Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to softshells and would like to know how I may clean the aquarium if I have a sand substrate? Any help would be appreciated.

If you're talking about cleaning the substrate itself , sand dont trap much waste as pebbles do ... u can try skimming the top of the sand (about an inch:just enough suction to lift the dirt) with a gravel cleaner.

If ure in one of those "productive" moods ... u can take out the sand .. pour it into a container ... and wash it under running water till the water in the container turns clear. U can clean the tank while ure at it.

If ure in one of those "really really productive moods". U can use the above method plus pour boiling water to sterilize it ... drain it ... then bake the sand to dry .

hussman''s suggestions are good
if you want to be a a productibve mood maybe once and then not for a long time i'd suggest the following
sand doesn't trap much dirt but it doea provide space for a vbacterial colonization
normally i am opposed to planning elbaorate schemes for bio filtration for turtles since most make more waste than can be handled by the amount of bacteria you are likely to propagate in a small tank and its filter but if yo have abig tank you migt try this,

in a 135 gallon i have i did the following
i got undergravel filter plates for the bottom
i covered them with a large "pillowcase" made of nylon panty hose and fine mesh
i covered it with 2 inches of large gravel
i inserted itne filter tubes
i covered the gravel with about 4 and a half inches of clean aquariyum sand/playsand mix
i got two penguin powergeads with REVERSE flow attachmenst and installed them
i added a big power filter
the result is water being fored UNDER the filter plates and a long period of low nitrate and ammonia acounts has followed
the water is changed only partially very week
and total chnages are never needed
it houses two 5 inch softies
the sand is never cleaned and it hold little dirt as i can see when its disturbed.
it was necessary to cover the intake tube to the power filter with pantyhose as well for the first few moths as the burrowing turtles disturbed lots of the small free floating dsand
but after many partial water changed (stir up the water BEFORE you do them to get the light particles) most of the sand never rises higher than an inch ot two from the bottom when they disturb it
and i was able to remove the pantyhose and my filter never clogs

sand is good for softies
they do use it
you should try to implement some system so that they can burrow and still have clean water
it helps if the sand layer is deep as you can then add more water to the tank and have the depth of water still low
this will reduce the frequency of water changes and will allow for easier temperature control
with sand
expect to siphon lots of it out thew first twevel or so water changes as the small light partciles will float around
after that its usually "clean" and most will stay at the bottom and not cloud the tank