Last night I drained the 40 gallon aquarium and moved the turtle into a temporary 10 gallon tank on loan from a friend. Needless to say much hissing, clawing, and snapping was involved in this transfer, and someone is completely irate over his temporary home.

The shelf dropped into the aquarium quite easily, leaving only a quarter inch of clearance between the glass and the shelf on either side, while fitting perfectly flush to the rear of the aquarium. This is much more than I could ever hope for given my limited woodworking skills, and I attribute the success entirely to slow and careful planning and measurements. I placed the half logs on the bottom glass of the aquarium and then maneuvered the shelf to sit on them. Currently only the weight of the shelf is holding them in place, but I plan on evaluating the possibility of drilling through the platform and screwing it directly to the log columns. It was not possible to do this prior to installing the shelf and still have it fit into the tank.

Once the shelf was in its final place I used a healthy amount of silicone to affix it to the sides of the tank, creating what will (hopefully) become a water tight seal. This involved filling the quarter inch gaps on either side of the aquarium. Since these are not load bearing seals, I'm hoping this will be fine.

I also hydrated a brick of ZooMed coconut fiber substrate. This is basically a freeze dried block of shredded coconut shells, the planting substrate I used in the previous iteration of this aquarium. It has the benefit over other soils of being completely organic and holding up well under constant moisture. Placing the brick of fibers in a bucket with some water results in rich, moist substrate material.

Tonight I will evaluate the strength of the silicone, and make any patches if necessary. Then I will cut and affix the final cork panels to the rear wall of the aquarium above the land area, and begin filling in with substrate. Hopefully I will be able to return the turtle to the primary aquarium and break down the temporary tank.

Labels: Aquascape, Design, Turtle, Turtle Aquarium