Is the filter going to kill my turtle?

[Rubyfryk]

So I posted this in a Facebook group and everyone is freaking out saying the turtle is going to drowned bc of the water level and the filter is gonna suck the turtle up and kill him. Is this true? The turtle seems fine? Has swam near both the intake and output and has no trouble near the intake and not much near the out put. It’s a hatchling River cooter. A little more than an inch. Cascade canister 1000 in 40 gallon. I’ll switch it back if he’s gonna get hurt but I just don’t see how he’ll get hurt, the people at the reptile pet store told me he’d be fine and to use it.

 

[Tom]

So I posted this in a Facebook group and everyone is freaking out saying the turtle is going to drowned bc of the water level and the filter is gonna suck the turtle up and kill him. Is this true? The turtle seems fine? Has swam near both the intake and output and has no trouble near the intake and not much near the out put. It’s a hatchling River cooter. A little more than an inch. Cascade canister 1000 in 40 gallon. I’ll switch it back if he’s gonna get hurt but I just don’t see how he’ll get hurt, the people at the reptile pet store told me he’d be fine and to use it.

I don't have the answer to your question because I don't know that brand, and I've never raised baby cooters, but I CAN tell you, that FB advice is usually terrible. So is pet store advice.

What might kill your turtle and burn your house down is those clamp lamps. Hang your lights from over head. Those clamps always fail eventually. Remove the clamps and hang the fixtures. Also make sure the bases of the fixtures are ceramic and not the black Bakelite plastic types.

 

[wellington]

I second Toms post. Specially FB being worthless advice and the pet stores who is there to sell you stuff and the clamps failing and either burning your house down or electrocuting your turtle
As for the filter, not likely to hurt him. However if you have concerns still, block the intake so he can't get to it but water and dirt can.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I can't see your intake tube.
Is it a straight pipe? Or does it have a diffuser of some type?
A straight pipe could be dangerous and suck/vacuum a small turtle to it. But if it has a diffuser or a plastic screen it'd be much less likely because it spreads out the vacuum area.

 

[Sarah2020]

Please share pic if the pipes as the manufacturer should have provided a cover to prevent accidental intakes.

 

[EppsDynasty]

I have not used that specific brand BUT do use a BIG canister on my Razorback tank. I do not have my output so high, drop it near the water level and direct it into something. The intake is easily covered with a "Pump Saver" bag, it is a mesh bag that you can use to prevent suction from getting to the Turtle. You can place several rocks in the bag then insert the intake into the bag, this will make it IMPOSSIBLE for the Turtle to experience suction high enough to trap it. FaceBook is full of people that do not practice the hobby as well as people just trying to get you going, this situation is a perfect example. You want larger filtration for turtles, yes I know yours is very small now.

 

[Markw84]

That filter comes with a slotted type fitting that goes over the intake. With that properly installed, your turtle will be fine as there is not way to get a seal against the intake with the suction.

I would extend the tube on the outlet to get the outlet into the water. Spraying above water level like you have will create a big mess and quickly ruin the glass of the tank with water stains.

Do keep a watch on the suction end as these filters are not designed to lift water more than 6" to get over the lip of the tank. The added negative pressure created in the suction tube can cause issues with the filter drawing water properly. You can certainly add more water. There is no problem with a baby cooter (or slider, map, painted) in deep water. They are excellent swimmers and do better in deeper water. Especially with ample fake plants to hang and climb in.

I would also suggest you may want to get rid of the sand bottom. Debris will collect in the sand and the right type of bacteria cannot get established without oxygen/water flow through the sand. You will end up with uncontrollable, high nitrate levels building up (and odors) I use bare bottom tanks for small turtles indoors.

Keep and add to the fake plants. That is great for the baby turtle. They will do much, much better with plants to hang and hide in.

 

[Rubyfryk]

I don't have the answer to your question because I don't know that brand, and I've never raised baby cooters, but I CAN tell you, that FB advice is usually terrible. So is pet store advice.

What might kill your turtle and burn your house down is those clamp lamps. Hang your lights from over head. Those clamps always fail eventually. Remove the clamps and hang the fixtures. Also make sure the bases of the fixtures are ceramic and not the black Bakelite plastic types.

Yeah these Facebook groups I’m in makes me wanna scream, it’s like the person that approves every posts, comments first and just lets you know you’re wrong and your turtle is gonna die and that you also need to buy 300$ lighting… on every post no matter what it’s about. 😂 yeah. I have been worried about the lights because the clamps don’t seem that greatly built, I’ll definitely get them off of there. It it true the the in doesn’t get through the mesh lid? So like I should sit the lights on there and I should get a fixture and hang them from the wall?

 

[Rubyfryk]

Please share pic if the pipes as the manufacturer should have provided a cover to prevent accidental intakes.

This is the cover on the intake, so I’m assuming from what everyone said that this should be safe right?

 

[Rubyfryk]

I have not used that specific brand BUT do use a BIG canister on my Razorback tank. I do not have my output so high, drop it near the water level and direct it into something. The intake is easily covered with a "Pump Saver" bag, it is a mesh bag that you can use to prevent suction from getting to the Turtle. You can place several rocks in the bag then insert the intake into the bag, this will make it IMPOSSIBLE for the Turtle to experience suction high enough to trap it. FaceBook is full of people that do not practice the hobby as well as people just trying to get you going, this situation is a perfect example. You want larger filtration for turtles, yes I know yours is very small now.

So with the out put the tube is super short and I can’t get it to go any lower. I tried lol because it’s super loud like this and I had to turn it to the glass and add rocks to lighten it hitting the sand. I plan on getting some extra pipe to make it longer so it will go into the water. I do have a question though, I have a spare intake tube with the end that goes on that, I’ll post a picture of it.. do you think I could just use that as the output or that the water wouldn’t be dispersed correctly with this type of end on the output?

 

[Rubyfryk]

That filter comes with a slotted type fitting that goes over the intake. With that properly installed, your turtle will be fine as there is not way to get a seal against the intake with the suction.

I would extend the tube on the outlet to get the outlet into the water. Spraying above water level like you have will create a big mess and quickly ruin the glass of the tank with water stains.

Do keep a watch on the suction end as these filters are not designed to lift water more than 6" to get over the lip of the tank. The added negative pressure created in the suction tube can cause issues with the filter drawing water properly. You can certainly add more water. There is no problem with a baby cooter (or slider, map, painted) in deep water. They are excellent swimmers and do better in deeper water. Especially with ample fake plants to hang and climb in.

I would also suggest you may want to get rid of the sand bottom. Debris will collect in the sand and the right type of bacteria cannot get established without oxygen/water flow through the sand. You will end up with uncontrollable, high nitrate levels building up (and odors) I use bare bottom tanks for small turtles indoors.

Keep and add to the fake plants. That is great for the baby turtle. They will do much, much better with plants to hang and hide in.

Any idea if I can use the same pipe and slotted fitting for the output too? I have a spare one of those, but the current output is too short to get it any lower. I don’t know if that slotted fitting will disperse the water correctly or not though. Also, with the water level, I have notice since I had to about double the water in the tank to get the filter to even work, that the turtle does seem to be struggling a little bit more to get to the surface (nothing in super worried about) so if I’m gonna bring the water level up higher again should I do it slower or can I do it all at once? I added more rocks and plants because I wanted to make sure he had places to rest while swimming, he doesn’t seem to be struggling too much, but even once in a while I’ll notice he seems to have trouble getting to the top.

 

[Markw84]

The pipe/tube for your spare intake should also fit the output fitting. Use that pipe/tube.

A healthy baby cooter should have not problem swimming to the surface. Not sure what you mean by "struggling a little bit more to get to the surface". Once they are eating well and taking pellets, I have raised lots of cooters in full tanks. To ensure they are eating well and learn to take pellets as food, I do use a shallow, 4" deep tank. Within 3-4 weeks of hatching, they are in a deeper tank.

 

[Tom]

Yeah these Facebook groups I’m in makes me wanna scream, it’s like the person that approves every posts, comments first and just lets you know you’re wrong and your turtle is gonna die and that you also need to buy 300$ lighting… on every post no matter what it’s about. 😂 yeah. I have been worried about the lights because the clamps don’t seem that greatly built, I’ll definitely get them off of there. It it true the the in doesn’t get through the mesh lid? So like I should sit the lights on there and I should get a fixture and hang them from the wall?

Screen will filter out some percentage of the UV, so best not to use it wen possible.

Build something from PVC pipe or 2x4s to hang the light from over head. Or buy the ZooMed light stand.

 

[Rubyfryk]

The pipe/tube for your spare intake should also fit the output fitting. Use that pipe/tube.

A healthy baby cooter should have not problem swimming to the surface. Not sure what you mean by "struggling a little bit more to get to the surface". Once they are eating well and taking pellets, I have raised lots of cooters in full tanks. To ensure they are eating well and learn to take pellets as food, I do use a shallow, 4" deep tank. Within 3-4 weeks of hatching, they are in a deeper tank.

Okay awesome I’ll use that pipe and I don’t know if it’s like actually struggling or maybe it’s just he actually has room to be swimming now whereas before he only had to paddle or stroke his arms and legs once or twice and he was at the top. Now it’s like he glides up from the sand an inch or two and then frantically paddles the rest of the way to the top. I don’t know if that’s him struggling or maybe it’s just him getting used to how much water he has now. Who knows, but it hasn’t concerned me enough to think he’s not able to get to the top 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

[EppsDynasty]

Okay awesome I’ll use that pipe and I don’t know if it’s like actually struggling or maybe it’s just he actually has room to be swimming now whereas before he only had to paddle or stroke his arms and legs once or twice and he was at the top. Now it’s like he glides up from the sand an inch or two and then frantically paddles the rest of the way to the top. I don’t know if that’s him struggling or maybe it’s just him getting used to how much water he has now. Who knows, but it hasn’t concerned me enough to think he’s not able to get to the top 🤷🏼‍♀️

Right on sounds like ya got it going let us know how it goes.

 

[Rubyfryk]

Screen will filter out some percentage of the UV, so best not to use it wen possible.

Build something from PVC pipe or 2x4s to hang the light from over head. Or buy the ZooMed light stand.

Thank you! I have the lights on the mesh right now because I don’t want them to fall in, but I ordered stuff to hang them! So they’ll be hanging soon. I also ended up putted the exact same piece that is on the intake on the output, because I had a spare. So they are the same on both sides, my problem now is I don’t feel like there is much water flow at all in the tank. Should it be okay and I’m just used to it being super water flow from the way I had it for a couple days?

 

[EppsDynasty]

Thank you! I have the lights on the mesh right now because I don’t want them to fall in, but I ordered stuff to hang them! So they’ll be hanging soon. I also ended up putted the exact same piece that is on the intake on the output, because I had a spare. So they are the same on both sides, my problem now is I don’t feel like there is much water flow at all in the tank. Should it be okay and I’m just used to it being super water flow from the way I had it for a couple days?

I think you should be fine with the output being less, or at least looks like less. I use Fluval Canister Filters for this exact reason. They have a lever you can pull up, or push down to control suction. The suction on the intake determines the amount of flow out the output pipe. With this setup you can buy a larger filter than needed and "turn down" the flow until the turtle is bigger, then turn it up.