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A small video about a normally (by size) tank for little RES turtles when it is so cold weather outdoor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QjwQ3mO1So[/youtube]

That's a very nice setup. Why did you clean it in the beginning? Is that part of your regular routine?

Of course, that is a part of regular routine. Even a big canister filter does not replace a manually exchange of water once or twice for a week. And I think that it was a really lucky product from Exo Terra company for turtles. (for example, the turtle cliff of Exo Terra is not so great - I removed it from terrarium.) To tell the truth, a seller in the pet shop tolds to me that I definitely must to buy a large tank immediately. It sounds like: "you know, it is a big economy in money. You can buy just one tank for the future." But the technology support group in Exo Terra company was right about size of turtles terrarium. There was a second size of the terrarium but is more heavy for me.
Oh! First question was about why?
First step - laundry detergent can remove just organic parts of dirt. second step - deep desinfection with cleaner gel (It can be deactivated by organic dirt - because of this reason it is second step) and third - just to try sterilization by boiling water.
The mobile terrarium is more safe for little turtles exactly by the possibility to easy wash it.
Here is ~40 litres = ~>10 gallons. Usually, one turtle at a time swimming as others sitting on the Islands

The idea behind a canister is so that you don't need to do complete water changes regularly. Partial changes will be sufficient. As for cleaning the tank, unless there was an illness and medications are used, I think it should be a simple drain and wipe down (with vinegar or rubbing alcohol) will be fine.

There were a lot of animals in my life (just one Mr.Darrell probably had more than I had). And I think that it is not so difficult to me to full exchange water in all carantine time (3 months).