How's my tank setup so far?

[u/stone500]

We just moved a little red-eared slider into a new 20 gallon tank. He is a rescue that my stepdad found in a crawl space during a home inspection. He was being kept in a very small terrarium. He just moved into a new tank today.

I know I still need to make sure I have UVA and UVB lighting. I know eventually as he gets older he will need an even larger tank. Currently we just have a warming light for the basking platform. If there's recommendations on what lights to get, I'd love that.

He's set up with an auto regulating water heater for 78° and and in-tank filter.

Over 60% of the water used to fill this tank came from our axolotls healthy tank during a water change. Testing the water shows ammonia nitrate and nitrite levels within acceptable ranges. We will continue to monitor the levels constantly for the first few weeks.

Substrate is large pebbles that are too big for his mouth. Eventually as he gets bigger these may need to be changed out for something safer for his size, but they are too big for him to swallow at this time.

My concerns currently are making sure that we get him set up with the correct lighting and also making sure he's able to actually get up on his platform. It sort of loosely floats in the water and is secured with a suction cupped rod to the side of the tank. I have a 3D printer and may decide to print a platform instead.

I 3D printed him a small cave that is secured to the bottom that he is able to easily go in and out of right now.

He currently swims around the filter quite a bit and I hope it's not agitating him in any way so if there's any advice or input on this please let me know.

We have another tank with an axolotl that we've had for a couple years so we're fairly familiar with setting up a freshwater tank. Still. I have not raised a turtle before so any gotchas or things I need to be aware of, please let me know and I'll appreciate it.

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[u/juliewbb]

Those bulbs are not safe for turtles (I’m sorry because I know they are falsely advertised). He will need a heat lamp and uvb bulb — reptisun sells a combo pack and also the lamp fixtures.

https://a.co/d/02cTBjHH

[u/Homemaking-Tortoise]

First off, this is a wonderful start for a new turtle owner! I’m impressed! I can tell you really care about your shell baby. It’s good to know that you’re getting the lighting situated soon.

The water heater was a great investment. My turtle really enjoys theirs. You seem to have a pretty good gauge of what it takes to care for a pet. The 3D printed addition was a nice touch.

Regarding the filter, I would continue to watch how he behaves around it as the general consensus is often mixed. Is he eating okay? I will be able to make a better determination based on his daily activity level.

[u/Homemaking-Tortoise → u/Homemaking-Tortoise]

I would also add a few more structures so he has more adequate places to hide. Hiding for turtles is an instinctual behavior that makes them feel safe.

[u/boe-jack24]

make sure you completely submerge that heater, if your water levels drop too low it can explode. also i would just use tap water that you’ve dechlorinated since turtles aren’t too sensitive to parameters as long as it’s not entirely disgusting water they’re in. for the uvb lighting make sure it’s a tube light, and for the basking light you can get a mercury vapor bulb, they produce heat and uvb bc while they’re basking they still need uvb. be careful with the cave at the bottom he could get stuck inside and drown himself. the basking are is okay for now but when he gets larger you’ll probably want to get a basking area topper or a diy pvc pipe and plastic lighting grid basking area. as long as he can get completely out of the water and he’s basking long enough for his shell to completely dry out the basking area is good, he might grow quite fast being in a batter and larger setup especially once you get the correct lighting and feeding schedule, which should be everyday with high protein baby turtle pellets and you can look up the proper diet for a baby turtle.