redearslider.com

A little background I have two red ear sliders I've had them for over 5 years I've never had an issue until recently. I changed out their tank and all the filter sponges and charcoal bag. I placed the water back in the tank and it was super cloudy in my whole house smells like well you know so I drained all the water out clean the filter housing out and cleaned all the new filter cartridges and refill the tank and try it again the water is still cloudy. I have used the Water Conditioner stuff and before anybody goes on their rants I do not care about removing all the water is a bad thing I've had these Turtles for five years every time I clean their tank I do the exact same thing all the water comes out the tank gets cleaned all the stuff in the tank gets clean and the filter gets cleaned I mainly just rinse everything in the tank off and rinse the filters out but I've never had an issue the water's always been fine I have never had health issues with the turtles by draining all the water in the tank what I'm trying to figure out is I've been informed that the water where I live currently they add some kind of chemical to it for the summer time which makes no sense but it's possible so is there something that I can add to the water to counteract this chemical? If anyone has any suggestions on what I can do to fix the Cloudy tank I would appreciate them except for don't drain all your water out because like I said before I've been doing it for 5 years and I've never had an issue till now. Also it's a 60 gallon tank and I'm running a Zoo Med 511 Turtle Clean canister filter. The turtles themselves don't seem to mind the water I on the other hand I'm not a fan of the smell never smelled like this before LOL

In sorry for the irritation but every single forum an article I read don't empty the tank is the number one answer but like I stated before I've been cleaning the tank the same way for five years and never had an issue till now

It probably needs to cycle, but the small tank (for 2 turtles) and small filter won't help with your water quality situation.

Turtles are bigger in five years and filter having a hard time to cycle the tank as Steve said. You may want to add more Bio media than you have if any , that can help. Never clean any bio media with tap water it will kill any good bacteria that you have , use tank water and just rinse it off that brownish stuff is the good bacteria !

Chances are that you just had a algae bloom , it starts microscopic , causes cloudy water and good filter media will remove it in a few days.

Its federal law your water company has to give a "annual water quality report" in print , may of been on one of those inserts , look on there web site and see just what they are putting in the water.