Habitat - Indoor :: First Post!!! AND funny smell from tank

[BlynkOfAnEye]

Hey all,

New to the board, so greeting and salutations to all! I got my two sliders, Dante and Randall ('rescued' them from a Chinese buffet right around Xmas time), and they seem to be healthy and doing well. This website has been a great help!

When I got them I put them in a 10 gallon tank, and the past month or two was just a pain in the butt with weekly (if not more frequent) water changes. I guess the Fluval 1Plus wasn't cutting it anymore, because the water would get yellowish and cloudy within a day or so. I also noticed quite a strong smell coming from the tank, which was one of the reasons I changed the water so often. It was pretty pungent and I felt pretty bad for my little dudes!

I just moved into a new place this weekend, and with the increase in available space I set them up in a new 40G breeder tank. A LOT more space for them, with more in the tank for them to keep themselves busy with.
So, I got a Fluval 304 canister filter from a friend, cleaned it thoroughly, and got it up and running in the tank. Loaded it with foam, carbon, biomax and polishing pads, and it seems to works fantastically. It's silent, and the water flow is strong, and it seems to be doing its job.

However, I got home today (two days after setting it all up), and noticed the water is beginning to take on that yellow tinge again and that smell is coming back too! Does anyone have any ideas as to what's going on? When I put in the water I put in water conditioner and Turtle Clean organic waste solubizer if that helps. On my old 10G setup I added the Turtle Clean but not the water conditioner.

The smell isn't too bad now, but if it gets worse I'm definitely not going to enjoy sleeping in the same room as them! Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks much!

Here's a few pics of my guys and the setup.
Tank:
Tank:
Tank:
Dante:
Randall:

[BullDog]

First off, welcome!

A Fluval 304 in a 40 gallon tank should be good for filtration. But I see you have the filter at the same level as the tank. That is most likely your biggest problem. Canister filters need to be below the waterline, the lower the better. They rely partly on gravity to provide adequate filtration.
So my first suggestion would be to put the canister on the floor.

Secondly, I see you have the input and output right beside each other. Usually it's better to have them as far away as possible, so you can get flow through the tank.

Also, you may have to change/remove the micro filtration pad in not too long, since they tend to get dirty quickly.

The other thing is that a new tank with a new filter will go through "new tank syndrome". This is when the beneficial bacteria has not yet grown, and your ammonia levels are high. This can cause a whiteish cloudy tank, and can take up to a month to clear up (though with turtles, it's usually less).
To help alleviate this, do partial water changes (20-25%) every day or two. You can check your ammonia levels with a test kit, which you can pick up at any petstore.

Try these couple of things, then see how it is. A clean tank with good filtration (like you have) shouldn't smell. In fact, I have two big tanks in my room, and have never had a problem with the smell. My dingy 2 gallon fish tank on the other hand...

Something else I forgot to add: Your setup looks really good!
The only thing I would change is to have both lamps over the dock. Generally, you want both your heat and your UVB over the basking area. The heat entices them to bask, and they get the benefit of the UVB.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Your setup looks good, though remember that they will quickly outgrow the setup as they get bigger.

Two things I'd like to add to BullDog's post. 1) Your filter might not be adequate for two turtles in a small tank, so you might continue fighting a losing battle. 2) The smell can usually be taken care of using the activated carbon. Do you have activated carbon in your canister?

[scripta_elegans]

Your setup is beautiful! It looks like new tank syndrome to me, which bulldog mentioned above. The 25% water changes will help the ammonia and nitrogen levels get back to baseline. There are products to help the beneficial bacteria build up faster as well. I have heard mixed reveiws on these, but they seem to work for me. Here are a couple links. You can probably find them at a pet store as well.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752530
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2754070

[BlynkOfAnEye]

hey guys thanks for all the help!

Bulldog, per your recommendations I moved the UV lamp over by the dock, and moved the filter intake/output as far away from eachother as I could. I'm going to do partial water changes every few days and hopefully it'll clear up the cloud/smell. However, i now i have some new issues regarding the filter placement.

i have the tank set up on my dresser, as such there is no room behind the tank for the filter. And, the hoses on the 304 are simply not long enough for me to put it on the ground off to the side. i'd like to get longer hoses so I can 1) put the intake/output farther apart and 2) put the canister filter on the ground. Do they make longer hoses? Or could I go to a hardware store and buy tubing to replace them with? I wanted to get smooth hoses anyways, the ribbed ones are a pain to clean.

Gremlin: yup, i do have carbon. It's the bottommost layer in the filter. I'll have to deal with only a 40G for the time being. they were in a little 10G for almost 6 months, so I hope the 40G will last a while longer

Thanks for the nice comments on the setup, I'm kind a n00b so I'm glad I did well! I appreciate the help!

[RESnTX]

If you take one of your existing hoses to the store I bet they could help you find a match. If not you can order new ones from the Fluval website.

[BullDog]

You can buy replacement ribbed hosing. At my local petstores, when they get a filter back, they part it out at the recommended retail price ($18 for the hoses here, I've checked ).

You can get the smooth hoses as well. Your biggest problem would be to get the input and output nozzles to fit snuggly onto the hose. The end that attaches to the filter would be no problem, because you could just put a clamp around it to make sure it's good and watertight.
It's most important that your input is firmly attached. If the input came loose, your turtle can get stuck and drown.
The other thing, is the smooth tubing that you find at the hardware store is most likely clear. This is fine, but I've heard that the clear tubing can grow algae (Looks gross, but doesn't really cause any problems). You can ask owners of the Rena XP series about this, since that filter comes with clear tubing.

[BlynkOfAnEye]

i may not be able to get official replacement hoses because of the short length. If I get "homemade" ones, will a longer length of hose be an issue? Are the official replacement hoses longer than the ones that come with the filter. Online it seems the replacements are 9.8ft, which is DEFINITELY longer than the ones I have now.

[BullDog]

Length of tubing of the "official" ones shouldn't be an issue, since they're meant to be on the floor anyhow.
As for homemade ones, I'm not sure about if the extra length will be an issue. As I said, they're meant to pump from way below the tank, so I don't think the homemade ones will end up much longer than the originals