Water filters ?

[SnakeDan]

Does anyone know of a good way to keep our turtles water clean without changing it everyday. By the evening of the day we change it, it starts to stink. We dont like the turtle to be in that kind of condition and we dont like the smell of it either. lol. Can anyone help us out. Desperately need some advise please. ???

thanks alot.

Dan and Mary

[sclark]

Re:Water filters ?

Hey Dan,

I haven't kept water turtles since I was a kid, but I do know the petshop always has sliders and they have a flat filter that is on the bottom of the tank and seems to work real well. Their water always looks clean and I never noticed a smell.. If you have troble find it, let me know and I will inquire at the store what they are using..

Hope that helped..
Steve

[SnakeDan]

Re:Water filters ?

Steve,
Thank you for your help. We will check at the shops down here and see what we can find out. If we cant find anything then we will let you know. I really appreciate your help. Thanks again
Dan and Mary

[sclark]

Re:Water filters ?

NP Dan,

I will be at the petstore tomorrow, I will try to remember to ask just in case..

Steve

[sclark]

Re:Water filters ?

Hey Dan and Mary,

Just incase you didn't find the filter info. I called the petshop and asked them. Since they mainly get small sliers in, they only have a 20 gallon setup. They use a Fugal filter setup. Not sure of the spelling, but thats how it sounded.. They said one for a 20 gallon would be about 20 bucks. They normally have those filters in stock that will cover from 10 gallon to 100 gallon. They also use a water heat rock.. I can find out about them if you like..

Hope the info helps..

Steve

[SnakeDan]

Re:Water filters ?

Thanks Steve,
We are gonna check on filters and stuff , when we go to St.Louis this weekend. Maybe we can find something at the reptile specialty store.

[sclark]

Re:Water filters ?

NP Dan,

If you do have any problems finding what you need, let me know.. Worse case I could always pick the filter setup for you here and ship it to you..

Steve

[Doug]

Re:Water filters ?

HI,
I researched some of the problems with keeping turtles in fish tanks the main problem is they are primarly meat eaters as babies and this breeds large amounts of bacteria. SO I would use a large foam pre filter to capture the large pieces of poo and rinse the pads daily. or some type of a sump with a pad prefilter
I also noticed that most turtle experts say that sliders as they age, they eat less and less meat as adults, maybe some type of floating koi fish pellet would be better filler as a supplement for sub adults.
Finally another problem was the use of glass water heaters be sure they are the unbreakable types .turtles can aggresively chase fish and break a heater, many people hide the heaters in filters outside the tank. I saw one guy make a sump out of a 10 gal fish tanks he siphoned the water out and pumped it back similar to the reef filters used by saltwater fish keepers.
Another over looked problem is the importance of uva/uvb light to turtle health prevent fungal infection kills most bacteria and hardens the shell.
Good luck I had a red ear for about 5 years, but he moved out side at around 2 y/o
into a large screened area I used a bathtub for a pond and caught him minows at a creek near my home in Fla this was a long long time ago :,,

ppsps only feed non-gold -fish many gold fish are toxic due to the stains and color in their scales it has cause certian types of liver cancers in garter snakes fed exclusively a gold fish diet. I would use a common minow of some type or there's numerous other feeder fish..

I believe most turtles contract their salmonella in the food they eat I.E. people feed all kinds of raw meat to their turtles and that may be some of the sources of the bugs.
.. Doug