# Freshwater Crocs



## LB_Reptiles (Jul 26, 2013)

Hey guys.
I was just wandering if someone could tell me if I wanted to make an outdoor Freshwater Croc enclosure what water will I have to use? Freshwater obviously! But is that just out of a tap or do I have to treat it? Help? Also do I need a filter?
Cheers
-Baillie


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## Diamond82 (Aug 9, 2013)

Yes the water does need to be treat and yes the water will need to have a filter running.


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## Xeaal (Aug 9, 2013)

and heated....


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 10, 2013)

If you are thinking of keep Freshies then I suggest you have a good read of this 
http://nswfmpa.org/Husbandry Manuals/Published Manuals/Reptilia/Fresh Water Crocodile.pdf


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## Planky (Aug 10, 2013)

Diamond82 said:


> Yes the water does need to be treat and yes the water will need to have a filter running.


 A mate of mine had crocs for years and he always filled straight from the tap as tap water has a ph level of a perfect 7 his crocs thrived


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## MesseNoire (Aug 10, 2013)

Planky said:


> A mate of mine had crocs for years and he always filled straight from the tap as tap water has a ph level of a perfect 7 his crocs thrived



Not entirely true. Depends where the tap water comes from.
That and using straight tap water will remove the needed bacteria from the water in the enclosure.


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## dabigjhemzehh (Aug 10, 2013)

And pH is dependent on temperature, You need to heat water for crocodiles and therefore the pH will not be 7.


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## Cypher69 (Aug 10, 2013)

Pretty big commitment keeping crocs.
Man, I wish I could....always had a fascination for them.


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## Xeaal (Aug 11, 2013)

GeckoJosh said:


> If you are thinking of keep Freshies then I suggest you have a good read of this
> http://nswfmpa.org/Husbandry Manuals/Published Manuals/Reptilia/Fresh Water Crocodile.pdf




This is brilliant - thanks so much for sharing this!!


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## SteveNT (Aug 11, 2013)

Planky said:


> A mate of mine had crocs for years and he always filled straight from the tap as tap water has a ph level of a perfect 7 his crocs thrived



That depends where you are State to State and city to city, all different.


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## mcloughlin2 (Aug 11, 2013)

dabigjhemzehh said:


> And pH is dependent on temperature, You need to heat water for crocodiles and therefore the pH will not be 7.



I think this takes the cake for the most confident incorrect answer I've read recently. A pH of 7 is perfectly obtainable with heated water. How do you think people keep tropical fish species that require a specific pH level?

The water will need a dechlorinater, not for the crocodile but for the bacteria which live in the filter that keep the water clean. 

Also as long as your particular area uses concrete water pipes the water will have a pH above 7 to prolong the life of the pipes as the government adds buffers and concrete naturally increases pH.


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## dabigjhemzehh (Aug 11, 2013)

Look, I don't want to argue. I may well be wrong.
But most of my research has explicitly stated that pH will decrease as temperature increases.

I am completely open to being proven wrong.


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2013)

dabigjhemzehh said:


> Look, I don't want to argue. I may well be wrong.
> But most of my research has explicitly stated that pH will decrease as temperature increases.
> 
> I am completely open to being proven wrong.



Yes PH does decrease with temperature but it is also influenced by many other factors such as substrate, natural buffers like driftwood and even the o2/co2 levels.


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## JAS101 (Aug 12, 2013)

LB_Reptiles said:


> Hey guys.
> I was just wandering if someone could tell me if I wanted to make an outdoor Freshwater Croc enclosure what water will I have to use? Freshwater obviously! But is that just out of a tap or do I have to treat it? Help? Also do I need a filter?
> Cheers
> -Baillie



im in melb too I use heated tap water to top up the tank .as for filter I made my own [ brought the filter medium from ebay ] and made the rest up .


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## GeckoJosh (Aug 12, 2013)

If you do not treat the tap water then the filter system will not operate at full capacity due to the chlorine killing the beneficial bacteria. 
I suggest reading up on the nitrogen cycle (its pretty basic).


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