While we're on the topic of water filters, what are some possible ways I can help the water filter in my turtles' aquarium?
Asked by
jca (
36062
)
September 21st, 2015
I have an aquarium with two red eared slider turtles. It’s a 10 gallon aquarium and I have a filter for a 50 gallon tank (as turtles produce a lot of poo). Here’s the filter I have: Aqua Clear 50 gallon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000260FUM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
The turtles about the size of my hand, so they’re producing a lot of poo. It’s heavy and it sinks to the bottom. It also clogs up the filter. I cleaned the tank two weeks ago and it was beautiful and clear, and now it’s clogging up again.
Cleaning the tank is a lot of work, and of course I will and do clean it when necessary, but it’s time consuming and messy (I usually do it right before a shower, and then take the shower but it takes time and planning). It requires removing the turtles and putting them in the bath tub, and then taking all of the water out and the rocks that are on the bottom, and cleaning and then refilling and putting everything back.
Is there anything natural or unnatural I can do to assist the filter in doing its work? I want the turtles to live in a clean environment so they’re happy and healthy.
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3 Answers
The best filter I ever had was an undergravel filter. There was a raised plate under the gravel and the aerators pulled the water down through the gravel and recirculated it. That was the healthiest tank I ever had. I don’t know if you can even find them today,
My son has a painted turtle that also can mess up her water in a hurry. I have a Whisper brand filter similar to yours that I really like and the filter is really easy to remove and rinse in our slop sink and encourage my son to rinse it off every few days and that helps a lot. Our tank has larger stones on the bottom nothing smaller than a gum ball and not a lot of them just enough to loosely cover the bottom of the tank. Then on average every 3 weeks I will stir up the water and stones to get the “debris” into suspension and then clear the stones to the side and create a whirlpool. Then I siphon all the water out of the tank and vacuum all the debris with a ¾” diameter clear tubing that is about 5 feet long and emptied into a 5 gallon bucket. This is sufficient to get 95% of the debris out of the tank. After emptying the water in the front yard flower garden, I fill the bucket with the filter unit, sunning rock and a couple large rocks and scrub those items clean. I have a box of disposable latex gloves I wear when cleaning or rinsing the filter to help guard against salmonella yuck.
Anyway, what makes the biggest difference is diet and amount of what we feed her. Usually I will fatten her up with a handful of garden worms a couple days before the big clean out otherwise daily it is a tablespoon of these pink and white pellets and a pinch of freeze dried insects or shrimps.
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