Hey there guys.

So first post (aside from new arrival post). Here goes, I have a 4 month old Red Eared Slider (turtle). She has outgrown her starter 10 gal tank and is now in a 55 gal Rubbermaid tote while I desperately search for something new.

I recently received a 120 gal tank (free as payment for helping a buddy move, sweet deal!). Ive been reading the forums and watching youtube videos trying to figure this all out and am at a loss.

The tank has 4 holes drilled with some plumbing in them, bulkheads and some fittings (i love learning new words!). Ive seen a lot of people with an "overflow" but this tank has nothing like that built in just the holes drilled.



How would I go about setting this up. I'm looking for easiest to maintain, the least amount of cleaning the better as this beast is big and I wont want to go about trying to get inside to clean. I don't mind changing filters or media in a canister or something beneath the tank etc.

For an idea of what I want the tank to look similar to check out this video


I have a carpenter for a Father and we will be building the stand and hood from scratch so if dimensions for space under the tank are needed I can modify them so we have more space.

I would really enjoy being able to put plants in the tank as the turtle is omnivore so something for her to munch on aside from turtle food and fish.



I appreciate ANY opinion or help!

Thanks

Those are for an external sump filter. You may also possibly use them to connect a canister filter to them. Some of them are output, some input.

Looks to me like the two on the out side are your drains and the ones towards the inside are your returns.

You don't have the overflow surrounding the drains? If not you probably would want to put some in. I like the the idea the guy in the video had of the lower drain to accomplish the water height. You could do the same, although he had his drilled on one side with two drains.

I would guess two canister filters used to be hooked up to it, but it could have also been a sump. A great way to hide hardware and give the tank a cleaner look. Do you know who owned it when it was all hooked up? They can't tell you? All of this for 1 turtle, huh?

heheh, Well the guy who owned it before me used it as a salt water tank. so his setup would be different then what I want.

And yes all of this for 1 turtle right now. the idea would be to add some fish and aquatic plants down the road.

So as i think i understand the 2 on the outer should be the intake to the sump (if i can figure out how to do that) and the 2 inner should be the returns into the tank.

so the sump is the best way to go? Im curious if i dont have an overflow can i build one? if so how do i go about that?

Yep

I'm not sure what the benefits of a sump is to a freshwater tank, except for hiding equipment. You could do a wet/dry filtration system as well.

As far as building overflows,.. you can. All you would need is some plexi-glass and a router to notch the "teeth" in and some silicone to put them in place. If I were you I would build corner overflows,.. which would mean routing the edges of the plexi-glass at an angle. And then just put the "teeth" in the top and silicone in and your done. BTW I have never done this LOL. That or you could find a local reef system builder to hook you up.

Also keep in mind you can always cap those holes and treat it like any other tank.

erm not quite sure what you mean here....

You basically just need to cut the "teeth" anyway you can, however a router is one of the easiest way. See image below: