General Care Discussion :: learning the basics, but confused.

[kuszak]

Hey all, recently I've been trying to be more involved in the care of our RES's. My mother got them about 7 years ago, but was unaware of all the basic of turtle care (as she was only experienced with fish prior). She is not very good at the research end of the modern world and I could see her growing more frustrating with keeping the turtles. So, to preface, our setup is probably not ideal and to the very experienced turtle caregiver I realize that some of what we're doing is probably borderline abuse (sorry, but I'm being active to correct it)

we have 2 large (about 8-10 inches long if I had to guess) RES. So these turtles have been alive for about 8 years or so and have grown a lot. We haven't noticed skin discoloration or problems with their eyes. someone we do see a scale or two in the tank but assumed this was normal as they grew. Also, several times per year they seem to be laying an egg and breaking it up in the water. We were under the assumption we have two females.

Our setup is a 55 gallon tank, which until recently was only filled to about 5-6 inches of water, and a basking platform that only had a heat lamp. She is using a magnum 350 canister style filter but was only using the course blue filter stuff inside, the rest of the tank is basically bare. Was cleaning the turtle tank and cleaning out the filters, replacing the blue filter filler at least weekly. they are fed inside the tank and eat turtle food or scallops.

Some things I've been learning about and reading include the importance of ammonia levels, we are going to purchase a UVB bulb this week. Water temperature we got lucky with and seems to be in an acceptable zone.

I've encouraged her to put another smaller floval filter in the tank, and we put the finer filler material to catch smaller particles in the magnum filter and the floval as well.
the water is cloudy after 1-2 days of changing them despite these changes and I realize it probably has something to do with ammonia or bacteria growth. But I've been confused from all the info out there.

I'm having trouble understanding water cycling, nitrates and ammonia levels. Would someone be able to explain in very basic terms or break it down to a smaller number of steps.

can someone explain how frequently just a water change is done vs. cleaning out the filters entirely and changing the filler material?
We are interested in an upgraded filter, but when she moves she will be the primary caregiver to the turtles and she's very overwhelmed by the canister styles with all the different forms of "media" within them. Will the current style of filter work?
Also was interested in the fresh moss balls and wondering if they might benefit our tank with our current setup?

Sorry I know this is all over the place, but even if you can just take a jab at it or reply to a small section I would appreciate it.

[steve]

Welcome to the forum! It does sound like you have pair of females.

Having a small amount of water is an issue. Waste builds up too quickly and your filter can't handle it. You are looking at a larger tank, with more water and better filtration for easier and less frequent maintenance.

The cycle is the nitrogen cycle. This is the snippet from the main site:

"The nitrogen cycle is responsible for the biological filtration aspect of your turtle’s water. New turtle setups have insufficient “beneficial bacteria” to compensate for the amount of ammonia that quickly builds up. While RES are fairly tolerant of harsh conditions, fish and more sensitive aquatic turtles may find the situation irritating. During this time, water may appear cloudy and have an unpleasant odor.

Over time and given the correct conditions, beneficial bacteria will colonize inside your tank. Well-oxygenated water and biological media (i.e., inorganic media, such as ceramic rings) encourages this colonization. The cycle begins when waste products and uneaten food decay and decompose into ammonia. Bacteria such as Nitrosomonas feed on the available oxygen and ammonia, oxidizing the ammonia into nitrites. Similarly, bacteria such as Nitrobacter feed on oxygen and nitrites, producing relatively harmless nitrates. Nitrates can be reduced through partial water changes or absorbed by aquatic plants. When cleaning biological media, it is best to rinse that media with existing tank water to preserve those colonies."