All Turtles Message Board

melsmom · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:57 pm Post subject: question about 50% water change

i'm sure this sounds ridiculous but i've asked dumb questions here before so : should i take the filter out (internal fluval 3) out, bale out 50% of the water, replenish the water, then put the filter back into the tank?

also, now that i know not to clean the foam pads of the filter each time Laughing

when i do a 50% water change, can i add a carbon filter at that time?
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my lil preciosa .. to the left, cute, huh?

2turtles · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject:

I would leave the filter in and running. just drain and refill.

In fact I leave my filters in and running.... and I leave the turts in as well. One seems to like being under the 'fresh' water as it's added, one doesn't seem to care what I'm doing and the other is a typical scardiecat.
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1.0.0 Trachemys scripta scripta----1.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta
0.0.2 Emydura subglobosa subglobosa----0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri

melsmom · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject:

i appreciate your feedback. when i add the new water, it seems that all krap floats around and may or may not get sucked into the filter. Is that alright?
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my lil preciosa .. to the left, cute, huh?

2turtles · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:00 pm Post subject:

I like to make sure to stir up the rocks and stuff so the floaties have a chance of getting filtered out. If you can imagine what composes most of that stuff, it's either waste material from the Turt or food - either way you want it out of the tank. Carefully refilling the water to not stir up the hidden debris on the bottom is really just ignoring the problem.

I purchased a water pump from HomeDepot - the kind used to pump out ones basement - and I use that for water changes on the larger tank.

I've found success with getting the pump running, and dumping the hose into the tank at full blast to stir stuff up while the pump removes it. fortunately, the pump empties the tank faster than the hose fills it.

You want to maintain the bacteria in the filter, not hiding under the objects (rocks, plants, etc) in the tank.
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1.0.0 Trachemys scripta scripta----1.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta
0.0.2 Emydura subglobosa subglobosa----0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri

melsmom · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject:

thank you for the advice. i did about a 50% water change. the smell is pretty much gone but the water does have a yellow tinge. Is that something i'll just have to deal with?
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my lil preciosa .. to the left, cute, huh?

2turtles · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject:

No.

My water usually has a tinge for a day or so until it is cycled through the filters enough to clean it up.

You color should go away - if not, there are things you can add to your filter (such as activated carbon) to 'polish' the water
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1.0.0 Trachemys scripta scripta----1.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta
0.0.2 Emydura subglobosa subglobosa----0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri