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I am a new owner of 3 baby RES. I just set my tank up about a week ago and just the other day it started getting a little cloudy. I found a bottle called Tidy Turtle by Kordon. It is a 10 gallon tank i have with the floating rocks and fake weeds and lily pads. Does that have something to do with it? Also should i buy a water kit and test the water regulary. Thanks

Yes, you'll need the test kit and you'll need to do partial wateer changes to help the tank cycle.

Read up on "nitrogen cycle".

I believe that small tanks with heavy bio loads have the most trouble cycling.

You may be well served to upgrade the size of the tank as soon as possible.

I will defitley buy a water kit. Is there a special one for turtles? I know down the road i will need a bigger tank, but a 10 gallon is no good. i got a powerful filter that is made for a much larger tank. It seems they enjoy it a lot. they swim and theres a nice basking area for them which i see they enjoy that alot. Any info would be great. Im new to this. I think its more of a pet for me then the kids. LOL.

No, no special turtle kit - it's just an aquarium test kit.

I'm assuming your water is cloudy because it hasn't "cycled"

Google: aquarium nitrogen cycle

I bought my son a turtle because it didn't sound too hard to take care of... HA! Then my wife took in two more right after! Now I am the one who takes care of all of these turtles... sometimes that's how it goes. They help bring us all together.

I just read up on it. thamks a lot. Now is my filter big enough? i Hve 1 that rated for a 20 gallon tank and i have a 10 gallon.

I'd skip Tidy Turtle as that appears to be a waste degrader and I don't think a water test kit is ideal for 10 gallon. It's a small tank, so you'll be doing frequent changes regardless of filter strength. Get a test kit if you have a huge tank with a lot of water and biological filter media.

With 3 turtles, you should already be thinking of 30 gallons and up, especially since they grow fairly quickly during the first couple of years.

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!

3 baby RES meaning "hathing" small, Is still never good for a 10gallon Tank!!
Yes your water and filter are going throught a stage called the Nitrogen cycle which many people complain about and don't know about!!! Dont worrie too much it will clear up in a couple of weeks but do 10 to 15% water changes weekly! Don't do 100% water changes!! However u really should worrie about the fact of having 3 baby res in one 10gallon tank in NO way is that suttable!!! What filter do u have id suggest for now a Whisper 10i and keep one small RES in there as a temp tank!!

Nitrogen cycle (Nitrification cycle) / New Tank Syndrome
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.