General Care Discussion :: submersible filter orientation and location

[Maplesaurus]

Hey all I just upgraded my turtles from a 3 gallon tank to a 10 Gallon tank it is a fairly standard 10 Gallon rectangular tank and what was wondering is I got with it a Zoo-Med Turtle Clean Filter 318. I put it in yesterday and today the water is already getting quite cloudy the filter is on (low flow) and I was wondering if anyone could give suggestions for the best positioning for the pump. (High / Low positioning) and what side? also what flow strength

[worldpeace]

I'm going to guess, from the size of your tank, that your turtles are still babies. In this case I would recommend to leave the flow on low so you don't make it difficult for the turtles to swim. It can also depend on the type of filter: if the flow on high is not that powerful you can choose that one too. From my experience I would recommend to keep it on low or medium though, I always did this when my turtles were still small.

By the way, the cloudiness in the water is because the tank is going through the process of cycling, so don't worry about it. Although this process does seem to take longer in a smaller tank, it should clear out in a few days.

[mikee]

Ma-rus - It sounds like to me you have a very small tank for turtles. A 10 gallon tank will support one, one inch turtle which will not be one inch for long. I would suggest that you save yourself some trouble and get a much larger tank. If you don't you will find yourself, "up buying" a tank every few months to keep up with it's growth. Ten gallons per inch of turtle is required. Good Luck!

[Maplesaurus]

Yeah the 10 gallon is a temp home my wife and I will be moving cross country in 10 weeks didn't want to move a gigantic aquarium.

[Zepher30]

There isn't many people that follow the 10 gal per 1 inch of shell rule...

Personally I think it's a bunch of... 'Garbage'

[marisa]

True, some people don't follow the 10 gallons per inch of shell guideline. Some people (like me) try to go even bigger.

You can call it what you will (you're free to do that, of course.)

The guideline is just that---a way to give someone an idea of an acceptable size enclosure for their turtle(s). People can decide to follow it or not.

[untsmurf]

Turtles are very resilient creatures, so using a ten gallon for one or two hatchlings for a few months should be fine. Just keep in mind that because the tank is so small, you'll have to spot clean every day and test the water often to make sure everything is in the safe range. The cloudiness is the tank cycling, like worldpeace said. It should clear up in a short while.

Also, it's been my experience that getting the outflow of the filter as close to the bottom as possible seems to keep the tank the cleanest. That is where the debris collects, so having something to push the debris up into the filter should work best. Also, if the outflow is towards the bottom of the tank, it should have a minimal effect on the turtles' swimming. When my turtle was a hatchling, he swam in front of the outflow all day, he seemed to enjoy being pushed around by it.

While the ten gallon per inch guideline is a recommendation, following it does help to reduce a lot of problems that commonly occur with turtle keeping. It also makes keeping turtles easier, as you don't need to change your water as often. And there are quite a few people, Marisa and myself included, that go above and beyond the guideline.