Habitat - Indoor :: Filter/Water change questions

[GloStick23]

Hi!,

I recently got my 4inch red eared slider and I currently have it in a 20 gallon tank with a whisper in tank filter that's good for 40 gallons. But I'm still not sure how often I should change the water. I feed my turtle in in tank only because he refuses to eat outside of it in a container unless its shrimp or krill. The water becomes cloudy very quickly and I find myself changing the water every other day or so. The smell isn't noticeable unless you stick your nose very close. I scoop up leftover debris everyday as often as I can and have few pebbles in there for the turtle.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/Greyna08/Photo_2F215BB9-17E3-B9B1-3E8B-9E8F9B3865C4.jpg

Any tips? Suggestions??

[VeipaCray]

You hav a 20G tank that's about 2/3 of the way filled up.

1. You need about 40 gallons of water for a 4" turtle.
A> for swim space
B> to have enough waste to water ratio to dissipate the ammonia caused by the waste
C> suggested size is 10 gallons of water per inch of shell.

2. Your filter is not appropriately sized and setup for a turtle envrionment
A> The filter's rated size is calculated based on flow rate and filtration capacity for an average community fish tank.
B> A turtle produces a much larger bio load than fish
C> rule of thumb for turtles and filters is to divide the manufacturers advertised sizing by 3. 40/3 ~= 13Gallons
D> If you need 40 gallons of water, you need a filter rated for at least 120 gallons
E> Your filter meda needs to be mostly biological filtration media.

The cloudiness in your water is normal during the first stages of the nitrogen cycle. It will cloud for a few days as the bacteria reproduce then clear up. If you follow what I posted above, you only need to change water to remove nitrates. Most people only need to do a 10% water change monthly to remove nitrates.

[GloStick23]

Thanks so much. What filter would you recommend?

[VeipaCray]

Depends on your budget. The three top filters on this forum are:

In order from least expensive to most expensive...
Rena XP3/XP4
Fluval FX5
Eheim Pro III

Keep in mind your turtle will grow and need a large filter anyway. If you buy a giant filter now, you'll spare yourself the expense later on. You can't go wrong with any of those. Check ebay for the best prices on new filters. Craigslist is the best place if you're looking for a deal on a used filter.

[richieboy]

I actually found that bigalsonline has a better price than ebay. On ebay you can get an xp3 for about 129.99, then comes the 17-28 dollar shipping. Bigal's has it for 140 right now, and free shipping. Also, you don't have to worry about shady sellers. Shop around, research, consider your future needs.

[GloStick23]

thanks a lot guys!