Other Turtle Discussion :: Turtle Troubles

[BullDog]

Haven't been around for a long time, just thought I'd dump some current turtle troubles I'm having here

Firstly, for the last month, Ralph's tank has been stinky! It's never ever ever ever been stinky before! I gave the tank a 75% water change, and a week later it's stinky again. Before I changed it, I tested it, came up with everything normal - Almost 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, Nitrate at 5 (or is it .5? Anyhow, only at one or two "colour levels"), and ph 7. It's kind of a turtle poop cross sulphur type smell, mostly when I first open the lid. I've been trying to keep on top of scooping out excess food/poop, but it's not like there's a lot of leftovers generally.
It's 75 gallon, with FX5 filter, and 1 7" RES in it, if anyone feels like puzzling on that

And tonight I went up to feed them after being away for one night, and I find Frankie's filter isn't on... That's weird I think to myself... Then I see a bunch of black debris at the bottom of the tank. Looks like the carbon bag broke/came undone and has killed the filter. I'm too tired to deal with it tonight, so that'll be my project for tomorrow - checking out the damage. It remains to be seen if I'll be able to save the filter or not... It'll be "fun" trying to suck up all the bits of carbon from the bottom of the tank!
Based on the first result of my google search, if Frankie eats a bit of carbon, it won't harm her. That's why I didn't start into the major tank clean tonight. I can't see her trying to eat the carbon anyway, she's pretty selective in what she eats

Other than a few inconveniences for me, the turtles are doing well and being, well, turtles
Here's a few quick pics I took tonight so my whole post wasn't just me complaining
Frankie being Frankie:


(note to self, clean the glass after cleaning the filter)

And Ralph flirting with his rock, which is how he spends most of his time

[BullDog]

So good news. Took apart the filter and cleaned it, and siphoned as much loose carbon as I could out of the tank. The sponges were all black! In the carbon bag, there was a hole maybe 2mm, enough to cause havoc, apparently. Plugged it back in, and started up right away. I put a fine filter pad in there, hopefully to catch any bits of carbon I missed before they can cause any more damage.

[steve]

Glad things are alright! Does Frankie also have an FX5?

[BullDog]

Yes, she has an FX5 as well.
I was glad it worked out OK, that'd be a pricey thing to replace :S

[VeipaCray]

How do you have your media setup on the FX5 for ralph? The sulphur smell is usually caused by the nitrifying bacteria. Something could have kicked off a mini cycle and started another bacteria bloom. Direct your FX5's output to break the surface of the water. The increased oxygen exchange will make the sulphur smell go away. You can also add an air pump and air stone... same thing.

[BullDog]

First basket is Fluval's prefilter + coarse sponge. Second basket is carbon + bioballs. Third basket is ceramic biomedia. I do have one of the outlets breaking the surface of the water.
Unfortunately, I don't have an air pump big enough for his tank. Thanks for your input Veipa

I was looking at my records, and it has been a while since I've cleaned the filter. That could probably be part of the problem too. I hate cleaning the filters in the winter, means I have to clean them inside But I shall put that on my "list of things to do", and hopefully that'll take care of the smell.

[steve]

I hate cleaning filters during the winter too for the same reason. I was thinking of setting up a slop sink just for turtle cleaning stuff.

[VeipaCray]

IF you follow the filter media setup in this thread for the FX5, you may have better luck with your filtration. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30145

Bioballs don't belong in a canister filter. They are designed for wet/dry trickle systems and do not offer much in the way of surface area. The prefilter material is also useless. You have the side sponges (mechanical), coarse sponge (mechanical), prefilter (mechanical), carbon (chemical but only lasts for a few weeks at best), bioballs (doing nothing in your canister), and 1 basket of ceramic (bio). I would add more ceramic bio media to your filter in favor of that prefilter junk that fluval sells. If you don't plan on maintaining your canister on a regular basis and replacing that carbon often (fresh carbon would probably alleviate your odor problem) Check out a product called Purigen by Seachem. It's a synthetic resin that you can clean and re-use and it lasts longer than carbon.