to all you aquatic turtle owners
- Thread starter vicedretard
- Start date
Unfortunately turtles are turtles are turtles, and it's synonymous with poo in large amounts LOL Gotta love them or hate them.... the poo, that is..
I had 3 paints (2 westerns & a southern) in a 65 gallon tank filled about 2/3's. The gallonage is approximate, it was a tank from Germany I think and the measurements were something like 1x.5x.5 (meters) so figure 40"x20"x20". I used the polished river rocks for substrate. I filtered this with a fluval 404 using the pads and just bio rings in the baskets. I did water changes weekly (about 1/3) but that was just because I think you should, just like fish...the tank stayed clear even if I skipped. I did vacuum the bottom when I did the w/c's just to get the big stuff.
Now I was filtering 40 gallons of water, and if you're using hob filters I guess the 55 is full up so a bit more water...but I had 1 more turt and mine were adults so I should have had more bioload. I fed about 75% pellet diet and 25% other stuff (silverside and bugs mostly)...if you're feeding more fish than I did then you'll have more mess I imagine.
Now I was filtering 40 gallons of water, and if you're using hob filters I guess the 55 is full up so a bit more water...but I had 1 more turt and mine were adults so I should have had more bioload. I fed about 75% pellet diet and 25% other stuff (silverside and bugs mostly)...if you're feeding more fish than I did then you'll have more mess I imagine.
tank is just over 3/4 filled with the two hob filters...and yes im trying to find some nice polished rocks for the tank and i dont mind weekly water changes(thats what im doing now)...its more that i water change in the morning go off to school and work and come home and the bottom is filled with poo...idk i guess i just never realized how messy turtles were...but i love em...i call one of em "paintball" eh...pretty cool name for a painted turtle huh? plus its my favorite thing next to my pets... oh ya and they eat pellets 5-6days a week and the other days they get snails,ghost shrimp,and bugs...i have come to learn they love snails but they are messy with the shell and the poo on the snails especially.
OK then a fluval 405 ought to work for you then, and just do some poo-vacuuming. The sizes of my turts were 8-9" wester painted female, 7" southern painted female, 5-6" wester painted male. I also rarely had to clean the filter, every 3 months or so I'd take the big pads out and rinse them in some of the turtle water I'd changed out (no chlorine), then just squeeze them out & put them back in.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Turtles don't turn the food they eat into more poop than a fish would. Does that make sense? Someone said earlier that they had 10 adult snappers in a 100 gallon and had to change the water 75% every day. Doesn't surprise me at all. That was probably about 60-80lbs of turtle in there. Imagine if you had ten - 20"+ arowanas in a 100 gallon (a 20" aro isn't even close to the mass/bio load of a adult snapper, but just for sake of comparison), how bad do you think the water would be? Not very drinkable... right?
I keep my turtles just as if they were fish and never have any issues with water quality. For example- I have a 50 gallon tub (about 40-45 gallons of water) that houses 3 RES (5-7") and the filter I have is a Cascade 700 canister (185GPH- for tanks up to 65 gallons). I change the water every 2 weeks(30-50%) and open the filter every 2 months. They are on a bare bottom and waste doesn't really build up. If it does I just scoop it out. The turtles are happy and I have not smelt "dirty turtle tank" since I set it up.
I think one of the main reasons turtle tanks get dirty is overfeeding (same as a fish tank). I feed my turtles for about 10-15 minutes every day. After that, any uneaten food is removed. Its simple, don't leave food in the tank, and keep a W/C schedule.
I do have to say I don't like Hang on back filters for turtles for many reasons. One- they don't have very much biological filtration. Two- turtles tend to push up the the down tube and that leads to burnt out pumps. Three- HOBs limit your water level. You need to have the water up to a certain point for it to draw water up without to much strain on the pump. Canisters work with the help of gravity and use the pump to return water to the tank.
I use canisters and wet/dry filters for my turtles. I am not too fond of HOBs (the reasons I stated earlier) and sponge filters for turtles (can be bit/chewed off and swallowed- I don't know if this could hurt them, but I won't risk it). Anyhow, just keep your turtles water as if it was a fish tank and you/your turtle will be fine.
One more thing... you don't need to feed your turtles every day. If they are on a healthy diet a little break from food will be good every now and then. And it will cut down on your waste. I do like to feed real young turtles every day, but after the 4" mark I start to cut it back. I feed my adults every other day.
I keep my turtles just as if they were fish and never have any issues with water quality. For example- I have a 50 gallon tub (about 40-45 gallons of water) that houses 3 RES (5-7") and the filter I have is a Cascade 700 canister (185GPH- for tanks up to 65 gallons). I change the water every 2 weeks(30-50%) and open the filter every 2 months. They are on a bare bottom and waste doesn't really build up. If it does I just scoop it out. The turtles are happy and I have not smelt "dirty turtle tank" since I set it up.
I think one of the main reasons turtle tanks get dirty is overfeeding (same as a fish tank). I feed my turtles for about 10-15 minutes every day. After that, any uneaten food is removed. Its simple, don't leave food in the tank, and keep a W/C schedule.
I do have to say I don't like Hang on back filters for turtles for many reasons. One- they don't have very much biological filtration. Two- turtles tend to push up the the down tube and that leads to burnt out pumps. Three- HOBs limit your water level. You need to have the water up to a certain point for it to draw water up without to much strain on the pump. Canisters work with the help of gravity and use the pump to return water to the tank.
I use canisters and wet/dry filters for my turtles. I am not too fond of HOBs (the reasons I stated earlier) and sponge filters for turtles (can be bit/chewed off and swallowed- I don't know if this could hurt them, but I won't risk it). Anyhow, just keep your turtles water as if it was a fish tank and you/your turtle will be fine.
One more thing... you don't need to feed your turtles every day. If they are on a healthy diet a little break from food will be good every now and then. And it will cut down on your waste. I do like to feed real young turtles every day, but after the 4" mark I start to cut it back. I feed my adults every other day.
TheBloodyIrish;913056; said:
i think a drip system would be no good on a turtle tank unless you got it changing the whole tank everyday.
you might be able to keep parameters in check, but the bacteria levels would be off the scale!
no stores down here sell fluvals or ehiems but i do have access to magnums...i was thinking of picking up a magnum350 canister to see if that would work...and honestly i dont like the idea of a bare bottom glass tank...i would prefer the river rocks...and thanks for the info soft turtle...however i do feed my painteds once a day(every day cause they are 2-3") and leave no food un eaten in there...but ya thanks all so far
Yeah, at 2-3" your all good to feed everyday. You might want to look on ebay for canisters. I never had any luck with the magnum 350 in my turtle tanks(good for polishing the water with the micron pad). The model I have on my 50 gal (Cascade 700) is about $50 brand new, give or take a few bucks.
