Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two 8 month old RES comfortably living in a 10 gallon tank. I have a Whisper 2-5 gallon filter in there right now (since the tank is partially filled), but it's not cutting it anymore. The turtles' appetites have increased (more waste). I've been having to change the filter every three days or so plus a full water change.

Does anyone have suggestions on what brand and gallon amount for filters would work better? I would prefer filter systems that Walmart might carry. Please let me know ASAP. We're going on vacation in a week or so, and I don't want the person feeding them to have to worry about the water.

Thanks,
Devin

I would first upgrade to at least a twenty gallon tank. If you don't want to spend the money you could always use a rubbermaid container. I use a tetratech 300 power filter that I am really pleased with. I also use it with three turtles who are approximatley a year. Um....what else. Oh I purchased it at petco for approximately 50 dollars and it came with a ten dollar rebate. It was well worth it for me because I really didn't have the money to buy the fluval that I wanted.

Hope it helps.

Form what I read one should get filters graded for a tank that's 3 times the size of the actual tank. And don't get a smaller one because your tank is only partially filled. The reason? Turles are messy eaters and they produce A LOT of waste! If you want to stick to Whispers, then I would suggest getting one rated for 30 gallon tanks. I have a 20 gallon tank that is filled with about 13 gallons of water. I use an Aquaclear 300, which is graded for 100 gallon tanks and pumps 300 gallons per hour. I do a partial change every 2 weeks and a complete clean-up every month. The water is clean and free of odor, if not perfectly clear. By investing in a good filter, you save a lot of time and energy.

For filter choices in case you're curious, you can check out Austin's Turtle Page or RES Oasis and click on "filters". (Type in those names in a Yahoo or Google search to pull out the websites.)