Best way to establish a new Turtle Tank

Hi,

I have a couple RES turtles on the way! I have cleaned the used tank i got with water and white vinegar. Washed out with water multiple times and have a fan air drying it (4 hours). I have a aqua filter i'm going to use on the tank and add a trickle tower eventually. Also add heater and a turtle dock with basking light. Eventually adding plants and cleaning fish to the tank.

So heres my question?????????

My dad has a turtle/koi pond at his house. Its fairly big! I was wondering if i would be better off to use some of his water to get the tank established with the good bacteria faster. Fill the rest up with regular water and use the conditioner treatment for the amount of regular tap water gallons.

Please any comments/suggestions is greatly appreciated and i know the turtle will be even more thankful then me!

Personally I'd just go with regular tap water and let the good bacteria flourish on their own. But you did say red eared sliders so honestly there's no way in hell you can possibly kill these turtles anyway, so definitely go for it if you want to!

Awesome thanks for your input! I ended up going with tap water and the water conditioner. They're doing great and i'm working on trying to get a few live plants with malaysian driftwood in the tank this coming week. Also hope to finish my custom overflow trickle tower this week/weekend!

Originally Posted by michiganice91

Personally I'd just go with regular tap water and let the good bacteria flourish on their own. But you did say red eared sliders so honestly there's no way in hell you can possibly kill these turtles anyway, so definitely go for it if you want to!