# ideas for my 65 gallon turtle tank



## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Well here is how it is setup, I need some ideas on how to make it look better/more natural. (I can't do living plants or any other turtle or fish, these 2 guys are extremely aggressive and killed a nice sized oscar and also bite at my fingers.) On the right side is a fake tree stump with a arced pice of driftwood on it for the turtles to bask on, and on the left side I made a ledge out of glass and glued on strips of fine gravel for traction, the gravel on the bottom I gave up on using an undergravel filter because in 1 day they totally mess up the gravel, so im using a powerful sponge filter, there are 2 lights, one is just a light and the other is a special light putting out all the uv rays their shells need, there is also a 250 watt heater in there keeping the water warm. Since they get into so much trouble and have killed other fish, I named them Bonny and Clyde, one is female and one is male.


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## tomlin2000 (Nov 25, 2008)

If you want a more naturally looking setup:

Avoid flat platforms, ceramic forms, fake plants, air pumps and etc.

The gravel/pebble look you have is good. Add some small low flag stone boulders and not the cut flat pavers... you can find them from construction material suppliers. Stick with brown stones instead of the gray tones because you can add some driftwood/branches later and they match better. Keep the water to one side and the stones to the other then add some drift wood branches on top of both for height in the arrangement. Try to arrange everything in diagonals instead of straight lines to avoid a front&back or side to side look.

Make the filter work like a flowing spring by hiding the pump in the gravel. The intake pipe should be submerged below the water level and the outlet pipe on the island section with a runoff into the submerged section. You will have to rig a bio/particle filter before the intake pipe so that you can keep the water clear or you can find a pump/filter setup from your local tropical fish store. Make sure you take maintenance into account when you set up your filter then you be more apt to keep you cleaning schedule intact.

Another key is to setup a backdrop by stacking/gluing together smaller rocks/boulders and hide the wires behind it. If you choose to go this route you can add a small water fall to the small flowing spring I've suggested earlier.


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