My turtle's tank keeps getting dirty really fast, any way to prevent his?

Question

I have a beleive a 10 gallon tank for my 1.5 year old turtle, and after I clean it, in about a week it'll be cloudy and dirty again with a lot of feasies at the bottom of the tank. I use this waste degrader, but clearly, it is not working. I have a working filter and stuff and I clean that too. So I don't know what to do, it never used to be like this.

I will be more then happy to provide anyone with more information if they need it, thanks.

Answer 1

A 10 gallon tank is really too small for most if not all 1.5 year old turtles. That is why it is getting dirty so quickly after you clean it.

Answer 2

ignore ferritfreak a turtle can be a great pet and never release a captive bred animal into the wild it more than likely will not survive. first upgrade your tank. then make sure you have at least a 5-15gal filter that uses charcoal in the filter itself. keep food away from the water so it cannot contaminate the water. I use gold fish to help clean the water but someone mentioned snails. they will certainly keep the sides clean. I have 3 chinese water dragons in a 60g tank with 4 inches of water at the bottom 2/3rd of the tank is gravel and plants the water is actually all across with the gravel sitting in the water and about 3 1/2 inches above the water. so ther is probably 8 or 9 gal of water to filter. the setup is not much different than some turtle tanks I have seen. turtles tend to dig alot and disturb the gravel so it might be good to turn the filter pump off remove the filter piece itself leaving the pump disturb the gravel really good and have a few milk cartons of water available really get the gravel stired up. now turn your filter pump and pump the nasty water into a cake pan as you pour the new water in along the gravel. once you have basically swapped the water out with new put your filter back into the pump let it filter for about 30 min then remove the filter and wash it out to get the large particles out. put it back in and put your turtles back into the tank. this should last for about 3 months. I am guessing because I don't think water dragons are quite as dirty as turtles. try the goldfish to help they will recycle the turtle poo for you and break it down even further.

Answer 3

This is what I do, since I only clean the tank 2x a month. I turn off the filter (my turtles are only 3 months old so they can't swim fast enough to grab the food) and since they are messy eaters, I use a small net and fish out the little bits and pieces of pellet or poop. I just use a circular motion over and over until all the things on the bottom float up and then catch it with the net. This is easier if you have the filter off too. I also use these drops that make the water super clear, but my turtles are sensitive to that, so I only use a little bit and every once in awhile.

Answer 4

Firstly how big is your turtle? Is the turtle too large for the tank? You may want to consider upgrading your tank to a larger size (go long vs. high) Best to take into consideration how large your turtle will be when it is fully grown. This will allow you to purchase a tank that is suited for your soon to be fully grown turtle. With this type of approach you get the right sized tank straight away. It will prevent you from having to upgrade to larger tanks over the years to accommodate your growing turtle. A small tank that houses a small to mid-sized turtle (4 inches to 9 inches) can get very dirty very quickly. Understand that turtles can be quite messy. Instead of feeding your turtle in its tank, consider feeding it in a separate smaller tank. That way as the turtle feeds, it will not soil its living quarters with food particles. After the turtle feeds, all you need to do is dump off the water or substrate from the feeding tank. We use a Fluval submersible water filter for our water turtles. The filtration system is adequate. We also change the turtles tank water quite frequently. Also we do not use stones or a rock gravel substrate in our aquatic turtles tank. The gravel acts like a magnet for feces and algae. The tank is much easier to maintain with out the gravel. We instead offer basking platforms and large rocks for the turtles to climb and explore.

Answer 5

How big is your turtle? A 1.5 year old turtle needs much much larger tank, no wonder it gets dirty so fast. I suggest upgrading to a porper size aquarium for your turtle. They usually need about 75 - 100 gallons when they get full grown. some people even use wading pools.

Answer 6

I read that it might be a good idea to have a seperate tank for feeding. Like a suitable rubbermaid container or something. Usually turtles go to the bathroom while or shortly after they eat. so if you leave it there for a short time after its done eating. it will probably poop and then you wont have to worry about the mess in its regular tank.

Answer 7

I have a terripine and it's way more terrible than a turtle. I have a 2.5 year old terripine. Since it's about 4.5 inches broad it's because I only feed it 4 times a week, twice a day.
That really helped the cleaning part.
I only have to clean it once a week. ^_^

Answer 8

um a fislter duh!
and turtles are not ment 2 be kept as pets.
its very cruel.
but do what u wanna do.
make sure u have 2 or 3 filters so ur turtle dosent live in its own filth every day.
they can get sick and die like that.
feed him daily as much as he wants.
make sure he has a big swimming area a 10 gallon tank dosent seem like alot of room 2 swim and sun bask.
get a bigger tank like 50 gallon and fill it half way so he can swim and pute rox at the bottom then make sure he has a basking rock and a heat lamp.
from the sounds of ir u should really release it since u cant take proper care of it.

Answer 9

I'm not sure if they would work in a turtle tank, as they do in fish tanks, but from what I've seen, and read, go with the natural method - Snails.

Answer 10

I clean my turtle's tank once a week.