How to setup new tank?

C

coen

Guest
Well, I gave away my yellowbelly sliders to someone who is more willing to take care of them.

Now I have a tank of 150 x 50 x 50 CM, and I'm hoping to get some Triturus Marmoratus pairs from someone of the Dutch Urodela Group.

What kind of setup should I choose? any tips?
 
Here is my first simplified idea of a 50-50 setup:

5673.jpg
 
Can you explain what materials you are intending to use for each of the parts in the diagram above?
It looks like you want to fill the land part up with dirt or something. I'd do a false bottom for that part instead.

Our Triturus marmoratus never leave the land, they seem quite terrestrial. What experiences have others of you had?
If that's common, maybe a smaller water and larger land area would be advisable.
 
As a bottom in the water, I'll use special gravel for oxygen water plants, which I bought today, I'll use flag stones for the "stairs" and the holes made by them will probably be filled with normal gravel. Today I also bought a huge flag stone, not sure what to do with it yet, but I'll come up with something. I'll separate the water from the land part with a piece of glass, and I'll probably fill the land part mostly with normal gravel, and for the top part I'll use special soil for swamp plants. I'm also thinking about not placing a glass divider because I'll only use swamp plants anyway. Bought a lot today. I also bought the carnivorous sundew, is that safe with newts? I didn't buy a Pitcher plant, because I imagined a newt could easily get stuck in there.

For the waterplants I'll mainly use Java Ferns and Common Waterweed.

At the moment I'm draining the tank you see above :)
 
I've got some more details on the soil:

The soil in the water is from the brand "Superdensa" ( probably dutch ) And is used to stimulate the growth of oxygen water plants, prevents rotting and also stimulates the attaching of roots ( just translating from dutch, sorry :)). It looks just like small gravel with stones of approx. 1 to 3 mm in size.

The soil used for the swamp plants is fromt he brand "Pond Cultura" And it contains 30% blue clay. No further ingredients are mentioned. It also says I should use a minimal layer of 15 Cm and cover the top with a bit of normal gravel.

Ofcourse, both of these products are actually for use outside, I'm wondering how it wil perform indoor.

Well the tank is empty, I cleaned it, and cleaned the stones, took quite some work because my turtles made a real mess. I'm still thinking what I should do with the huge flagstone... :)
 
Details on the plants I currently have:

Swamp plants:

-1 Hydrocotyle 'Nova Zealandiae'
-1 Acorus 'Hakiro Nishiki'
-4 Drosera 'aliciae' (sundew)
-1 another one, don't know the name but looks good

Normal Plants:

-3 small leaved ferns
-1 another one, don't know the name but has large shiny leaves with an appealing look :)
 
I especially would like to hear opinions about the soil, As I'm not sure if the gravel used to feed the water plants is good for the newts

I'm cleaning the gravel right now, takes ages, and now I have to go to my real work. I hope to hear some opinions soon! And ofcourse I'd like to hear other peoples experiences with T. Marmoratus.
 
How are you planning to cool the tank down for the newts?
 
Also, don't forget that the lid must be 100% escape-proof. The lid I see in the picture has a hole and a crack big enough for a Triturus to get out.
 
I used slate to build up steps like that one time and it worked pretty good.Looks like you are about ready to go:)
 
Cooling the tank down won't be a problem as it won't get warm in here at all ( holland is way cooler than france, the natural habitat of T. Marmoratus), at least nothing T. Marmoratus won't be used to. I'll probaly get them the 10th of september anyway. Summer is over here by that time.

To prevent escaping I indeed have to take some measures, I'll probably cut and paste some glass to the sides where they could escape, but the tank itself is pretty escape proof, Maybe I'll post some pics how the tank currently looks without the cover on top of it. There is already some glass pasted at the risk-full places, but just to makes sure i'll make it 100% escape proof, I'm familiar with their alcatraz-like escapes. The hole is made to feed the fish that were in the tank before my turtles made their entrance. I don't have to cover that because unless a newt can walk upside down, they can't escape through that. The crack in the cover is because the wood is old and bent a bit, I'll use screws to fasten it again.

I'm still waiting for some opinions on the soil, I won't install it before someone replied on it, Because I don't know if the plant-feeding used in he soild can be harmfull for the newts.
 
Well, I washed the soil until the water was clear, and installed the tank. I don't have a digital camera at the moment but I can show a crappy webcam pic. I think it worked out pretty good:

5690.jpg
 
Looks pretty nice. I'm just wondering how you will keep the area below the land area clean.

I don't know anything about the types of soil you are using, so I cannot comment on that.

I'd put more water plants in. The water area looks too bright and unplanted for the newts, I think.
 
I'll get a better shot soon, it's definatly not too unplanted, but I've concentrated more plants on the back of the tank so it has a more pleasing look.
 
Well, it looks like i'll get a bunch of marmoratus the 20th of September, my tank is ready as far as I know, I'd still like to hear some opinions though, now I can still change things.
 
Looks good, but I'd strongly suggest putting a piece of acrylic in there to divide the land and water portions of the tank...

In the long run, I think it will make for better water conditions and easier maintenance. And the soil won't turn to stinky mush.
 
I'd sure like to have a tank this size! I agree with Imp though, won't you get PH issues if your soil gets in the water? I suggest partitioning it with glass, it's a lot cheaper than acrylic and you can cut it yourself with a 5$ glass cutter from any hardware store. I did that with mine, made a L shape with 2 pieces of glass and it's holding really well. Looks like you got plenty of rocks to cover the glass afterwards so you won't see it anyway. good luck!
 
I'll definatly put something in the tank to divide the land from the water.

The water is pretty murky (sp?) right now. I'm not sure if that's because I switched on the filter, and thus 'cleaning' the gravel in the land part, or because I had installed some waterplants from which some were already dying and decayed in the water (elodea)

The stuff that's in the filter when I clean it is orange looking, maybe residue on my flagstones?
 
Hello
I suggest you use a filter that uses coal (Norit) to clean out toxics in the water. I use it with my newts and it works very good. Oh and what you said about the wether in Holland that it never get´s to warm in Holland we´ve seen that this summer, the water of my newts reached 28°C I had to move them to the basement
smile6.gif
Well your tanks looks very good and I hope your newts will think that as well.
Good luck with them.
 
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