Habitat - Indoor :: Problems of a new house for my RES!

[pilechian]

Hello,

I’ve bought an aquarium for my RES. Before it I kept him in a very little vessel. Aquarium dimensions are 20x10x15 inches (13 gallons) and I have filled it with water up to the height of 7 inches (6 gallons). Also we have installed an internal filter (sonpar-wipero TC-700, max. Liter/hours of 390, max. water head of 0.75 meter, power of 6.8 WATT) and put a rock in the aquarium (when he comes to the top of the rock, he is out of the water). I have some questions:

1. Feeding: before that, because we used a little vessel my RES could just stretch his neck and eat the food. But now when we put food on the surface of the water it is very hard for him to catch them. It’s also hard for him to catch foods near the rock because they move. How should I feed him now?

2. Filtration: the filter has a plastic pipe which when is out of the water I think injects air into the water, and makes a powerful stream but when it is in the water stream is less powerful. Also I use foods which are in the form little spherical things and regarding to their size their remains are not absorbed by filter:
Should the filter work all the time or just specific hours? Should the pipe be out or in the water? Should I use less powerful filter? Is it a problem that remained foods are not absorbed by filter?

3. Water change: when my RES lived in a little vessel I changed the water twice a day but obviously I can not do that so frequently now! What is appropriate time period of changing water with the aquarium conditions that I mentioned before?

4. Smell: and at last when I keep my nose close to the water is smells so bad. Is it dangerous for my RES?

My RES size is the size of palm of a matured person (about 4 inches) and it’s more than a year that we have been keeping him.
Excuse me for this long post and thank you for your help.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Wow, 4" long turtle? Technically, your turtle would require about 10 gallons per inch of shell length in order to not feel confined (minimum 40 gallon tank, but he is only going to get bigger from here on in, so you may way to go with something closer to 75 gallon).

What brand of food are you feeding him? How much & how often are you feeding him?

1.) Sounds like he is adjusting to the larger environment. I wouldn't worry....RES's love to swim & will eventually figure out how to get the food even if they have to swim to get it. Sounds like your little guy is starting to get more of a workout & that's good for them! Keep feeding him the same way. He'll get it eventually.

2.) I am not familar with the filter you have, but I can tell you that the internal filters I have (Fluval 2 & Fluval 4plus) run 24/7. If you are concerned with the power of the filter (like if it is making the water too turbulent), there should be a control lever on it where you can turn it down a bit. Every filter I have ever had (even the small exterior waterfall style filters) have this kind of control lever.

3.) Definitely no need to change the water twice a day (like you did on your old tank). If you have a filter, you can do partial water changes once a week (or twice a week if you see that the water is starting to get cloudy). I change the charcoal in my filters every week in addition to that. I have a 20-gallon tank that gets partial water changes *at least* once a week, and the 90-gallon tank gets no partials, but gets a complete water change once a month (it's just a different environment....bigger tanks with more water tend to stay cleaner for some reason).

4.) This question concerns me but I think I know what the issue is. Again, how much are you feeding him? Do you use charcoal in your filter? How often are you changing the water? He definitely needs a bigger tank. I know it sounds strange, but a bigger tank will stay cleaner longer. Don't ask me how this works, but I noticed a HUGE difference when I upgraded my 9" RES's tank from 55 gal to a 90 gallon. The water is extremely crystal clear & stays that way in between water changes! If the tank is too small for the turtle, the waste will pollute the water REALLY fast. There was WAAAAY more tank cleaning required when I had the smaller tank. And if you have a 4" turtle in a 13 gallon tank, that would be a big reason why the tank smells bad.

Also, if you need to, you can feed your turtle in a separate pan of water instead of in the tank. I have fed my adult RES in a separate pan of water since I got her 17 yrs ago and this helps keep the water a lot cleaner.

Don't be afraid of getting a bigger tank. Cleaning a large tank is no problem nowadays because they have something called a "Python" tube which hooks right up to your faucet and when you turn the water on, it sucks the water right out of your tank (goes into your sink drain). Then when you flip the valve the other way, you can FILL your tank. NO HAULING BUCKETS!!!! Whoever invented this thing is a GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pilechian]

Dear industrial_girl_2000,
Hello

thank you a lot for your answer. I'm still reading your answer carefully to apply your advises (and may be ask you some other questions!!) but i really felt that i need firstly to thank you for your complete answer.

[pilechian]

Dear industrial_girl_2000,
Hello,

I’ve tried to answer questions you asked me in your very helpful reply:

1. About the food: Actually I don’t know what brand is the food (is it shameful?!) but these are very little round things which smell very bad. He is really interested in them and I feed him 3 times a day (6:00, 12:00 and 18:00) each time about 10-15 of those round things.

2. About changing the water: It was just yesterday when I bought that aquarium so I haven’t yet changed the water and therefore I think water should be somehow fresh yet. And also because my RES hasn’t had any waste since yesterday I guess that the bad smell must be form another source. Is it possible that it is a kind of natural smell which is bad just to us and not to RES (like those foods)? Or may be it is related to the rock or the glues which are used to fasten aquarium pieces together? I emphasize that you can just smell it when you are very close to the water. Another fact is that when I used very little vessel we didn’t have this smell problem.

3. Charcoal: Since I’m not familiar with concept of using charcoal in filters, as soon as possible I will contact the shop which sold us the filter to check if charcoal is used in the filter or not.

With apology, I have some other questions:

1. Can the separate pan be installed as a part of in the aquarium which is separated, for example, by some hence-like thing?

2. As I mentioned in my first post my filter does have a pipe which when is out of the water injects air into the water and makes it turbulent which I feel scares RES. But when it is in the water it’s not like that. Is it necessary that air is injected to the water?

Thank you very much again.

[missibsu]

What brand of filter are you using? I'm not a filter expert, but a lot of the filters use a carbon insert, and unless you know for sure that you filter doesn't have carbon, I'd guess that it does. It's probably enclosed in a pouch and you wouldn't see it unless you cut it open.

I'm not understanding what you mean about air being injected into the water...can you maybe explain that to me better?

The separate pan for feeding should be completely separate. You could fence in a spot, but it is going to cut down on swimming space, which I gather is already limited. Also, the filter will push stuff around regardless. The object is to keep the waste out of the water to begin with. A dishpan is easy enough to use. It may take your turt awhile to adjust.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Hey,

3 times a day for feeding is WAY too much. I feed my adult turtle pellets every 2nd day, but she gets green, leafy lettuce every day (don't feed the turtle white "iceberg" lettuce since it doesn't have any nutrition in it).

About the smell, is it a "chemical" smell or is it a "poop" or "rotting" smell?

About the filter, did it come in a box with instructions? I always read the instructions when I get a new filter so I know how it works & how to take it apart.

Can you post a picture of the tank setup with the filter & turtle and everything so we can help you further?