Tank Construction
I chose a somewhat unusual fish tank size for this project, what is referred to as a 40 gallon breeder. The tank is shallow and wide, unlike most fish tanks. This provides maximum surface area (good for turtles) without wasting space on vertical height (useless for turtles). The trick was tracking down this tank. My advice if you're in the Boston area: Skipton's pet store. They have a ton of otherwise hard to find tanks. They even threw in a free cat fish with mine (ha ha).

The tank measures 36 x 18 inches, and is 16 inches deep. Mr. Turtle will outgrow this tank eventually, but it should last him for three years or so, by which time I wildly hopefully be living in a house or large loft. Until then, his habitat's size will be limited by mine. I tried to desaturate the color a bit in Photoshop on this next picture, but its still not very accurate to the paint.

The next step was to silicone in some dividers between the land and water areas of the tank. I should add some sort of technical drawing here to explain this in better detail. Who knows, someday I might even do that! Until then you get bad photos and worse descriptions.

Essentially, there is a 10 inch high piece of plexiglas running the length of the tank, creating a 6 inch walled area for land, and a 12 x 36 inch swimming space. On the right of the plexi-wall, there is a 2 inch drop, and a brace that goes to the back wall of the tank. The idea is that this section will drop to below the water line, so Mr. Turtle can easily climb out and sun himself. This area will also feature bog plants, that like to be submerged in water, and grow in air. I'm hoping to find some sort ofdwarf cattail or iris for this area.

Its a good idea to spend a couple extra bucks on the silicone adhesive used in this step and get the stuff at the pet store that is aquarium-safe. The silicone they sell at places like Home Depot might be ok, but sometimes they add arsenic to kill mold. Needless to say turtles and fish don't like arsenic either. In my experience it can be hard to identify which caulk has the additive and which doesn't, and as usual don't count on much helpful advice from the retail zombies that lurk in the aisles of those stores.

Here is my first fill of the tank, testing the bond of the silicone to the plexi. I'm going to let it sit for a few hours now and see if any leaks develop. The land area needs to stay 100% waterproof, otherwise any leakage will cause the plant substrate to mold.

Assuming everything stays leak-proof, I'll be able to mix up the substrate and fill in the land area tonight. That's when the real fun begins, landscaping.