Still cycling tank..

[JEAE21]

It's been a week since my intank filter has been running, i added more than 60fish so far but can't get enough bacteria from them since my turtle eats them all in a few hours.. So instead I am not cleaning his feces and mixing it around in the tank but the water isn't showing no signs that it will clear in a few more weeks.

When I first opened the filter cartridges i thought i rinsed them pretty well but...
when you first get fliter cartridges and DON'T rinse it AT ALL or only rinse it a little, would the tank clear up eventually if it gets enough bacteria??

 

[Wolf3101]

The water will test good after the filter BB establishes itself but this will NOT clear the water. A little more information about your system and turtle tank would go a long way towords a helpful recomendation. Personally I wouldnt run an in tank power filter at all in that situation but rather an air driven sponge filter and increased water changes.

You don't normally want to rince the media in ANY filter until it cycles properly and then only in old tank water if its the main bio-filter.

 

[JEAE21]

what kind of info should I give you?

and are you saying that I didn't rinse enough and the water will not clear up?

what's a air driven sponge filter?
i bought the whisper intank filter because the aquaclear was a over hang type and the waterfall noise was killing me and my turtle at night.. I would use 2filters but I need a way to solve the waterfall noise.

 

[Wolf3101]

A small canister filter would take care of the noise factor. What size is your tank? how much of it is water? that sort of thing....HOB units always make a lot of noise unless they can flow directly into the water...
A hydro5 is a sponge filter thats submerged int the water...very simple and very effective but not the best at cleaning up after messy occupants....for that we're back to a small to medium canister filter.

 

[Miles]

You need alot of filtration to keep up with a turtle.

My turtle is in a 90g tank with UGF and a Canister.. It usually has 60-70g of water, and he has barbs and danios for tankmates.

If your water is cloudy, from bacterial blooms.. You might need more turnover and surface area, and then it will clear up.

 

[JEAE21]

i had him in a wide 125gallon that had excellent filtration but the tank was too big for one turtle so i bought a 40gallon breeder. And for the filtration..at the moment I feed him in a separate tub.
The water is around 3/4 filled.

and what is bacteria bloom? And turnover surface area..?? Sorry i'm new to this..
And "cycling" Is the filter cycling or the water in the tank cycling..which one?

I read in my aquarium book to add s a cup of water from a tank that has already been "cycled" to speed the process up a little.
So the next time I buy feederfish, I am thinking of pouring the water in their bags in the tank and the filter intake but can this spread any possible diseases? Even though the fish in the bag don't seem to have ich, or whatever. Although I found 2goldfish that seemed to have skin peeling off or fuzz balls frowing from them..
Will the tank and turtle be safe from the petco goldfish water?

 

[Miles]

You don't have enough good bacteria to break down the turtles waste.

This causes cloudy water.

 

[Wolf3101]

A cup of water wont do any good at all. The filter itself needs to "Cycle" in order to build up the proper level of nutrifying bacteria to break down the ammonia in fish and turtle waste. This is a multi stage process involving various types of BB...(benificial bacteria. ) The first stage converts ammonia to nitrites and then nitrites to nitrates... nitrates are much less toxic and can be removed with water changes.

Additionally you can be almost certian that any water you bring home with feeders will contain nasty crap.

The 40 gallon breeder (square configuration) is one of my favorite tanks.

If your going to run it 3/4's full then give up on the idea of a using a HOB..(hang on back) type filter system. (the noise will drive you nuts and they tend not to run well in partially filled tanks)Look into a mid sized canister...Fluval 305/Rena Xp2 Eheim 2217 classic one of the mew marineland multi stage cannisters...something along those lines. I'd certianly run a hydro5 on that tank although in your case I'd recomend you drive it with a small powerhead.

 

[JEAE21]

yeah my hangon type was a little weak..
haha, what's a hydro5?? i'm guessing a powerhead? yeah i need to get one of those..maybe a small one pointing down.

and by reading the posts above, I'm guessing that i DID rinse my filter cartridge enough, and the tank is a bit cloudy because I have been taking my turtle's feces out as soon as he "goes" therefore, there aren't that much bacteria in my tank.. Am i correct? the water smells like fish though..lol

 

[Miles]

Your bacteria needs surface area to grow on.. The more filtration you have, the more bacteria you can grow.

Likely, your filtration dosn't have the capacity to hold enough good bacteria to even break down the enormous amounts of waste that a turtle release.