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 #1812880


Dark knight
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 Odor?

Hi guys my turtle tank stinks! the water seems clear but the smell is awful. What can I do (if anything) to reduce/remove the odor?
07/29/08  05:24pm

 #1813073


Angelkitty
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   Message To: Dark knight   In reference to Message Id: 1812880


 Odor?

Well I had this problem when I started my fbt tank and this is what I did. I have submersible fluvals and I to put carbon filter in my regular filter in between the white filter pieces so it kinda looks like a sandwich. The crabon filters out the smell and it worked for my tank. I know turtles are a lot more messy but it’s worth a try.
Angel



07/29/08  08:10pm

 #1814125


JackAsp
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   Message To: Angelkitty   In reference to Message Id: 1813073


 Odor?

1. An absolutely ridiculous amount of filtration. Mine’s swimming area is only 48X18X16, about 60 gallons, but he not only has a surface filter hung to the side that’s good for 60 gallons (that one has both a charcoal bag and a bio-sponge) but also a pond filter that’s good for 500 gallons. Some people laugh at this as extreme overkill, but with that much filtration I NEVER actually "have" to change the water out. The little bit that gets done every day as part of the feeding routine (I"ll get to that in a minute) is apparently more than enough. Not only does the water never smell, but I use those stick-on testing strips for PH and NH3, and the ammonia level has never said anything except "safe" since I got the pond filter.

2. Feeding in a seperate container. I’m pretty sure with all that filtration I could feed my 4.5 inch turtle in his own tank if I wanted to, but I’d probably have to change more water if I did.

3. Partial water changes, very often. Depending on how the other factors fall together, that could mean a little bit or a lot, every day or every few weeks. What I do is scoop about four gallons a day into a five gallon bucket, then feed him in there. While he’s eating, I top off the tank, then put him back, then pour the dirty stuff out. That’s it. Even when I feed him seafood, there is no tank smell, although I can’t say the same for the bucket water.

4. Take it easy giving him fish, because even if he eats it outside the tank, it will still come out the other end stinky. I’ve got a system down now where even that isn’t a problem any more, but back when my filtration was not quite as good I did notice that seafood-pee stank up the water a lot more than other types of pee did.

5. If algae starts to grow (anywhere except on the basking area, because you need one area to be dry, not slimy) leave it. It eats the same things that odor-producing bacteria eat. Plus, most of the problem micro-organisms are anaerobic, and oxygenating the water slows down their growth. Keeping the whole tank well-lit during the day, instead of just having one bright spot over the basking area, will help. If all you’ve got is a spotlight at one end, but you’ve got an old striplight from a 5 or 10 gallon tank, put that striplight over the darker half and odds are ven if it’s microscopic you’ll start to get significantly more algae in you water. Incidentally, if you don’t overfill your water so that it keeps lapping onto the dry area, and you don’t top off the tank water by pouring it over the basking spot, you probably won’t have trouble with algae on land.

6. Give him room. The more water there is, the longer it will take to get nasty. Big fsh tank, stock tank, large storage bin with the top reinforced by bungee cords or strategially notched 2X4s, plastic garden pond, it really doesn’t matter what the water is in. But you can stink up a toilet a lot faster than you can stink up a lake.

7. Find out what PH is correct for your turtle. If you’ve got a species that likes acidic water, use that to your advantage. Put one of those suction-cup testing strips on the side and start playing around with lowering the number. Don’t make it gratuitously acidic to an extent beyond what is actually suggested for your turtle, but if your tap water is 8, and the suggested number for him is 7, then go ahead and take it down a notch. Bacteria hate acid.

8. Use water primer. They actually sell bottles of filter bacteria, so if you’re starting with a fresh batch of water you can give the good microorganisms a head-start. Remember not to put it straight into tap water though. Either use dechlorinator or wait until it’s been in there for a day. Throwing live water plants in there is good too, and since they don’t rot and stink when wet the way most foods do that’s a definite beneficial exception to the feeding bucket idea.

9. When rinsing out filter sponges, use a little bucket of tank water to do it in and then throw that water out. As mentioned in #8, chlorine kills filter bacteria, so don’t just rinse it in the sink. The sink will remove more than just dirt.

10. Avoid hard-to-clean crevices. One tall brick is better than a whole pile of small ones, for example. Let’s face it, pretty much NOBODY takes every single rock out of their turtle tank on a regular basis and scrubs it. So avoid small, poorly oxygenated spots. Plus, if it ever DOES get stinky or slimy for some reason, fewer pieces are easier to clean than more pieces. Also, avoid things like wood and certain plastic textures. Rule of thumb: if it SEEMS too hard to clean, it is.
07/30/08  09:36pm

 #1814947


Cinderellawkids
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 1814125


 Odor?

WIth my 200 gallon indoor pond it smells worse when going through the beginning stage of growing helpful bacteria. The amonia stage smells the worst, I do small water changes until its past that stage and then just do a 50% water change once a month.

Also, lots of filtration and water movement
07/31/08  04:16pm


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