Help with Turtle Tank

[Az3rix]

Hey guys,

So just a little bit of context. Today while I was at work, my roommate discovered that our neighbor was getting rid of old stuff and noticed that they had a really dirty tank out on the yard. My roommate went and asked about the tank and it turns out it houses a red eared slider turtle and he is planning on throwing it away, turtle included. My roommate knows I recently got a tank and wanted to save this turtle from the trash so he brought it inside for me to take care of. I have no problem doing that as I don't mind "adopting" a turtle. It is just that I have no idea how to care for one other than the basics of it needing a basking spot with uv and a heat lamp on top. The tank he came in was something that looks like the tank below:

As far as me and my roommate can tell, it seems to be a 54 gallon corner tank. We are still in the process of cleaning it because the water level was really low and muddy and seems to have to hard build-up on the glass. It seems this poor turtle was keep in poorer conditions. We currently have the turtle in one of my spare buckets with an air stone in it. As soon as we finish cleaning the tank, I plan on putting the turtle in there are doing daily water changes to keep the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels low. My problem is, how do I go about doing this? I am strapped for cash since I recently set up a 55 gallon tank. I am planning on just putting basic gravel on the bottom, about 2 inches, with one of those zoo med turtle dock. I just don't know the situation with the uv and heat lamp. I know I'll have to build a diy basking area since the top is pretty unconventional for traditional lids and all. The other issue is that I don't know how to do the filtration. From what I've read, a canister filter for a 125 gallon is recommended for this, but seems to be pretty expensive and I have no prior experience with a canister filter. Would I be fine buying a HOB filter for a 125 gallon? Is that adequate filtration for this? I just want to get the basics done so I can start cycling this tank and making it a safe environment for this turtle. It seems to be an adult, around 4 inches since the neighbor mentioned having him for two years (which I am surprised he survived that long in those conditions). Will I have to do a fish in cycle? My other tank is still in the process of cycling. I know I'm strapped for cash right now, but I want to do what I can to help this turtle! Any help would be greatly appreciated for this!

 

[Seisage]

You probably won't get much help for turtles around here since this is a fish forum. You might want to try reaching out to some reptile forums instead.

I'll be honest though. If you're strapped for cash and are still missing most of the necessary supplies, you'll probably want to consider trying to find a different home for him. There are quite a few facebook groups for reptiles or other exotic pets in various areas around the US. I've seen a lot of animals rehomed through my local exotics FB group. If you have a herpetological society in your area, that might be a good resource too.

The thing is, a corner tank isn't a very good shape for almost any turtle. The footprint or "floorspace" is a much more important metric than the number of gallons. He might be okay in the corner tank for a little bit, but you would need to get a tank with a much larger area to keep him in permanently. Also, I don't think you'd be able to get away with an HOB. You really do need a canister filter with turtles, and you need to greatly overfilter. They're perhaps the messiest aquatic animals you can keep, so you really cannot cut corners on filtration. An HOB with a rating of 125gal likely is not going to hold as much biomedia as a canister filter of the same rating.

 

[Az3rix]

You probably won't get much help for turtles around here since this is a fish forum. You might want to try reaching out to some reptile forums instead.

I'll be honest though. If you're strapped for cash and are still missing most of the necessary supplies, you'll probably want to consider trying to find a different home for him. There are quite a few facebook groups for reptiles or other exotic pets in various areas around the US. I've seen a lot of animals rehomed through my local exotics FB group. If you have a herpetological society in your area, that might be a good resource too.

The thing is, a corner tank isn't a very good shape for almost any turtle. The footprint or "floorspace" is a much more important metric than the number of gallons. He might be okay in the corner tank for a little bit, but you would need to get a tank with a much larger area to keep him in permanently. Also, I don't think you'd be able to get away with an HOB. You really do need a canister filter with turtles, and you need to greatly overfilter. They're perhaps the messiest aquatic animals you can keep, so you really cannot cut corners on filtration. An HOB with a rating of 125gal likely is not going to hold as much biomedia as a canister filter of the same rating.

Ah gotcha, yeah I kind of figured it was gonna go that route. I was already discussing that possibility with my roommate. Might seem we have to go that route.

 

[Colin_T]

You can use any rock or wood for an aquarium to provide an area for the turtle to climb out onto.

If you can't afford a UV light yet, take the turtle outside and let it suntan for 10-30 minutes each day. Avoid the middle of the day unless it's really cold. You can set up a kiddy wading pool or large plastic storage container for it to sit in when outside. Then the turtle can get some UV light and warm up and you can bring it back in after.

Internal power filters can be used or an undergravel filter. Just make sure it's cleaned regularly because turtles can poop a lot and make the water really bad really fast. If there is any issue with the water, change it all and refill the tank with dechlorinated water.

It's a good idea to wipe the inside of the tank down and change all the water every week even with a filter. The only time you don't do this is if there are fish or shrimp in the tank too but I don't recommend that because turtles usually eat shrimp and fish. If you have fish and shrimp in the tank then do a 75% water change every week.

If the water smells bad, do a complete water change.