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I cleaned my turtle's tank a week ago and as the days go by, the water gets more cloudy. I feed him outside of his tank and net out the waste as I see it. I also clean his filter and replace the cartridge at least once between cleanings (which can usually go two or three weeks for a full tear-down cleaning). I use the house tap water and use a water conditioner. I have tried other water products from Petco, but my turtle appears to get a reaction from it so I try not to put a lot in his tank. What could be causing the cloudiness? If it's the filter, does anyone have a recommendation? He lives in a 40 gallon tank that is kept 20 gallons full. He is probably 6-7" wide. I have had him for a little over two years, he's about three years old himself.

Could be a lot of things causing cloudiness but it's probably the filter not being able to keep up with a growing turtle. At 7", you probably have a female too.

I agree with steve. Also 20 gallon, come on now . I would suggest to at least completely fill up your tank and put an ATBA. With an upgraded filter, it will be easier for you to keep it clean and your turtle will be a lot happier.

Thank you both for the feedback. His nails are super long and his tail is thick; from what I've read, that's an indication of a male and he has been shedding a lot lately so I know he's still growing. I'm bad with measurements, so I guess he could be wider.

I do have a cover for his tank, so I could fill it more; doing half gets me to the point where the filter is dropping the clean water back in and I guess I wasn't sure if that could be submersed or not. Plus, I worry about him being too close to his heat lamp.

What is ATBA? I wouldn't mind upgrading his filter, but I want to make sure it's not going to cost me a lot of supplies or upkeep over time. I have Petco in my town, or maybe something over Amazon?

ATBA is "above tank basking area". I would probably look at upgrading the tank first, having more water would be a better first step.

Ok, thanks for the tip. I'm going through a divorce and lost the 55 gallon tank he was in. Because of cost and available space, the 40 gallon was the highest I could go with. He already tries to escape from his tank (currently has a floating basking rock) so the ATBA scares me, especially because it leaves the option on either side when he's getting in/out of the water.

For now, I will look into adding more water to his tank (I kept his original filter box so I will read up on it) and possibly upgrading the filter.

Sorry to hear about your divorce. It won't be so bad with a 40 gallon if you can fill it up more. As for an ATBA, there is a "turtle topper" that is sort of popular, though I am not a huge fan of: https://www.amazon.com/Penn-Plax-Turtle ... B002O09MYE

Shame, I'm sorry to hear about this as well s:

You can always do one with egg crates, it's pretty popular. And cover your tank with it as well. It's not pretty but it's effective.

steve - Any reason why you don't like this one?

I sort of don't like companies that make turtle-specific products. I also don't like the ATBA design, especially that submerged platform. Their filters seem OK though.

Fair enough