DCSlider wrote:We've had our female RES (even though we call her a "he" because we didn't know the gender for awhile) since Christmas 2005. What started as an impulse buy by my then-girlfriend -- now wife -- has turned into Indie, a happy turtle who inhabits a 35-gallon tank.
But lately things have been difficult. We moved into a new apartment in March, and keeping the water clean has been a struggle ever since. At our old place, the tank didn't receive much exposure to natural light and, so long as we kept to our cleaning schedule, the water would remain crystal clear for weeks on end. But since we've moved, I can't remember the last time the water was totally clear. The tank is exposed to a good deal more sunlight than before and I don't think the temperature in our apartment is as stable (we live in a much older building than before).
Lately, the problem has gotten worse. There's an ammonia smell coming from the tank and so far I haven't been able to get rid of it. I changed 90 percent of the water, added new carbon to the Fluval 205 filter ahead of schedule, and also cleaned excess gunk off the sponges and replaced his polishing pad. Nothing seems to be working.
Honestly, lately we've been wondering of whether we're still up to this task. Our apartment can't accommodate a bigger tank and, since we got a dog, it's been hard to give Indie the attention s/he deserves. The smell is getting to the point where we'd be embarrassed to have people over. I've given thought to trying to find Indie a more appropriate owner in the DC area, but I'm just not ready to give up on this yet.
Does anyone have any solutions for these problems? I hate to see our turtle living in these conditions.
mikee wrote:V Cary - I would suggest that you get a larger filter pump for your tank. You need to check the gph. It should pump at least 5 time the volumn of your tank. Your pet store may want to size you next pump by tank size and not gph. Sizing you filter by tank size is for fish and not turtles. Turtles poop a lot more than fish and require more water circulation and filtration. Good Luck!
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