Brea Brown

DBTs can live in fresh or brackish. There are positives and negatives of both. Even if your turtle lives in fresh water does not mean that they will have skin and shell issues. It’s mainly clean water, temperatures, and lights that will cause those issues. I started out in brackish when she was little but made the transition to fresh. I never had a “true” brackish water. It was just enough to kill any unwelcome bacteria. So far the plants haven’t moved and she’s not destroying them. I glued them to some good rocks and they are holding. I think she is liking the plants 🙂 I guess we will see what happens! I’ve learned that every turtle is different, maybe she will leave them alone! Fingers crossed! Thanks so much for the reply! I appreciate it.

Ok thank you! I glued the plants to some solid rocks and so far everything hasn’t moved! The leaves are just starting to get holes and stuff. I’ve got to experiment. Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it!

Hello Everyone, I have a turtle and want to provide a planted tank for her. If you have any information or tips/advise for me, that would be great! Thank you! I have been raising my DBT for a year now. I was able to upgrade her tank to a freshwater 120gallon tank. Due to her need to bask, I can't fill it up to the rim. I wanted to dip my feet in growing plants. I glued some low light plants to rocks in her tank. However, my tank is first and foremost dedicated to my turtle. I have sand as my substrate with some crushed coral. My lighting is 2 Reptisun 5.0 T5 UVB lights with a UVA heat/basking light. The 5.0 T5 UVB light claims to provide visible light. On the chart provided, visible light is lower on the red end but higher on the blue/purple end. I am trying to grow a lot of plants to see what works with my setup. I am hoping that the lights I have set up for my turtle will be enough to grow these low light plants. I have Java Fern and Anubias that I purchased. From my outside pond I planted Parrots Feather, Hornwort (I believe), Spearwort, and Flamingo Water Celery. I have a mixture of fish in there right now that I will take out and buy some neon tetras. I don't want the goldfish eating my plants so he will be going back in the outside pond. I have around 7.2 PH and my water is very hard. I was reading that if your water is hard, it provides a lot of minerals to the plants but has less CO2. So, I started adding a small amount of CO2. I have also been adding Leaf Zone. My tank is newly set up and I will actually be doing the first water change today. Are there any tips or information that I have incorrect or that I need to know? Right now I am just going to see which plants can survive under these conditions. I stumbled on Aquarium Co-Ops yesterday on YouTube and will be trying the Easy Green product and/or root tabs. My turtle likes to hide behind the plants and sleep. I was thinking of planting Vallisneria to use as a backdrop and a place for my turtle to feel more secure. I have a System 2 tank, the filter is actually located in the tank along the backside. The freshwater is sucked in on the bottom right, goes all through the back bio balls and sponge filters, and is then being poured on the left side making a waterfall. Thank you!