiting the release of the zilla combo dome, which then I'll have the 7" circular UVB bulb, and a 75w halogen heat bulb.

[macclellan]

Originally Posted by fshfanatic

I use 3 of the bottle above in my 180 and 2 in my 125. I swap them out every 4 weeks and havent had a single problem with this stuff. I love it.

Isn't that like $50+ in Purigen each month?!? I need to buy some stock in Seachem!

[macclellan]

Originally Posted by boasist

GH - 10 drops - 179ppm
KH - 7 drops - 125.3ppm

Not sure exactly where those above two fall exactly on the scale, both a little high for plants though it seems.

Those are moderate hardness, not even 'hard'. No problem for plants except a very few soft water plants.

[boasist]

Originally Posted by macclellan

Those are moderate hardness, not even 'hard'. No problem for plants except a very few soft water plants.

Nice, thanks for the reassurance.

I was doing some reading last night and discovered a little more on my readings as well. Thanks again.

[boasist]

Quick update on everything

Well the tank, stand, filter, lights, CO2 are all setup and running.

I have been picking up some plants from the SnS here and there (great sellers here!!!). Even added a few cherries into the mix to help with the algae since I don't really have enought plants here to keep everything stable.

So far I have the following in the tank
Red Crypt Wenditi (15 stems)
Rotala (14 stems)
Anubias Bataeri (2)
Taiwan moss (2 golfballs)
2x2 patch of HC
Red Tiger Lotus


The crypts seem to be sagging, not really coming alive as I had hoped with everything happening in the tank. I see some growth in the moss, yet it is outward. I would really prefer that it grew flat against the cork to form a moss wall. The anubias is tied to some driftwood now, so we'll see how that goes.The Rotala is doing well, providing some nice cover for the cherries.

I had the lighting on as follows
2x6700k, 2x10k
2 hours 6700, 3 hours both, 1 hour 6700, 2 hours both, 2 hours 6700

From this schedule I wasn't seeing fast enough growth, I have upped the lighting to a solid 4 hours of 6700 (2x2) and 6 hours of both. Combined with a BPS of 2.5 hopefully things will start to show themselves.

Will get some final pics later on in the week for you all. Currently reporting the progress.

[natx]

You put cherry shrimp in with a turtle and they lasted more than 5 minutes? Man you are defying every known law of reptile husbandry with this tank.