General Care Discussion :: How long would I have to do a full water change?

[Sen5es]

I have a 10gallon tank almost 80% of water with a water filter rated up to 20gallon. How long would I have to do a full water change?

I am thinking of adding some river rocks on the bottom. But if I have to wash the tank frequently then I'm not going to bother.

[theartbook35]

I have a tank the same size, occupied by two turtles (it's way too small for them now, I'm working on getting a 40 gallon). I change the water once a week, but I don't go overboard with the cleaning. Just a quick rinse of tank and in-tank items.

River rocks get slimy, so, just rinse them off with warm water for a few minutes, each time you clean the tank.

If you really want to minimize tank cleanings and water changes, you can feed your turtles in a separate feeding tank (the tank should have water in it, you know, they have to eat in water).

[steve]

A 10 gallon will require fairly frequent cleanings... almost every week. A larger tank and better filtration will require much less maintenance.

[mike hill]

Turtles require 10 gallons per inch of turtle. It sounds like your tank may be too small. The larger the tank and filtering the fewer cleaningsw you will have to do. Be careful when seeing a label that reads the size a filter is supposed to take care of. These rating are for fish and just doubling it is not enough. The gph should be at least 5 times the volume of water in the tank. m.

[KevinG]

We used to have too small a tank for our turtles and we where constantly cleaning the tank and filters. We jumped up to a 75 gallon with a nice Rena3 filter and its SOOOO much less work. In my opinion, if you can afford it and have the space, go for a much bigger tank asap and spend more time enjoying your turtles, and less time cleaning up after them.