General Care Discussion :: What's the best way to clean the tank?

[Turtle, turtle!]

Okay, I posted in the introduction forum and I mentioned that I think my RES's tank is waaay too small. I'm not exactly sure of the dimensions, I'll have to measure it myself . . . Anyhoo, I want to get a bigger tank but I'm worried that cleaning it will be a problem. My father cleans the current tank by pouring out all the water, washing the rocks, gravel, etc. and putting in a fresh Fluval foam pad in the filter. The problem is that he has to lift the tank up and such, which calls for the need of strength and manual labor which is why he cleans it, not me. (I'm 15. ) I'd like to clean the tank myself, especially if I'm planning on getting a larger one (my father isn't getting any younger and after all, it is my pet), but what is the best (and not necessarily easiest, but anything other than what I'm doing now) to clean your turtle's tank?

My bad if this topic has been done a thousand times over already . . .

[cam722]

The easiest way is to get a siphon or something like a python clean & fill. You can get a waterbed filler at a hardware store which is similar to the python but it doesn't have the gravel cleaner attachment. I have a 75 gallon tank and there's no way I could clean it without the python.

I'd check online for the best prices. If you buy it locally, they can get rather expensive. You can also price match with Petsmart. If you take in a printout of their online price for something they will give you that price in their store. That has saved me a lot of money. Also, remember when cleaning the tank to NEVER use soap. You can use white vinegar and a 2% diluted bleach solution if it needs to be disinfected, but always remember to rinse the tank throughly with hot water after cleaning.

What is your current setup like? What type of filter, substrate, basking area, lighthing, heater .. etc?

[Turtle, turtle!]

A siphon/python clean and fill? Not sure what those are but I'll do an image search . . .

My current setup is fairly simplistic and inferior to the ones I've seen in this forum . . . I have a Visi Therm 25 Watt, 115 Volt heater, a small, rectangular Fluval 2 filter that uses foam pads, gravel bedding, three rocks, two of which I tried to create a basking or at least drying area which doesn't work so well and a regular, household lamp that uses one 100 Watt bulb, which isn't really for the turtle, just to give the room a bit more lighting. I used to have a basking lamp and a rock setup for a basking area but the bulbs we used to have (not sure what kind, but they were specialty bulbs for the sole purpose of basking) blew out very quickly and often and we ended up wasting 8 bucks every other week . . . So my father decided to take off the basking lamp which I wasn't very happy about. Now that I'm older I'm trying to save money for a better setup though.

And I'm not exactly sure how the big the tank is, but it seems pretty small.

[Giddy]

You don't need to wash all the rocks and gravel and doing so can really mess up your good bacteria/cycle in your tank.

Get a syphon cleaner, and use that. But, you should not have tiny gravel in your tank smaller than the turtle's head anyway. Try and find some good size ricker rock, etc to just adda few to the bottom to give them something to stand on and dig in. Then you just need to syphon and I wipe the inside walls down with a strong paper towel to get off any gunk on the glass.

If you have a good filter system = to ten gallons per hour times your tank size, that will greatly reduce the gunk that accumilates in the rock.


If you have 20 gallons of water, your GPH should be 200, 40 gallons = 400, and so on. Just times each gallons by ten.

Turtle Turtle, your father took away the basking site? That is not optional to have, you know that right? A normal household 100 or 75 watt bulb will produce enough heat and with the UVB bulb, will produce UVA as well...but they are not optional.

[lazixixi]

well I have a 20 gal. right now and I clean it in my bathtub after I take all the rocks out. It's tiring cuz afterwards I have to clean my bathtub, but it works ^_^

[daredevilgirl013]

I have a 20 gallon right now and butter bowl by butter bowl the water comes out. It took me two hours today to clean it. So you just gotta deal with it. It's just something that takes a lot of time. And usually I get the water down to about two gallons left and then I carry it outside to dump the remaining water.

[steve]

Lazixixi, I hope you're not moving the tank with the water in there. Water is deceptively heavy and it's easy to have a bad accident. If your tank is on a table or stand and you just want to remove water, you can just use a plain tube (maybe about $2 at a hardware store - it's clear and sometimes called and airline tube) and use that to siphon out water.

Daredevilgirl013, what kind of filter are you using?

[RESCHIU]

I have a small 10 gallon tank too, since it's too heavy and quite dangerous to lift the tank with that many water, I usually use like a one gallon container to scoop out water little by little(pour it out in the sink or small bucket), then when the tank just have little water left, I took it to the bathtub, dump out the rest and clean it , it's a hassle, but it's inexpensive(if you don't want to spend money on buying acquarium vaccum)safe and quite a work out and you can save your Dad some hardworks too. You have such good Dad, my Dad always threaten to step on my turtle)

[daredevilgirl013]

I have a Tetra Whsiper Power Filter for a 30-60 gallon tank.

And I agree Reschiu, it is a nice work out. Two hours of a work out in for me today!

[ellman605]

10x the recommended filter?!!?!? thats way overkill, you only need about 3x the rated output...

a 20 gallon would take a 60 gallon filter, 200 is crazy...


oh, and i just did a full tank cleaning, took me 1 and a half hours. its on a 50 gallon tank

[cam722]

10x the recommended filter?!!?!? thats way overkill, you only need about 3x the rated output...

a 20 gallon would take a 60 gallon filter, 200 is crazy...


oh, and i just did a full tank cleaning, took me 1 and a half hours. its on a 50 gallon tank

she said 10x the gph.. that's totally different than the ratings system we've discussed before.. Each filter is rated for a particular size tank but not all are created equally. There are a number of posts discussing this

[Giddy]

Different species of aquatic beings make different amounts of waste. Goldfish are filthy and require ten times the water volume of filtration.

Since turtles are much more filthier than that, it would easy for 10x the amount to be needed.

A recommendation on a box means nothing. Every brand will vary and can vary greatly.

You can have one box that says it is good for a 50 gallon tank but only turns the water over 150 gallons per hour =GPH. The next brand will say it is for a 50 gallon but will turn the water over 300GPH.

If you have a 20 gallon tank and are told to buy a filter designed for a 60 gallon, that still may not be adequate. Many filters are only designed witha 2-3 turnover rate...which would mean you would have 180GPH.

Plus, you add filter intake, filter media, etc and that lowers it even more. Top that off with where the intake tube is placed, and that will also make the difference.....more power, the better.

The only true way of knowing how much filtration you have is going by the GPH on the box. That is the TRUE power of the filter.

[sublime1008]

The easiest way to clean the tank? Get a bigger one and a canister filter. Those under water filters dont do the tank justice. Once you get the bigger tank, go to www.bigalsonline.com and get a canister filter and a python. Then u can clean the tank urself.

[Huitzlopocti]

heres a link to a pic of the system i use, an extension whould be nice hehehe

this item is rather easy to find in most well stocked pet stores.

http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/product ... pcid1=1971

[cam722]

heres a link to a pic of the system i use, an extension whould be nice hehehe

this item is rather easy to find in most well stocked pet stores.

http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/product ... pcid1=1971

Many of us use the Python Clean and Fill.. there are also a few posts on how to make one from waterbed fillers somewhere on the site.