turtle enclosure, sand or stones ?

[mozz]

Hello i was hoping somebody could advise me of the best substrate to use in my tank when i get my turtle. Some people say stones others sand and some say no substrate is needed. I like the look of the tanks with the sand, which sand is this ? and is it recommended. thank you Julie.

[annsimpson1]

any substrate you use has to be cleanable, turtles make a lot of mess and stir up the bottom, the mess comes from the type of food they are fed as well as their poo's, we tried most different things and in the end have left it bare apart from the rocks, plants in pots etc but I don't think anything will actually harm them. Bear in mind in a small tank you'll have to change the water as well unless you have a really good external filter and pump, mine are outside in the summer so their winter quarters are large and the pond pump and filter comes in with them, with nothing on the base I can just net any left overs. I suppose it depends on how much work you want to have and whether you can easily change if it doesn't work out when we had sand if we put any earthworms in they would hide in the sand before the turtles found them so it was impossible to keep clean and the sand would get all stirred up and go into the filters which made the oh swear.

[mozz]

thanks, makes sense. What type of filter do you have ?

[annsimpson1]

when ours are in for the winter we bring in the big cannister pond pump and pond filter, their winter container is to big for a normal aquarium one, if you haven't got one already I'd suggest you get the best/biggest external you can afford, internal ones do work but depending on the tank size you might need more than one and they aren't as good, if you have the space then a pond filter might be worth considering but they are fairly big, they don't have a powerhead so are cheaper than aquarium ones so you'd need to buy a pump for the tank. One thing though is you have sliders etc then they will grow to big for most indoor accomodation and will eventually need a pond and they grow a lot faster than tortoises mine are about 3 yrs and are already around 5-6inch and are on thier second outside pond and we've just picked up a 9ft x 4ft preformed pond for next winter in the conservatory.