General Care Discussion :: Cleaning the tank?

[missibsu]

Depending on your tank size and type of filter, plus the number of turtles, will dictate how often a full tank cleaning needs to be done.

I have a 75 gallon tank with two turtles and an xp3 filter. It gets a partial water change every couple of weeks and a full tank cleaning once every month to a month and a half.

Also, if you feed out of the tank, you can probably go even longer between cleanings.

[Danny]

I was wondering if anyone has ever used the Wipe Out terranium cleaner and was wondering if that was safe to use to clean the turtles tank out with. Also the new Wipe Out 4 foaming hand sanitizer is suppose to clean as well as alcohol based sanitizers, without removing natural oils. http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.asp? ... tegory=217 if you want to check it out...

[marisa]

Have seen it, never used it. Cleaning with diluted white vinegar is safe and works well.

[CountryGirl68]

The Wipe Out foaming hand sanitizer is for cleaning your hands after handling turlte/turtle stuff - NOT for cleaning the tank. Wasn't sure if you understood that.

[Danny]

Heheh yup I know the foaming hand sanitizer is for the hands, that was just added info I felt like sharing :p, but was also wondering about the wipe out cleaner as well. But for cleaning the tank do you all just get like a bucket and wipe down the tank or do you fill it with the vinegar solution? I filled it with vinegar solution, but found it to be rather time consuming since I just left it overnight to soak before i washed it out for use again.

[CountryGirl68]

I just got my turtle but have had fish for several years. I've only had to do a full thorough cleaning like what you're talking about once and that was because my fish tank developed worms. Other than that, regular water changes and a simple wipe down with paper towels after emptying most of the water works well.

Check to see what chemicals are in the tank wipe out cleaner since I've seen that mainly for non-water tanks (like for lizards).

If you use vinegar or even peroxide to clean the tank, you have to be sure to rinse it very well before putting water back in. I would only do that type of cleaning if the tank became very dirty and the water started to smell. If you do regular maintenance on it, you shouldn't have to do such a huge cleaning. If you choose to do a full tank cleaning like that (others here do it about once a month), I don't think it's necessary to let it sit for a day.

[SpotsMama]

I was putting about 1/2 cup bleach in my 55 gallon tank full of dirty turtle water - with the turtle out of it, of course. Then I'd syphon it out, fill it again with fresh water, syphon it out again etc until I'd run at least 3 tank fulls of clean water through the tank, then I'd fill it again for the final time. By the time I'd finished the bleach smell was completely gone. The whole process would take an hour or a little more.

Besides using up a lot of water, how does that sound?

[Danny]

Sounds Great! Thanks for all the info everyone, plus I just recently got the tank set up and I think they're still getting use to it, but enjoying the space much more! I'll try to put up some pics of it soon.