Habitat - Indoor :: yucky water?

[slowmo]

is the water in my turtles tank supposed to get cloudy so quickly? it gets pretty cloudy in about a week, am i supposed to leave there for beneficial bacteria or should i clean it out because im not sure if its dirty water or if its just doing its own natural thing. i have a zoo med 318 turtle filter for a 29 gallon tank thats about halfway filled with water....i want to make sure the water is okay for my turtles to be in....any advice would be great thanks!

[emma]

When you clean the tank, are you doing a 100% change or just partial? And, when you clean out the tank, are you totally scrubbing down the filter? How many gallons is your filter rated for and how long have you been having this problem?

[slowmo]

well i just got the tank about 3 weeks ago..i've been doing 100% cleanings because it looks kind of yucky to me...when i bought the filter, the guy at the aquarium recommended this filter to me and its up to 30 gallons..but i wish i could exchange it for the filter up to 50 gallons =(

[iac637]

the filter isn't big enough you need a filter thats recommended for double the size of the tank

[emma]

I have been using a ReptoFilter for my 20 gallon tank and that is only recommended for water heights up to 2 inches. You should start to do only partial changes. 100% gets rid of all the good bacteria and starts a tank on a whole new cycle again.

[slowmo]

ok i took that crappy filter back to the aquarium where i bought and i was surprised that they let me exchange it even though i used it =)
but anyways i exchanged it for a Fluval 3. MUCH BETTER!

[iac637]

most places will if it doesn't work I know that I have returned filters that didn't work before with no problem. They can sent it back to the company and get their money back, then the company will sell it as refurbished.

[emma]

Thats great! Is the water better now?