Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Posted by: herpfood at Sat Oct 25 19:53:04 2003 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

Hello all, a question for ya ( Oh and thanks )!
Yuck, in a few days with a few baby snappers, a few plants, fish, a snail(lol, I think one of the babies bit off an intenna), etc, a tank can look kinda gross.

So question, does anyone use that turtle waste degrader(or whatever its called). Biodegrading organic waste? I figure it would get rid of dead plant matter, and the unpleasentness of fishm snails and turtles(Aka: Feces)? Is it harmful to the turtles health??? Feedback on the stufff is aprreciated.

THANK-YOU,
herpfood

Don't you have a filtration system? A good filtration system is a must unless your going to change the water all the time. Water should ALWAYS look nice. Any dirty water is unacceptable.
GCTTS care sheets

OK, maybe I don't now how to state it. The water looks nice and clean, but at the bottom there's the dead plant matter. Thats where I'm wondering if the waste degrader could help?

herpfood

You should just do partial water changes and siphon that material out. If you are not doing 100% water changes (which with a filtration system and good cycled aquarium is unnecessary) than just syphoning up this material will do the trick and you can add back tap water with some water conditioner in it.

The products you mentioned are okay to use but if you have a cycled aquarium already then you have natural bacteria existing in the water to breakdown these materials.

"Any dirty water is unacceptable"

I have 4 baby red bellied turtles that I keep in a 20 gallon long tank with cork bark that I use for them to get out of the water. The cork bark turns the water a little brownish. Some would consider it "dirty" water. As long as you are not letting them swim around in algae infested, feces water then you are good. A regular partial water change is necessary. Be sure only to do a partial water change unless a complete water change is completely necessary. Discoloration is common but should not be allowed to go for prolonged periods of time before being cleaned. I understand you have a filtration system but depending on the size of the tank and also the size of the turtle making the mess I would recommend purchasing another filtration system and putting it on the other side. I use 2 duetto DJ 100 filters, 1 on each side of the tank. This not only keeps the water in full motion but also helps divide up the amount of cleaning each has to do on each side so you don't fill up one filter too quickly. Have fun and good luck.

Chris