Habitat - Indoor :: Water change and testing the water?

[Shelldon]

Hey everyone

so i read a couple of posts the other day about high something levels that she found when testing the water. the thread goes into the importance of biomedia, water change %s, and testing for water levels.

questions are
Should i be testing my water?
If i do a 50% waterchange, would the chlorine kill the already-existing bacteria in the tank?
would putting in water conditioner before or right after take the chlorine out in time?

thanks in advance!

-brian

[papoopeepoo]

You don't really need to spend the money on water test kits for your turtle. The best thing to prepare with is a sizable filter. As long as your filter is strong enough and maintained regularly, the water pollutant levels should be in the range that is safe for your turtle. Water testing kits are most important for fish aquariums.

You should be performing water changes, though. 50% RWC are ill-advised unless you have a water problem, or you are cycling a new tank. 25-30% RWCs will be much easier on the larger tank a turtle needs.

To keep my bacteria stable, I turn off the canister filter before taking out any water. Then, I siphon the water out, put the tap water directly back in the aquarium (as long as the temp isn't much different), use the proper amount of de-chlorinator, give it about a minute. Then filter is turned back on.

Some people on here don't even use de-chlorinator, but I personally do. I do because Philly tap water is pretty high in chlorides.

[Shelldon]

thanks for the info, i just changed my water (50% because i didnt see what you wrote before i did it) and everything is back in there. i have 2 filters that are 90 gal together. i clean the filter when i change the water (every 2 weeks or so) and i also use the water conditioning. i live in vancouver, canada. the water is very clean, but i dont want to take chances.

[steve]

If you change the water every 2 weeks, even a partial change, you don't really need to worry about testing.

[Marcus.85]

I disagree. At least nitrate and nitrite testing should be performed in my opinion.
I'm not talking weekly tests but at least once a month. Ph and hardness also help, especially if you have fish and snails in the tank.

[papoopeepoo]

I disagree. At least nitrate and nitrite testing should be performed in my opinion.
I'm not talking weekly tests but at least once a month. Ph and hardness also help, especially if you have fish and snails in the tank.

What is the point of spending money on test kits for something that can be avoided by simply doing water changes? Turtles do not breathe water as fish do, so a filter with the proper media and regular water changes is reassurance enough, in my opinion. Even if one were to test the water, it would not need to be regular thing. The initial testing would help determine if the media capacity is sufficient for the tank size and bio-load, but beyond that point the results are redundant.

Having fish and inverts in the tank is a different subject. In that case, all tests for pollutants should be done on a weekly basis.

[Marcus.85]

What is the point of spending money on test kits for something that can be avoided by simply doing water changes? Turtles do not breathe water as fish do, so a filter with the proper media and regular water changes is reassurance enough, in my opinion. Even if one were to test the water, it would not need to be regular thing. The initial testing would help determine if the media capacity is sufficient for the tank size and bio-load, but beyond that point the results are redundant.

Having fish and inverts in the tank is a different subject. In that case, all tests for pollutants should be done on a weekly basis.

Money? It's gonna cost 4 to 6 bucks a year if you do it monthly or even twice a month.
Also, they may not breathe it, but they still drink it.
Water quality could change through time because of many factors:
overfeeding, turtle growth, worse quality of tap water, some kind of mistake and or/filter malfunction.
Also, if you notice dirty/murky/yellowish water wouldn't you wanna test it? If you do own said test if you're not gonna use them ever they eventually go bad after a while.
What's the harm in being a little bit more careful and vigilant?

[marisa]

I think to test or not depends on a number of factors, among which is the bioload in the tank and how effective the filter is (how much biomedia it contains).

[sagoy]

Most turtle owners here in my country prefer to age the water for 2-3 days in a separate container or a barrel of some sort to naturally faze out the chlorine before they add it in the tank. If you're meaning to save some money for a bigger tank or a better filter or some decor that you might like to get, or food.