Habitat - Indoor :: Am I OVERCLEANING my tank?

[Reel Girl]

I have read some threads about cloudy tanks/dirty water with replies about good bacteria......

Sheldon is currently in a 10 gal tank, although he is under 2 inches, I know this size is woefully inadequate, especially with how active he is! (I will be upgrading as soon as possible!)

In this 10 gal tank I am running a ZooMed Filter (318, I believe) which I do not recommend to anyone, but it is better than than the filter that came with the Aquatic Turtle Starter Kit I got at PetSmart the first night DH brought Sheldon home! DO NOT get this starter kit!

My excuse for these filters, is that I had not yet found this site!

Anyhow, back to my title question...I have been removing Sheldon from the tank every week, placing him in a rubbermaid container, and then completely emptying all the water, scrubbbing down all the rocks, dock, cleaning the filter, replacing the charcoal in the filter and refilling with fresh water (I refill using 1/2 RO filtered water and 1/2 warm tap - filling tank 3/4 of the way full)

Am I letting my cleaning OCD get the better of me? Should I leave some of the old water, just use my little aquarium vac and refill??

[imderanged]

Yeah I'm not the expert on here, but from what I've learned about aquariums over all is that might be over doing it a bit. my understanding is that if you clean all the water out each time and replace all the filter media every time you clean (especially every week!!!) your tank will not "cycle" and you will never get a growth of healthy bacteria that eat the wastes in the water and help get rid of amonia and nitrates (nitrates, nitrites...one of those, I always get them comfused) you can get test kits in the petstore to see if these levels are out of wack. I do 50% water changes and replace the charcol but not the other media (my filter has ceramic tubes, some have sponges) Those are meant to stay there so good bacteria can grow on them. I accually had to ADD bacteria to my fish tank, but I never had to do that to my turtle tank. I even think ALITTLE bit of algea growth is a good sign in a tank.

[taylor_a]

Ammonia is a highly toxic substance, and just so happens to be what your turtle excretes as a result of amino acid breakdown.

The nitrogen cycle is completed by some pretty cool bacteria (Nitrobacter sp., if my diseases of aquatic animals education serves me correctly!). Anyway, in the nitrogen cycle, ammonia is broken down into other nitrogenous substances that are *less* harmful (ammonia --> nitrate --> nitrite).

Anyway, the point is, over cleaning your tank will result in an inability for your tank to build up any useful population size of bacteria. And from what it sounds like, I think you might be doing jus that!

[Reel Girl]

ok, you are both confirming what I thought about cleaning my tank (after reading through the various threads)!
Sooooo, my next question is....what is the proper way to clean my tank?
If there is a section on this site about proper cleaning, please link me up!
How much water do I leave in when cleaning?
When I clean the filter (which has 2 sponge compartments and the charcoal compartments) the sponges are really nasty.

[Chrisbarnett]

I would say that you aren't over cleaning your tank. The Zoomed Turtle Clean 318 filter produces no biological filtration, meaning that beneficial bacteria are not going to grow in that filter to reduce harmful levels of Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. There is no nitrogen cycle of the tank because of this.

I really have no idea what Zoo med was thinking when they made that filter, It's a piece of crap that makes a bunch of noise and has hardly any filtration power.

If you are cleaning the tank this often, you may as well just have a bare bottom tank because the addition of rocks only creates a more time consuming situation for you and allows the turtle junk to go between the rocks, making it so that the filter cannot get at it.

Using Reverse Osmosis water is a good idea, but I have read to try not to use warm tap because the water then has to go through the water heater where the water can get the addition of weird deposits that may not be good for your turtle. So just let the heater in the tank bring the water up to the right temperature. With that said though, I have used warm tap with no problems at all.

[Reel Girl]

Chris - My tank is basically bare bottom at this time - - I have flat rocks purchased from Petco that I think are really made for lizards, stacked all around that Sheldon enjoys rearanging.
You are correct in that the ZooMed filter is crap!
I hate to admit it, but at this time, I do not have a heater in the tank, I have been using my candy thermometer (if any family/friends are reading this, I will get a new one before giving you treats at Christmas!) to check the water temp - the water temp remains in the 70's, when I upgrade to the bigger tank I will put in a heater - but I think because my house tempeture remains in high 70's - low 80's in our freakish East SD weather - his water seems a good temp.

[imderanged]

I am using a zoomed 501 (in a 20 gal), which I got for $50 and does have media for bacteria to grow on. It works well in my tank. I check the water with test kits every once in a while to double check. I've only once dumped the whole tank. When I came home from the hospital, every surface was COVERED in algae. I had to break down the whole tank, scrub everything and start over. This is what I usually do to clean my tank....I do 50% water changes (I have to bale water 'cause my tank is on the floor so the syphons don't work.) I scrape the sides with an algae scraper to get rid of any excess algae (now I have a pleco, so I don't scrape as much) and to clean off mineral deposits (I have hard water). I take out all the "stuff" (the log, the platform, the rocks) and use a fish net to "skim" the water clean of "junk" from the turtle and the minnows, then I fill buckets with tap water from my shower and treat it with Retisafe and let it sit for just a few minutes. This has been working pretty well for me (although I'd like to get a "python" or some kind of power syphon to make my life easier) and the water quality is good, I know cause I check it. I would suggest getting a testing kit and using it to figure out how often you need to change the water.

[TheComputerGremlin]

I'd imagine that cleaning your filter each week and doing a 50% water change is all that you need to do for now. You don't want to remove all of the water since the new water is harsher for the turtle. Any algae build-up, you can remove as needed. I think a whole tank cleaning may be a bit overdoing it. And start looking now for good prices on tanks and canister filters (which make life soooo wonderful) so you can space out the upgrade over a few paychecks! Also, I wouldn't recommend a candy thermometer, they aren't too accurate, at least buy one of those stick-on thermometers or a cheap digital one to spot check the temps.

[Chrisbarnett]

Imderanged,
Yes, but that is a canister filter which does allow biological filtration. The Zoomed Turtle Clean 318 is an Internal filter. Biological bacteria cannot grow.

[imderanged]

chris>> i know, i wasn't disagreeing with u if thats what it sounded like. I thought maybe the 501 would be a better filter for reel girls tank.

[Chrisbarnett]

Oh okay, I apologize if I sounded Snooty.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Reel Girl - I wouldn't recommend the Zoomed 501 unless you want to have to upgrade again after it. It's rated for 30 gallons with a gph of less than 80 gallons, meaning it's good for a 15 gallon tank and that's it. Save your money and start looking for canister filters and a larger tank.

imderanged - I'd start looking for an upgrade too. That tank size and filter won't last you very long.

[marisa]

With only a 10-gallon tank, the filter you have, and the size of your turtle, I don't think a weekly cleaning and water change is overdoing it. For small set-ups like that, I don't think having the tank cycle is an issue. the tank needs fairly frequent cleanings and water changes.

[imderanged]

computer gremlin >> yeah. I am looking to upgrade as soon as I can. I really want to go straight to a 125-150 tank with all the accesories. My Sylar was a "surprise" gift at Xmas so I did the best I could at the time. He was living in tuppeware when I got him. I had next to no equipment. No place was open 'cause it was Xmas. I had to use a heating pad under his tupperware to keep his water warm. All I had for basking was an incandecent daylight bulb. My friend who gave him to me was given poor advise from the website he bought the turtle from. He was just a tiny baby with RI. The day after Xmas I went to the petstore and spent all my Xmas money + some on turtle stuff, knowing I would need to eventually upgrade. Honestly I really didn't know how soon it would be though!! Anyway, I should be getting some money from my tax return soon.

[res08]

When I clean the filter (which has 2 sponge compartments and the charcoal compartments) the sponges are really nasty.

The 318 should have a bio sponge. Rinse it in tank water to preserve the good bacteria. Replace it only if it is extremely clogged.

I have a Sacem BIP filter, very similiar to the Zoo Med 318. I use pieces of ceramic rings for bio media and a sponge for mechanical filtration.