Hello. I have two red-earred sliders in a 125 gallon tank. I have two fluval 404's on it, within each 3 carbon bags, all of which I change every two weeks. My water still tends to get cloudy, not really colored, after just several days. Could it be ammonia and what can I do about that..or is there something else going on? Is it safe to use particualte water clarifiers in turtle's water? Any help would be greatly appreciated....JulieNBowie
Do you have gravel or anything as a substrate? Are you treating the water before you put it in the tank?
No, I keep the tank rock, gravel, anything free. It is hard enough to keep the tank clean with these two! All I have in the tank are the ramps and they are made out of plexiglass. I do have the media in the filter, the white tube things and the week I put the new tank together and put on the new filter, I did notice some white powder in the water. I rinsed the new media, but I suppose not good enough. I do not treat the water before...should I be and with what?
If you are not treating the water, there is some stuff called Biotize that helps reduce waste that works well for mine. I also use Reptisafe water condition. You should also consider getting some live plants. They serve a dual purpose. THe turts like to hide in them and they help keep the water clean. Also a sucker fish (algea eater) helps as do snails.
How long has the tank been set up? Sometimes new tanks take a few weeks to cycle. I doubt it's ammonia since you have two filter and change the water every two weeks. Are you sure there isn't a leak in the media bags? Have you taken them out and rinsed them again? Areyou talking about the Biomax ceramic rings? Do you have the foam inserts also? Those are what really traps particulates. I would use a combo of the cartridges or foam blocks, ceramic rings, and charcoal bags. A tank that size should only need one 404 so with the two in there, I'm surprised the water is cloudy.
How long has the tank been set up? The tank has been set up for a month this Saturday. Before this I had them in a 55 and needless to say, had to change that every week. I do a complete water change minus what is left in the tank, every two weeks now. The turtle vet had told me to add another filter, that is why I have two and it does do the trick with the solid waste, but, this cloudy issue is puzzling to me! My one turtle has a slight respitory thing he thinks will clear up with the better water conditons now if only I can get her to bask! She is my shy one! I am putting in a ramp just for her this weekend and hope she will use it. The carbon is the only thing in bags, and the other media is the Biomax ceramic rings, and I will rinse the new ones more this weekend. Yes, I also have the foam inserts which I rinse every two weeks and buy new ones occasionally as these turtles poop all the live long day! I will look into the Retisafe water condition and see if that makes a difference. Plants...fish...all I can see is my girls chewing on them! My one is a nipper and trys to nip my other turtle as it is! Bit of a behavior problem I am working on. I just want to get this tank to where I could get away with cleaning it every 3 weeks and have not only be clean and good water condition for my turtles, but, for it to also look clean would be a wonderful bonus! It takes me around 2 hours to clean that tank and both filters....Thanks again for your help and advice...as I am sure you know, turtles are wonderful pets, but not easy ones!
I'm really at a loss as to why the tank is so cloudy with al that filtration. Hopefully some water conditioners will help. For the one turtle that won't bask, you could try dry docking her a few hours a day. That way she has no choice but to bask. It won't hurt her to be out of the water that long and dry docking is a common treatment for respiratory problems. We dry docked a lot of turtles when I was at the zoo for the same problem. It seems you either get one or the others with turtles...extreme baskers that end up burning their shells or extreme swimmers that won't bask enough! Kids! LOL! Oh, one thing I thought of....the ceramic rings...they should be rinsed in the tank water (just take some out and rinse them with it over the sink or a bucket or something)...they're used to grow useful bacteria so rinsing them in tap or distilled water may be killing off the good bacteria that will help cycle your tank. Do you use tap water for the tank? Do you have hard water? Fluval has special filter media for the 404 to soften the water but you can't use the charcoal with it....they cancel each other out. You could get one of those aquarium water test kits (it's like a mini checmistry set) that test hardness, pH, nitrogen, and ammonia levels. Just a thought since I've pretty much run out of ideas on this one! Good luck!
Thanks for your help! I ordered the two water condioners and I will see if that helps. The water is not real cloudy, just enough that you notice it right away. My two fish tanks (one at work, a 55, and a small one with my Betta here at home, I have no problem keeping clear. On another note, I do believe I will try dry docking my shy girl with the resp. issue...thank you for the idea. I think first though I will see if she will bask on "her own" ramp...give it a week. The other one is a hog of the one..like you said..they are one or the other! I am also going to raise the water level, these are new ramps to fit the new tank and I think the water level is too low and therefore too hard for my less active one to get up on it. I do use tap water for the tank. Also, I will do what you said and rinse the rings with turtle water. I do try to not rinse it much at all, but, the bottom of the basket can be a bit gooey, so, I rinse that off a bit. I think I would rather use the carbon than the softner though. I can also get my water tested at the petstore, they are nice and do that for free...think I will take advantage of that as well. As I said...I just want to get the tank to a 3 or 4 week cleaning cycle but that the water remains healthy for my girls. Thanks again for all your help. I will post an update later after I try the new things. I appereciate other turtle people helping out...as there are none others in my circle of life! My sister has box turtles, but water turtles are a whole other ball game as you well know! This website is a true blessing.
P.S. Thank you very much, Orchid201 for your advice on the products. I did order both and will try them out......you are very kind to a fellow turtle lover!
No problem. Hope it helps. I know what a pain changing the water all the time can be. Someone recommended those products to me when I first got mine and they have worked great.
Turtle waste is enough to create the needed bacteria, and you really shouldn't put goldfish in with turtles, as they have very little nutritional value and are fatty. Anything in the tank is likely to be eaten. You should use feeder guppies or rosie minnows instead. Is it possible that your tank just has alot of current, aeration can cause small bubbles that make the water look cloudy.
you said the tank has only been set up for one month. How many water changes have you done, and how much water are you removing each time? it sounds as if your problem may be that you are changing too much water at a time. Water changes should never be done on more than 1/3 the water in the tank./ If you are taking out almost all of the water, you are forcing your tank to cycle over again...which cuases the bacterial bloom you are seeing (cloudy water column) try smaller water changes
Even freshwater has a certain salinity to it and sometimes, especially when using tap water, you need to adjust it by adding aquarium salts. Not just table salt though, sodium chloride isn't the only salt you'l find in water. But...most turtles do not live in brackish waters and should not require any salinity adjustments. How long has your tank been set up?
Hi, I just wanted to put my two cents in on what I know about red-ears. I am a snake guy, but my girlfriend loves turtles, we have a 75gal. tank with 4 red-ears in it. I took creek bed rock from lowes and built a hill, then stuck a large flat rock on top of the hill, it looks very natural. We have a spotlight at the rock with a UV light going across the tank. We keep a constant supply of goldfish in their, a long with snails. We tried those submersible filters/pumps for turtles and also the big tank filters for fish that was made for like 125 gal. None of that worked, what we found to keep the water clear is using two 55gal fish pumps/filters and changing ONLY 1/4 or less of the water every two weeks. We have perfect water, crystal clear good ph etc. Our turtles are spoiled to core! We also have a heater in the water keeping it at about 75 degrees. If I had a turtle with a resp. problem I would immediately take it out and put him in his own enclosure. Make sure and keep the temp constant prob around 80 degrees or so with a 88 basking area, with a hide box to help with stress. Thats what I do, but this is just my two cents. By the way, goldfish, snails, algae eaters... don't last long with turtles, we are always replacing ours because they get EATEN! thanx, bye
mxracer, Your algea eaters get eaten? How large are your turtles? I have had my algea eaters in the tank for almost a year and have never had any problems. My turtles eat the feeder guppies but never bother the algea eaters. They are a huge help in keeping the tank clean.
I would love to keep an algea eater in there. My red-ears are about the size of a baseball, we have 3, than there is a quarter sized red-ear with them. I keep about 5 gold fish in there, 2 channel catfish (captive bred), guppies and baitshop minnows in there. The mainly eat the minnows and guppies, but I have to throw a couple goldfish in every week or two. They also get a small amount of turtle food every now and then. We just don't like them eating the same thing all the time. We have no problems with the water though, always clear, but algea! I have added lots of little hiding spots for the fish, caves rocks etc, so now we will try another algea eater. I heard they like to hide a lot, and this might also keep them from being eaten also. Our turtles even eat the gumball sized snails we put in there. They are monsters...
I also wanted to ask if anyone ever heard of putting hermit crabs in with turtles? A friend of mine has 3-4 in his tank and he said as long as there is dry land they do fine. He also said they help keep the tank clean. To me this is weird but I mean, is his case an exception or can you really do this?
Anything that you put in with your turtles has the possibility of being lunch. I have snails in my tank.
