Feeding and Nutrition :: Can you review my setup?

[agengo]

I've been reading a lot and it's time to do right by my yellow bellied sliders.

They are both 3 years old. The male, Left Eye, is about 5 3/4" in shell length and my female, Houdini, is 9" in shell length.

I have a 55 gallon tank with hopes to upgrade in the future.

I run an XP3 filter system with two 30mm pads in the bottom, two 20mm pads in the bottom, 20 biochem stars in the middle and biochem zorb in the top level.

They have a floating basking platform from ZooMed that is still working pretty well, even for my weighty female. They have a UVB light and a UVA light above their basking area. Their water temp is around 78 and I keep the house around 75 because I have a free roaming iguana, Darwin.

I have been feeding them Reptomin, head size amounts since they were babies. This probably explains their quick growth. I just read you're only supposed to feed adults every other day and I am taking steps to up their leafy green intake.

So, please. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, what I need to improve upon and any suggestions on how to keep their water clear. I just did a large water change and it's come back even cloudier (greenish cast) than before. And I'm not sure my filter setup is optimal. Also, I rinse off the 30mm/20mm pads via tap water to get them clean. I'm sure there is a better way.

I love these guys and hope to keep them around for years to come.

[steve]

Well, setup-wise it's too small. If you apply the 10 gallon rule, they should be in a tank that is about 150 gallons. They probably won't grow much larger, and you can add a divider to the tank if necessary. You will need an upgrade in filter power as well. An Xp3 is fine in a 55 gallon tank but since you have large turtles, I'm not sure its as effective as it could be. I'm not fond of the Zoo Med dock, but if they use it and can completely dry off (including the plastron) then it's OK. There is pyramiding, and some retained scutes. You should carefully inspect the shells and if there is retained scutes that are slowly shedding, then you might need to do some gentle scrubbing (with diluted betadine or diluted chlorhexidine).

[Into_the_Mystic]

I have a 75 gallon with a Rena XP3 and had to use just one of the fine foam inserts in the bottom basket. It helped with the water flow. I do rinse out the pads about every 2 weeks to get all the gunk out. Your turtles do look over fed and I would suggest cutting way back on the pellet intake to every-other-day or perhaps even just two times a week. Try to give them some Koi pellets (to help shedding) as well as a few blue berries cut up once a week for awhile. Also, do you give them any cuttle bone?

[devilduck]

I also have the XP3 with the 2 course pads at the bottom and the rest of the baskets I cram with ceramic rings. From time to time I add purigen and carbon to the very top basket on top of the rings.

You have two large turtles in the tank I suggest feeding in a separate container to keep water quality up.

[agengo]

Do you think I'm using too many pads and that's why it's not keeping the water clean? It was crystal clear for weeks when I cleaned everything out and doubled the amount of foam pads in the baskets. Then the water got really cloudy all of a sudden. I did a large water change and it's just as bad as it was.

I'm going to reduce their feeding and definitely get some cuttlebones. How much of that do they need?

[Into_the_Mystic]

Take some of the foam pads out to just one of the fine one and use the two of the courser pads on top of that. As far as the cuttlebone, I give mine a few cut up (tiny) pieces per week. I buy the type for birds because it's less expensive and is the same thing as what they try to see as "turtle" cuttlebone. Just make sure you cut or break off with a knife the really hard backing. That can choke your turtle.