Dirty Tank

akiwibc58

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I have 2 x yellow bellied sliders in a 75 gallon tank and cannot keep the water clean. I have filters, a heater the correct lighting and the turtles seem happy enoughbut the water alwayslooks horrid. I use AquaSafe, and I'm liberal with the API sludge remover and PRIME water conditioner. I have another reptifilter arriving Wednesday. What am I not doing right?
 

Blackdog1714

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I have 2 x yellow bellied sliders in a 75 gallon tank and cannot keep the water clean. I have filters, a heater the correct lighting and the turtles seem happy enoughbut the water alwayslooks horrid. I use AquaSafe, and I'm liberal with the API sludge remover and PRIME water conditioner. I have another reptifilter arriving Wednesday. What am I not doing right?
Other members on here have built home made filters with buckets and trash cans . I can’t remember which ones so just do a search for pond filters. Hope it helps
 

akiwibc58

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Other members on here have built home made filters with buckets and trash cans . I can’t remember which ones so just do a search for pond filters. Hope it helps
So I need bigger filters to keep tank clean. I'm cleaning it 2 x a week and this is not what I had in mind at all
 

Yvonne G

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Get yourself another tub, or even another two tubs, and feed the turtles in the tubs instead of in their aquarium. Leave them in the tubs for an hour or so to give them time to poop.
 

Toddrickfl1

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The Reptofilters are no good. You need to go big with filtration. Turtles are extremely messy. Look into a canister filter. With two turtles in a 75 gallon I'd go at least 200 gallons per hour.
 

crimson_lotus

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rule of thumb is: 1 turtle + # gals of tank = filtration for 2 x gals of tank. Agree that more is necessary per turtle.
 

akiwibc58

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rule of thumb is: 1 turtle + # gals of tank = filtration for 2 x gals of tank. Agree that more is necessary per turtle.
Could you tell me what brand of sludge remover is a good one to use please? And if I can no longer take care of these 2 what would you suggest I do? They cannot be released can they?
 

Toddrickfl1

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crimson_lotus

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Could you tell me what brand of sludge remover is a good one to use please? And if I can no longer take care of these 2 what would you suggest I do? They cannot be released can they?

I've had a Fluval 306 for years. Tried Eheim for a while which was also nice, but ultimately went back to Fluval. The issue with these, though, is that they probably don't have enough capacity to handle 2 turtles in a 75gal. Toddrick probably has more experience with larger turtles and larger tanks.

I also do what Yvonne suggests, and I feed my turtle in a separate bin. This really does prevent a lot of nasty leftovers/sludge. My turtles water is crystal clear.

How large are your turtles, and what age? Will they get larger? These are questions to think about too.

Do NOT release them into the wild, they are already an invasive species basically everywhere due to the pet trade. Please try to either rehome or drop them off at a shelter if you cannot take care of them.
 

zovick

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Could you tell me what brand of sludge remover is a good one to use please? And if I can no longer take care of these 2 what would you suggest I do? They cannot be released can they?
You should NOT release the turtles under any circumstances. You can give them away to someone who wants them. Put ad on Craigslist or notify a couple of vets in your area that you have a couple turtles you no longer want.

You can also try donating them to a Zoo or a Nature Center if there are any near you. That way you can go and visit them but not have to take care of them yourself.
 

akiwibc58

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jeff kushner

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Wow, only 2 in 75 gal and you are having issues? It's okay, you aren't used to setting them up correctly. Filtering might not be the prob but lets chat a bit.....

Hmmm, I've kept until recently, triple 50's all full of various maps, red-ears of course, yellows...for decades.

I would first ask what you are feeding them???

Let me go take a pic of the filter I used with great success. brb....


bet you didn't even miss me.....

You may need the next size up but you are prob familiar with these anyway. The guys can try to climb all over them and they won't hurt them. I was concerned about that with an in-tank filter. The temps are real important(an in-tank vertical heater worked great)....for me, I liked to try to keep them a little lower to help control algae w/o chems. You don't need chems if you let nature run your tank, you just guide it with temp control and what and how you feed them so as to not overpower your tanks ability to clean itself....balance and temps....and I'm a conservative<LOL>...all in fun....we both love turtles!



Pics of your guys home would be great too!!!

PS. w/ a gravel base and a Turbo pump(as seen on tv) sludge removal once a year is a breeze!

Good luck!

jeff
 

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