Habitat - Indoor :: Substrate cleaning question...

[MoreBloodWine]

Ok, so while I have done all the reading for the most part and already knew this I didn't come to the realization that turtles are damn messy eaters until today lol. So here lies the question... How often do you clean your substrate ? By that I mean like how often do you go in and either scoop or vacuum the debris (un-eaten food / feces) from your tanks floor ?

I was thinking every day just to get into the habbit of it but then was thinking I could get away with doing it like every other day.

[Chrisbarnett]

My filter does that work for me.

when i do water changes sometimes i bother with cleaning stuff off the bottom, not usually though.

[MoreBloodWine]

Even with a good filter your (not you specifically) still gonna have stuff on the bottom be it un-eaten food or whatever.

[Chrisbarnett]

not really.

I feed squirt what he can eat, and he cleans it all up.

He poops, it hangs around for a while, then makes its way to the filter and away it goes.

right now looking at my tank there is nothing on the bottom except a little piece of poop making its way over to the intake. not worth scooping out.

[MoreBloodWine]

Well I guess with the hatching I have he/she hasnt thought of hey maybe i should go feed on leftovers from the bottom. I to feed what he/she can eat about twice a day. I feed either Reptomin sticks or Mazouri (sp?).

Edit: Forgot to add... as far as filters go what I have now isnt so hot. But I did buy a new one that should be here by Sat. But I'm replacing this with this which is by far a better filter as far as GPH and media goes.

[Daniel3507]

sounds like your feeding too much. ive never had a problem with un eaten food on the substrate. the only thing thats ever there is poop and it eventually gets filtered out. you should only be feeding however much would fit into their head once a day.

[mat012]

I agree with Daniel. How big is your turtle? Ideally you would feed a small turtle (under four inches) as much as will "fit" in the size of the head. For small turtles that is generally about 5 or fewer reptomin pellets depending on the turtles size. Turtles over four inches should eat that amount every other day - or half that amount every day. Supplement with veggies like red leaf lettuce, etc. every other day as well.

My fella is messy with the veggies and I will scoop them out on occasion. But I also have some fish in the tank and they eat up after the turtle so there is little mess.

Over feeding though could cause a good deal more waste (both food and poop). Not only will that seriously harm the turtle (in the log run) but in the short run it will reduce the quality of the water making it more likely that parasites and and other unwanted bacteria will grow. You sound though like you are good about keeping up with water maintenance, so the bigger concern is the turtles health.

Some folks also feed outside the tank. They put the turtle in a container with water and feed there. That way the poop and food dont mess up the tank.

[spaceapple]

I have the not-so-great Reptofilter, which does pretty much nothing for keeping the substrate clean. I clean it with my siphon twice a week (once during a full water change). Every other day is going to be a bit much; I think you'd get tired of that pretty fast!

[MoreBloodWine]

sounds like your feeding too much. ive never had a problem with un eaten food on the substrate. the only thing thats ever there is poop and it eventually gets filtered out. you should only be feeding however much would fit into their head once a day.

I'm sorry, I know I'm new to this but people who automatically jump to sounds like your feeding to much reallllllllllllllllly irk me. I might be new to turtles but I'm not stupid.

Edit: So because the turtle I have doesnt think hey maybe I should go get food from the bottom that I missed or because my filter isnt so hot in the sucking up dept I'm feeding to much. Yup sounds like thats the problem alright.

[Daniel3507]

people here are just trying to help. it nothing personal. and if you feed however much it can eat twice a day it sounds like its too much

[MoreBloodWine]

people here are just trying to help. it nothing personal. and if you feed however much it can eat twice a day it sounds like its too much

Dont get me wrong I appreciate the help and always will,I just dont like it when people jump to things without considerign literally every possibility. As for feeding twice a day, I only do that because in SEVERAL posts here I've read that people should feed the juveniles twice a day sometimes three... in my case I do it twice, once on the moring and the other at night before lgihts out.

[MoreBloodWine]

Lets also for a minute asssume I was feeding just once a day the crappy azz fluval 2+ I have really doesnt "suck" all that much. Especially not enough to grab all the food that falls to the bottom of the tank. Thats one of the other reason why I am upgrading to the newers filter in addition to the added media storage which should give me better water quality.

[Daniel3507]

we dont know how you take care of your turtles so thinking of every possibility is almost impossible. over feeding is a common problem which is why people remind others of it.

feeding a couple times a day is fine. just be sure that you only feed half a head size each time though.

[MoreBloodWine]

we dont know how you take care of your turtles so thinking of every possibility is almost impossible. over feeding is a common problem which is why people remind others of it.

feeding a couple times a day is fine. just be sure that you only feed half a head size each time though.

So one full empty head a day or multiple times a day so long as it doesnt go over a head full ?

Also, how does veggies and fruit fit into that... cant that count as over feeding if your giving it in addition to either the mazouri or reptomin sticks.

[Daniel3507]

you got it.

veggies i would go with a shell size a day. fruits though should only be a once a month treat because of the sugar content.