General Care Discussion :: Need advice on cloudy water please

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:03 pm   Need advice on cloudy water please

Hey all, so glad found this board and learning a lots about RES.

Now I'm having a cloudy(milky) water issue going on with my tank, and asking for some advice to improve it. Thanks all in advance :D

I'm recently adopted a female RES, almost 14cm, and a very basic tank setup detailed below:

Tank size:
120(w) x 45(h) x 45(d) cm, glass basking(ramp) in-tank, so I fill the water about 30cm in the tank. in total about 150L water in tank.

Canister filter:
Reptile One 1250-R

Top tray:
White fine Sponge/Sponge (black 35ppi)

Mid tray:
Sponge (blue 15ppi)/Ceramic noodles/Active carbon(in a net bag)

Bottom tray:
Sponge (blue 15ppi)/Ceramic noodles/Purigen (100ml)

Canister container bottom:
1 layer filled with bioballs (around 100)

Tunze nanostream 6020 powerhead
1 200w glass heater

A river stone/A driftwood (boiled before put in the tank)
Silica sand as substrate (rinsed well before put in the tank)
No plant or other decos

and of course a heat lamp + uvb

My tank setup for a couple of weeks now (with turtle inside), I do 10 - 25 % water change everyday (decided to do this after I've done a bit research regarding water change during water cycling), while use Prime as instructed.
Feed her turtle food once every afternoon, not overfeeding her.

Initially the water turned into cloudy, I thought the tank was cycling, and I know it takes time to finish the cycling.

I was expecting doing regular water change in small amount would improve the cloudy (or the cycling process), however, I'm now slightly confused that if the water is actually CYCLING?? or something else is making the water cloudy, rater than bacterial bloom during cycling. Since the cloudiness seems similar to me everyday...

I do smell the water (if I put my nose close enough inside the tank), I'm not sure if it smells like ammonia, but definitely doesn't smell like rotten egg, just like normal smell from water creatures.

Here's the photo while looking from the side of my tank.

turtle-tank.jpg
Side view


So if anyone can kindly advise me what is actually happening to the tank? If it's still cycling? and what should I do for next step?

Thanks heaps!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Freakfish
 
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Gender: Male

Post Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:42 pm   Re: Need advice on cloudy water please

Welcome to the site! I think it might be a bit cycling and some tannins. As for next steps, I would just keep doing what you’re doing.
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:50 pm   Re: Need advice on cloudy water please

steve wrote:Welcome to the site! I think it might be a bit cycling and some tannins. As for next steps, I would just keep doing what you’re doing.


Thanks Steve!

I'm going to purchase a test kit this weekend to start measuring water quality. =)
Freakfish
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Apr 18, 2018
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:57 pm   Re: Need advice on cloudy water please

How does the rest of the tank look? How’s your girl adjusting? I don’t have access to a computer right now (or a good internet connection) so I can’t completely go over the details you posted. I will try as soon as I can.
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steve
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