a baby aquatic turtle

Question
Howdy!
I'm clueless on reptiles somewhat..I adopted a baby red ear slider some months ago that someone was about to "dump" behind a grocery store.

Since he's been in my care, I guess he's doing great! I have him in a 10 gallon aquarium with a turtle dock & filter.He has a basking light (a clear incandescent bulb). And, he eats good too. I feed him Reptomin & bloodworms once a day.

Best of all, he doesn't "stink" like all the stories I heard about turtles. I clean his tank weekly. I put turtle clean & a sulfa block along with a water declorinizer.

My question is regarding the lighting & sulfa block...

1). is it ok to keep using the clear bulb for basking or use a aquatic plant bulb? even tho there are no plants in the tank.

2) how often do I use a sulfa block? will it hurt him if I use it too often?

Thank you for your time in reading

~Samantha Reiger~  

Answer
Get rid of the sulfa block- plain clean water is all it needs.

The incandescant bulb is OK, but should be supplemented with a black light for at least part of the day. A full-daylight simulation bulb (with UV) would be better.

Sounds like you are doing things OK. Some references that might help include:

http://www.redearslider.com
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com