Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:04 pm
I'd trust Steve. If he says that testing a 10 gallon tank is a complete waste of time, he’s probably right. I have little to no experience with tanks that small. My son’s turtle was 4” when we got her and she started out n a 20 long “critter cage” with 5” of water (we didn’t know better) and a crummy filter. That tank would not cycle. The water just fouled and had to be changed every week, and should have been changed more often.
Remember, I said “small tanks with heavy bio loads have the most trouble cycling” and that’s what we’re talking about here – a very small tank and 3 turt’s is a pretty good bio load, no matter what size they are.
I’m a big fan of “40 breeder” sized tanks as turtle tanks, as they have a lot of floor space for their size. You can buy a brand new 40 breeder aquarium at Petco for 99.99, so a used one should be less than $50. Interestingly enough, Petco also sells 40 breeder “critter cage” tanks for 99.99 – nobody should ever buy one, ever, for any reason (IMO).
Personally, even if these are just 1” hatchlings, if I wanted all 3 of them to live in the same environment, I’d start them in a 40 breeder at least half full with a good filter. A full 40 breeder would not be too much. The filter will have a Gallons Per Hour rating (GPH) and should circulate your water at least 5 times every hour.
Just start getting used to the idea that tank upgrades are in your future, and you very well may have to separate these 3 turtles some day. You don’t want to keep opposite sex turtles together, and if you get three females, you’ll need a huge tank or more likely a pond to keep all 3 of them together.
I was intimidated at first about tank size. Everybody said I needed to upgrade. I felt more comfortable with smaller tanks for some reason. (cost, less risk of flooding the living room, etc…) But the big thing is, no matter what, any way you cut it – the smaller the tank the more frequently you need to do tank maintenance (water changes, tank & décor cleaning, and filter maintenance / cleaning)
After less than a year of having turtles I got sick of frequent turtle tank maintenance (weekly) and I also got sick to death of my house smelling like a stinky zoo. I wanted to enjoy our turtles, so I needed them to not stink up the house, and not cause me hours of work every weekend. Big tank upgrades are the answer to those questions.
Everybody makes it out like upgrading your tank is for the turtle – IMO – It’s every bit as much for the owner of the turtles. I went from two stinking turtle tanks that had to be cleaned every week to having two odorless turtle tanks that require cleaning about once a month, I do the filters every two months. This is a much more enjoyable situation. You can go on craigslist every day and see people desperately trying to re-home their turtles, and they are always in a 20 long tank with about 5 gallons of water and the owners are tired of the constant upkeep and the stinking house. Undersized tanks just don’t work out for anybody.
Don’t be intimidated, you can get by for now with more frequent maintenance, especially if you're not completely sick of the constant upkeep yet, but just start thinking big about future tank upgrades. Really big tanks rock! You may not believe it yet but you will!
