Does anyone have any advice for killing alge in my Turtle tank??

Question

I have 2 turtles about 2 inches wide and a 30 gallon tank. I used to have 1 turtle about the same size and never had any trouble keeping the tank clean. Now I'll clean the tank and 2 days later it looks like I haven't touched it in months. I understand that there is more waste with two turtles but I never thought it would be like this... I have a really nice filter, a light, a basking dock and turtle rocks on the bottom but all of a sudden there is bright green stuff all over everything and the water gets so murky you can't even see through it!! Does anyone know of and products or animals that I could put in there to slow down this process?? I love turtles but this is getting insaine taking the entire tank apart and cleaning everything every other day... Thanks!

Answer 1

Algae needs two things to survive - nutrients and light. About all you can do to control nutriets is to do water changes ( a filter can help remove particles from the water, but the water still passes through the filter and as the larger particles decompose, they release ammonia, which is converted to nitrite, then nitrate by bacteria. Nitrate is a plant and algae fertilizer. You might increase the frequency of water changes, or the amount you change to try to reduce the nitrates to a more manageable level. If you take a sample of your water to a pet store, they can test the water and let you know if the amount you have is a problem. You might also take a sample of your tap water, since some water supplies also contain nitrate and phosphate (another fertilizer!).

For fish tank, controlling lighting is easy - just keep them off. But with a turtle, I assume you're using it for a basking spot. You might see if you can reposition the light so it doesn't hit the water, only the land area. Ot get some floating aquatic plants - these can help on two fronts - they compete with the algae for nutrients and shade the lower parts of the tank so algae doesn't get as much light. If you use a plant like anacaric/elodea/egeria, these are edible and your turtle may even nibble at them. Just clean them well before you put them in the tank so you don't get an unexpected snail population boom.

Before trying either of these, try reducing the amount of algae in the tank by soaking everything in the tank (except the filter pads if they are foam) in a 5% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 19 of water) to kill existing algae. Just rinse several times to remove the bleach before putting your turtle back in. (This process is safe, and the only way you can be sure to kill any spores as well as actively growing algae - I've done this with turtle, salamander, and fish tanks between uses.) With very little algae to start, it won't be able to reproduce as quickly.

Also, be sure you aren't overfeeding your turtles - extra food = extra nutrients = extra algae growth!


You may also want to take a soft brush to your turtles' shells to make sure there isn't algae growing on them before you put them back into the tank.

Answer 2

just take them out and scrub it