Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 200 gallon indoor turtle pond. On ocassion, it will stink up my house for a few days. Aside from a water change, which is do-able but a pain in the neck, how else can I eliminate it? Are those expensive water treatments, like "TLC" for ponds or "Turtle Clear" worth the money? I do a regularly scheduled water change once a quarter; of course, the pond is equipped with a powerful filter pump. Thanx!

The smell is natural from all the waste from the turtles. Like you said, there are treatments for it, but the ones I like(sry forgot the name) are like 2 drops per .25 gallons or something. Sometimes plants help a little, or they make the smell worse if they die and start rotting. Fish also make the smell worse, and are actually messier than the turtles sometimes.

Thanks. I keep some feeder minnows in with the sliders, but can't imagine how they are numerous and large enough to cause that much odor (no goldfish). Any way you could remember the name of the additive? I know about "Turtle Clear" and "TLC," but would love a recommendation on something that somebody knows which works!

How many turtles and how large are they? What kind of filter
do you have? Is it a submersible pond filter or cannister?
If cannister what size (how many gallons does it pump?)

Thanks, Linda

I have 4 juvenile female sliders. It is a Pondmaster submersable filter that I clean twice a month. The water actually looks pretty clear.

maybe your bacterial balance in the water is off. Remember, for clear, odor free water you need to keep the tank like an aquarium, whether you have fish in there or not. So either clean the filter or change SOME of the water, not both at the same time. When you do that, the filter has to build up a bacterial balance all over again. Scoop out any waste or uneaten food asap. Hope this helps.

This might seem hard to do ...but I never feed my turtles in their tank. I always take them out and feed them in a plastic storage bin. It gives me a chance to check them over...eyes etc. I leave them in there until all the food is gone, and then 15 min. after that. I very rarely have to do a water change, and it never smells. Can you post pictures of your pond. I would love to see it. I just put another outdoor pond in the yard. Almost finished.
Terry

I had the same setup with 160 gallon preformed pond and a
large submersible pond filter. I had two painted turtles
and 2 RES in it. I changed over 1/2 the water and cleaned
the filter about every 1 1/2 weeks. The problem I found
with the submersible filter is that it only contains a sponge
material to catch bigger waste. It keeps the water looking
clean but in reality it is not very clean. I now have
a canister filter and it works much better at actually cleaning
the water. It goes through several layers of filtration and
does a much better job. My cleanings are now about every 4-5 weeks. I think the fact that you are smelling the water means
you are not changing it enough and cleaning the filter enough.
Turtles are very dirty (much more than fish).

I would do water changes and filter cleaing much more often
with your setup to keep your turtles healthy.

Hope this helps
Linda