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I have two RES, an 8" female and a 5" male. Currently they are sharing two tanks, a 100g and a 40g. I've built a sump filter that consists of a 10g tank with plexiglass baffles, ceramic rings, gravel, 'bio-max' filter media, sand, and some ammo chips. An aquaclear 70 and 50 return the water to the tanks, and two overflows drain back.

I started the filter about 3 days ago. I know that it takes time to cycle, but I haven't really been noticing the usual signs. The ammonia level is still at 'stress' according to my mardel water quality monitor. I changed the water maybe 4 days ago. Am I just being impatient or is there something else I should be doing, or could maybe add to the filter/tanks to help?

Here are some pictures:
http://beckiefd.members.sonic.net/turtles%20004.jpg
http://beckiefd.members.sonic.net/turtles%20005.jpg

What's the total GPH on that?

The filter you built must pump at least 5 times the water volume that you have in the tank. You will have to come up with the gph that your filter puts out. Large amounts of water turn over is important with turtles. I currently have a 350 gph filter on a 29 gallon and a 300 gph on a 55 and they do just fine. Until you get your filter going you will have to do 50% water changes until you filter is working properly. Good Luck!! m.

Well the 70 is 400gph and the 50 is 270gph. The 400gph pump is plumbed to the 100g tank, the 270gph pump is plumped to the 40g. I have a siphon running between the tanks, as well.

I can't tell how the water flows through that filter, but it's definitely interesting with tons of possibilities.

Here's a better view of the sump:
http://beckiefd.members.sonic.net/turtles%20006.jpg

The water flows from left to right. There are four chambers. The water flows into the first chamber from the overflow boxes. The heater is also kept in this chamber. It overflows into the second chamber, which is where most of the media is. There's a 1" gap at the bottom of the partition between chambers 2 and 3, under which the water flows. Chamber 3 has sand and a bag of ammochips, and chamber 4 holds the pumps.

Well I did a 50% water change yesterday and it had no noticeable effect on the ammonia levels. My monitor is still showing the same color. The water is crystal clear, the PH is good, the turtles seem fine, and are acting totally normal, though they haven't figured out their new basking area yet.

I guess I'm going to try adding more bio-media to the filter, and maybe some nitro-max (tank cycling additive). Does anybody have any other ideas?

I'm wondering if any aquatic plants would do well in that setup.

Well the turtles would definitely mutilate any plants. Putting plants in the sump would be the obvious place, but I'd have to mount a light under the stand. Not that that's hard to do. But I was under the impression that plants do nothing to lower the ammonia, they only lower nitrates. Am I mistaken?

Good news everyone!


Ammonia levels have begun to drop, and I didn't change the water! So I'm going to assume the tank is cycling normally, and it's just taking longer than I'm used to because it's such a larger volume of water (I went from 40g to a 140g). I'm going to add more biomedia and possibly some plants.

LOL @ The Professor.

Glad to know things are stabilizing, please keep us up to date and which plants you go with.

Ammonia levels are down to 0, so the tank appears to be cycled.

I'm going out of town for a couple days so I won't have a chance to work on the plant stuff more until next week, but I have some questions that maybe you can help with.

As it is right now the return pumps sit in the sump filter and pump water back up to the tanks. I have a tray, 6" deep by 18" wide by 36" long that I'd like to fill with plants and run the water through, but I'm at a loss for an easy reliable way to put this tray in series with the sump filter.

I suppose a siphon is the only way to do it. Although I'm not really sure if this tray is necessary at all. How much plant space do I need for it to be effective on a 140g tank?

Your sump, for a 140g, is only 10g? I was under the impression that the sump's vollume would need to be much larger to have any real effect on the tank.

I have just finished plumbing a 180g tank to a 65g sump, with a QuietOne 9000 pumping ~1200gph, now letting it run for a few days as I figure out what to put in the sump and where. I would like a planted sump as well, post pics of whatever you decide, I have no experience beyond this point, I used a Fluval 405 on a 45g,now I will use it full of carbon on the sump.

Well if you take a peak at the pictures it's more than just a sump, it's a filter. There is filter media that the water is forced to run through, just like a canister filter.

How often do you have to change this media, doesnt the mechanical process quickly get clogged?