Habitat - Indoor :: Turtle Tank Help Needed

[fb1417]

We recently bought a new setup for our turtles. We purchased a 75 gallon tank and fill it up roughly halfway. We have the Fluval 405 cannister filter as well. Everything was going fine, until the water started having a green tint. We tried different types of chemicals to clear up the water and remove waste but it didn't work. So I decided to start all over again. I siphoned out all the water and cleaned the filter. The tank looked good for about two weeks and now the water is starting to look green again. I've tried numerous ways of fixing this but nothing seems to be working. I tried using chemicals, not using chemicals, turning the lights off, etc, etc.

Does anyone have any other suggestions??

Thanks in advance,

Frank

[papoopeepoo]

Is your tank located anywhere near a window? The green water is most likely water-borne algae. It is really nothing to worry about unless you going for a crystal-clear-water look. Algae is completely harmless towards your turtles.

I control my algae with a refugium, but there are algae-killing chemicals for freshwater out there.

[fb1417]

Yes the tank is located near a window. That could be the problem. I will definitely look into some algae-killing chemicals.

Thanks a lot!

[Washu]

I am worried about that happening to my tank. It is going to be set up about 4 feet away from a sliding glass door. Would putting up a background on the side facing the window help prevent algae problems? I would rather not put a bunch of chemicals in the tank.

[Caphits]

Chemicals are never good...

I think it would be best if like said above, got a background, or put blinds on the windows.

[jozzep]

How about if you just move the tank to a place where it doesn't get direct sunlight?
Unless this option isn't possible of course.

[SpenceMasta]

you can add your own live plants to compete with algae growth, most turtles like to tear them up but it could depend on your turtle and there are free floating plants that dont need to be rooted

[seanwb]

I am worried about that happening to my tank. It is going to be set up about 4 feet away from a sliding glass door. Would putting up a background on the side facing the window help prevent algae problems? I would rather not put a bunch of chemicals in the tank.

Preventing the sunlight entering the water will help.

Agree with you on the chemicals

[fb1417]

For those who recommended algae killing chemicals:

Which chemicals do you use for your turtles? I talked to a couple pet stores today who sell algae killing chemicals, but they do not recommend them for turtles because the labels do not say turtle safe.

They also provided me with the same advice as fellow site members about reducing sun light and the amount of time their lights are on. She also mentioned taking out some water weekly and adding in fresh water.

[papoopeepoo]

For those who recommended algae killing chemicals:

Which chemicals do you use for your turtles? I talked to a couple pet stores today who sell algae killing chemicals, but they do not recommend them for turtles because the labels do not say turtle safe.

They also provided me with the same advice as fellow site members about reducing sun light and the amount of time their lights are on. She also mentioned taking out some water weekly and adding in fresh water.

I've had friends use AlgaeFix, and their turtles were, and are to this day, just fine. I haven't yet used it in my tank, because I've had such great success with having live plants and snails take over my 10-gallon sump.

There are more conventional ways of reducing algae. One is reducing light that reaches the tank. Sunlight is the biggest culprit, so a background on your tank and on the side facing the closest window helps greatly. Second, if you have supplemental lighting on your tank for appearance, it may help to remove that. Third, Weekly 20% water changes also help over a period of time. This helps to reduce the concentration of floating algae by replacing old water with freshwater. Be careful not to replace much more than 20% of the water at once, this may kill many of the established beneficial bacteria that have established themselves in your filter. Finally, increasing water movement within your tank can keep algae from being able to establish itself. This can be done with powerheads, or a small internal filter.

Whenever doing water changes, make sure the water you're pouring into your tank is as pure as possible. This can be done by letting the tap water sit for 24 hours to let chlorine and other chemicals evaporate, or you can use one of the various water treatment chemicals (such as ReptiSafe).