[NanoDave]

So I recently acquired 2 painted turtles from Craigslist. The ad was posted to rehome the turtles with a tank, filter, lights, and all to a good home. Wanting to give these guys just that I went out and bought 3 huge malaysia driftwood peices which I will use to make a natural looking basking area.

These pieces will take up about half of the 75g for size reference
I'm looking for suggestions on how to secure the top piece to the bottom two.

A few ideas I have in mind are
-Zip tie them together
-Fishing Line

I'm hoping for suggestions as this need to be structurally sound as the turtles are full grown and will be climbing on and off it several times a day.

 

[kman]

Stainless steel screws?

 

[unionfishguy]

Stores like petco and petsmart carry an adhesive for binding coral and live rock together, maybe you could try that?


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[kman]

Zip ties are also pretty handy and aquarium safe. Might be tricky to set up given the particulars of that wood, however.

 

[NanoDave]

Thanks for the suggestions. Always good to have others inputs. That adhesive does sound interesting but I would probably need a ton and don't know how well it might hold with wood. Wonder if anyones tried it before? Like the suggestions though!

 

[Whjdm069]

If the pieces of wood are thick where it lays you could drill out a hole and use a piece of wood dowel as a peg then use a water/fish glue to secure it.

 

[shift]

Stainless screws, fishing line, zap straps

 

[OVT]

Crazy / Gorilla glue is fish safe. Many people use it to attach anubias, java fern, etc to driftwood. The gel version is less messy. Will dry white in color, run off disappears in ~2 months ime. Sand down the contact points for larger area of contact.

v3

 

[MSG]

Forget the adhesive. Just use stainless or titanium screws after pre-drill the holes. Don't bother with filling screw holes in case you want to rearrange the woods in the future.

If you use glue or epoxy, that areas that touch the wood will have to be sanded down to remove the residue.

Here's what I would do if I was set on the layout.

For added security, you could attach some slate rock or ceramic tile to the bottom of the wood so the whole structure doesn't tip over when the entire gang of turtles decides to bask on the corner.

Corkwood is another option to use as the top piece instead of Malaysian drift. I think CW looks more natural.

Hope you picked a location that's a good distance away from your bedroom. Friend of mine had his turtles wake him up in the morning for YEARS until he finally had enough of their rambunctious morning swims. Also he didn't enjoy the maintenance involved with the monthly cleaning of the "jam packed" canister filter tubing.

 

[roadmaster]

Stainless steel screws?[/QUOTE

+one

 

[lochaber]

I don't think turtles are as susceptible to metals and such in the water as fish are, so you might be able to get away with a bit more metal in a turtle tank then a fish tank. I'm not certain about that, and could be wrong, also it's not something I would do.

You could also use nylon machine screws - either drill through a piece of wood, and put on a nylon bolt, or you can tap the wood itself and put the machine screw directly into that. That's how I secure my driftwood to slate, and it works pretty well. Not something I'd recommend to someone just looking to anchor one piece of driftwood due to having to buy a tap, but for that many connections it might be an option. I already had one lying around, so that's my excuse.

The regular expanding polyurethane foam gorilla glue is also safe once cured, and some of the dendroboard folk have built their backgrounds with it, so that's something you could use to secure it if you go with the drill and dowel method.

 

[NanoDave]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I plan to use some titanium screws I have lying around from work and counter sink them from behind and go up into the to piece but not all the way through as to keep everything flush and hidden.