Page 1 of 1

Smell

PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 10:44 pm
by NewTurtleMommy
ok, so I had posted in here:
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3865

That I was having problems with her smell.

I had put in the river rocks, the filter and all that stuff on Tuesday...

When I came home today, there was a faint smell starting again.

So, I put in some more water, which was advised in that thread, and I of course put in more Reptisafe, and some more Turtle Clean.

The water looks fine, its not nasty at all.

Trying to keep my son's room smell free is really a chore right now.

Anyone have any other suggestions at all? Im open to anything! I know that I will have to clean out the tank once a week, but we are talking two days that it starts to smell.

Thanks for any help ;)

PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 10:57 pm
by CRUSHH
Yea i have the same proplem with the smell. I have a aquaclear 110 for a 30G tank and it smells like dead fish in my room and that smell is being absoarbed into my clothes :s...

PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 11:27 pm
by missibsu
I have my tank covered, maybe that is why I don't notice the smell. I notice when I lift the lid to feed that it smells kinda fishy, but overall the whole room doesn't smell.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:17 am
by NewTurtleMommy
Well, I have a screen on it now. When I put a towel over the screen you cant smell it at all.

I dont know...

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:30 am
by steve
What kind of filter are you using? Also, have you tried feeding him his pellets in a separate container? Feeding in a separate container does work well if your turtle cooperates.

I would skip the Turtle Clean, which shouldn't be necessary for a small filter. The Reptisafe should added to the new water before its put into the tank.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 7:23 am
by sonyj
I've never had a problem with the smell. The only time that we smell anything is while cleaning the tank, but it has never effected the overall smell in the room. I think the more water in the tank should help the water quality overall and maybe will help with the smell. But until you upgrade both the tank size and filter to accommodate a growing turtle you probably will still get poor water quality no matter what you try. Remember the smaller the tank the more often it will have to be cleaned.

Re: Smell

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:43 am
by industrial_girl_2000
NewTurtleMommy wrote:ok, so I had posted in here:
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3865

That I was having problems with her smell.

I had put in the river rocks, the filter and all that stuff on Tuesday...

When I came home today, there was a faint smell starting again.

So, I put in some more water, which was advised in that thread, and I of course put in more Reptisafe, and some more Turtle Clean.

The water looks fine, its not nasty at all.

Trying to keep my son's room smell free is really a chore right now.

Anyone have any other suggestions at all? Im open to anything! I know that I will have to clean out the tank once a week, but we are talking two days that it starts to smell.

Thanks for any help ;)


Do you feed her in the tank or outside the tank? My turtle no longer smells now that I feed her in a separate bowl. I also use turtle clean waste degrader (once/week + change the filter once/week). That helps a lot too! Good luck.

Re: Smell

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:12 am
by NewTurtleMommy
industrial_girl_2000 wrote:
NewTurtleMommy wrote:ok, so I had posted in here:
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3865

That I was having problems with her smell.

I had put in the river rocks, the filter and all that stuff on Tuesday...

When I came home today, there was a faint smell starting again.

So, I put in some more water, which was advised in that thread, and I of course put in more Reptisafe, and some more Turtle Clean.

The water looks fine, its not nasty at all.

Trying to keep my son's room smell free is really a chore right now.

Anyone have any other suggestions at all? Im open to anything! I know that I will have to clean out the tank once a week, but we are talking two days that it starts to smell.

Thanks for any help ;)


Do you feed her in the tank or outside the tank? My turtle no longer smells now that I feed her in a separate bowl. I also use turtle clean waste degrader (once/week + change the filter once/week). That helps a lot too! Good luck.


I feed her in the tank! ARGH! Ok, I will start doing that.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:58 am
by marisa
I've never had a problem with an undesirable smell in any of my tanks. In fact, the goop that looks so awful that's cleaned out of the filter tubes, etc. has a surprisingly woodsy/mossy smell, which I don't find bad at all. (And to save time I usually do feed in the tank.)

How deep is the substrate you're using (the river rocks)? If you have a lot, using fewer would help keep debris/poop from collecting in them (and you can net the stuff out more easily).

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:19 pm
by cam722
I've never had a problem with any smell no matter what size tank my turtles were in.. even when I had 3 in a 20L tank. I even had a crappy filter for them back then. Now I have a 75g with an Aquaclear 110.. and no smell at all. I also feed in the tank. I don't have many rocks in the tank anymore either.. it cuts down on the cleaning time :) Does your tap water have any sort of smell to it?

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 2:55 pm
by NewTurtleMommy
cam722 wrote:I've never had a problem with any smell no matter what size tank my turtles were in.. even when I had 3 in a 20L tank. I even had a crappy filter for them back then. Now I have a 75g with an Aquaclear 110.. and no smell at all. I also feed in the tank. I don't have many rocks in the tank anymore either.. it cuts down on the cleaning time :) Does your tap water have any sort of smell to it?


See! Its strange as all hell, and the smell is just like cat pee! Its driving me insane!

I dont think that it does, but Im going to check now...

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 3:39 pm
by industrial_girl_2000
My RES is very large (11 inches), has a big appetite & her waste is very large. I got into the habit of feeding her outside the tank (in a separate container) many years ago, BEFORE they came up with waste-degrader (turtle-clean) products. I was *elated* to find these products in the last few yrs and they work very well as long as I apply it weekly when I change the filter. Key thing is that I change the filter at the same time as adding the waste degrader. I don't know if it is my imagination, but the water seems cleaner if I do both at once.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 3:44 pm
by NewTurtleMommy
industrial_girl_2000 wrote:My RES is very large (11 inches), has a big appetite & her waste is very large. I got into the habit of feeding her outside the tank (in a separate container) many years ago, BEFORE they came up with waste-degrader (turtle-clean) products. I was *elated* to find these products in the last few yrs and they work very well as long as I apply it weekly when I change the filter. Key thing is that I change the filter at the same time as adding the waste degrader. I don't know if it is my imagination, but the water seems cleaner if I do both at once.


Wow, so you are having no probs with the smell issue?
*sigh*
Well, Im gonna try the feeding outside of the tank, and see if that helps. I will definitely keep up the filter changes and Turtle Clean too.

haha too funny.