Question about Filtration for my Yellow Slider turtle
- Thread starter Choi_M
- Start date
How much water is actually going to be in it? If the full 175, I opt for two XP4's. The XP's are awesome and what most of us in the Turtle racket use, but remember that the rating is halved for Turtles. The XP4 is rated for a 265 gal tank, so for a Turtle that be 132 gal capabilities, two XP4's would give you 264 gals of rated power. More is better with Turtles. For many that wouldn't even be enough, since you usually want Filtration double what your Tank size is.
Turtles produce a lot of waste. There are different ways to deal with this:
1) massive biofiltration. Low maintenance, can be expensive. You could do this with canister filters, a big sump, plants, algal scrubber, etc.
2) large, frequent water changes. Relatively inexpensive, labor-intensive.
3) good mechanical filtration, cleaned frequently. Moderate in expense and maintenance time. The idea is to remove the waste before it decomposes into ammonia. HOB filters are good for this; powerheads help too.
Ideally you would have some combination of these three, with the difference being which you put the most emphasis on. I prefer to rely on mechanical filtration to remove most of the waste, so I can spend less money on biofiltration and less time on water changes.
Also, plants are great! Plants with roots in the water can consume huge amounts of ammonia. Peace lilies, dracaenas (including "lucky bamboo" and "corn plant", philodendron, pothos, sword plants, etc. are great for this task. Unfortunately, sliders like to eat plants, and all of these plants are mildly toxic, so only use them if you can separate your turtle from the plants. Floating plants such as frogbit, water lettuce, duckweed, and water hyacinth are also good ammonia sponges and don't seem to trouble turtles, though the last two at least are also mildly toxic.
1) massive biofiltration. Low maintenance, can be expensive. You could do this with canister filters, a big sump, plants, algal scrubber, etc.
2) large, frequent water changes. Relatively inexpensive, labor-intensive.
3) good mechanical filtration, cleaned frequently. Moderate in expense and maintenance time. The idea is to remove the waste before it decomposes into ammonia. HOB filters are good for this; powerheads help too.
Ideally you would have some combination of these three, with the difference being which you put the most emphasis on. I prefer to rely on mechanical filtration to remove most of the waste, so I can spend less money on biofiltration and less time on water changes.
Also, plants are great! Plants with roots in the water can consume huge amounts of ammonia. Peace lilies, dracaenas (including "lucky bamboo" and "corn plant", philodendron, pothos, sword plants, etc. are great for this task. Unfortunately, sliders like to eat plants, and all of these plants are mildly toxic, so only use them if you can separate your turtle from the plants. Floating plants such as frogbit, water lettuce, duckweed, and water hyacinth are also good ammonia sponges and don't seem to trouble turtles, though the last two at least are also mildly toxic.
Is it 1 turtle? If so a single xp4, or even xp3, or a Fluval fx5 will do. Yes turtles produce a lot of waste, but I think it really gets overblown sometimes in an attempt to make the point about filtration. I've got my YBS and Mississippi Map in a 75G with a Fluval 404 and it does just fine. I do a weekly 50% wc as I do with my fish, and I need to crack and clean the 404 probably every 2 months (clean the foam blocks that is; I leave the bio baskets alone).
