All Turtles Message Board

thurman_murman · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: Too Dirty Too Fast

hey all i'm new here and still fairly uneducated on turtles. i've got 2 RES's named Bowser and Dobby in a 30 gal. long tank with a 40 gal. Tera Whisper filter that use thos BioBag things but it gets green in just a couple of days. i was told that turtles are dirty but this seems a little bit too dirty. i went and got an algae eater fish and it doesnt seem to make much of a difference. any suggestions on better filters or tips on keeping the tank cleaner?

btw, i change all the water every week.

thanks

kellydanette · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject:

you might have to get a bigger filter. Rule of thumb is 2x the amout of water in your tank. So if you have a 30 gallon tank you need a filter that will handle 60 gallons, and still will have to do half water changes every week to every week and a half. As for algae someone told me if you put a penny in the tank it helps with algae and won't hurt the turtles. Hope this helps a little I'm sure some of the other people on here can probably help even more.

thurman_murman · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 12:40 am Post subject:

well i figured the 40 gal. filter would work because i probably have only 15 gallons of water in it. but if not then anyone have a suggestion on a good filter that they know performs well for them?

kellydanette · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:54 am Post subject:

i've been checking around too b/c i'm getting ready to upgrade and FilStar seems to be really good. They have them at petsmart.com

Nevfalath · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:59 pm Post subject:

Algae can grow when you have too much lighting. How long do you keep the lights on?

Also, partial water changes sometimes work as well.
_________________
-= Shannon =-

James · Level 2 Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 85

also by raising the PH just a tad can kill it off. However that can get tricky so make sure you know what you are doing before you give it a try.

thurman_murman · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 12:49 am Post subject:

James · Level 2 Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 85

12 on 12 off.

Nevfalath · Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 8:50 pm Post subject:

There are no dumb questions. Smile

_________________
-= Shannon =-

odelajara · Level 1 Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Delaware

I recently purchased a 20gal. long tank. It came with a hood and houses a 20w Reptisun 5.0 UVB fluorescent lamp. The hood spans across the entire length of the tank leaving me no room for a basking lamp. Is there a special rigging method to this?