Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 55 gallon tank that is filtered by a Rena FilStar XP3 and heated by a 200 watt EboJager heater. My tank contains 3 Red-Ear Slider babies. Two of the babies are approximately 1 and 1/4 inches and the other baby is approximately 1.5 inches. I also have 1 Southern Painted in the tank with them that is approximately 1 inch. I also keep 4 feeder fish (2 guppies and 2 rosies) in the tank for them...the feeder fish (2 guppies)have produced 4 tiny babies. My water is kept around 78 degrees. My question is...how often should I change the water/vacum the gravel and how much water should be replaced each time?

I did not plan to have 4 turtles. I only wanted 2, however, I had a bunch of problems with Arts of Nature (tried to cancel order, no replies, ordered from another store and then ended up receiving my canceled order on top of the other order from another place-LONG story!) So I know I will eventually have to find other homes for at least 2 of the Sliders. So what I'm getting at is I know ideally I should not have 4 turtles in the tank...but as for right this moment, I have no choice unfortunately. You can see my setup below...so given all the info above...what do you think about water changes and even filter media changes????? Thanks for the help!

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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

I just got an XP3 yesterday! I posted about it in the Painted turtle forum because I have a painted. I just come here because there is more activity. Anyway I would say with the filter you won't have to do water changes as often. I would try once a month and if the tank is grose before then, then sooner, or if it's still crystal clear, then less often. Anyway you prob. only have to do a 75% water change anyway. I think someone told me that they only had to change the water once a year and cleaned the filter once a month.

Ok so now I have a few questions! Can You post a bigger picture of your set up? I am trying to figure out how to get the outlet pipe to fit with my turtle dock. Will it fit under the dock? Also how on earth did you get the flexible tubing 2inches up the outlet and inlet pipes? It has taken me all day just to do one! I am about 1 1/2 inch up the second part. I think I am getting blisters on my hands! Did you end up using the power jet nozzel or the spray bar? Cause I want to use the spray bar but again don't know if it will fit with the turtle dock.
Anyway thanks for any help you can give.

Thanks for your advice on the water changes! Here are my answers to your questions...

Can You post a bigger picture of your set up?

>>>Yep, I'll do that as soon as I can for ya!

I am trying to figure out how to get the outlet pipe to fit with my turtle dock. Will it fit under the dock?

>>>Yep it will fit under the turtle dock as long as you keep the water high enough for the turtle dock to float above the outlet pipe.

Also how on earth did you get the flexible tubing 2inches up the outlet and inlet pipes? It has taken me all day just to do one! I am about 1 1/2 inch up the second part. I think I am getting blisters on my hands!

>>>LOL! I had the SAME problem! And it was annoying as all heck!! I had my brainiac husband figure out to put it under hot water to make it softer and easier to push onto the tube. I have no idea why I didn't think of that!

Did you end up using the power jet nozzel or the spray bar? Cause I want to use the spray bar but again don't know if it will fit with the turtle dock.

>>>Well, I wanted to use the spray bar too, but I couldn't get it to fit with the turtle dock. I had already cut a small hole in my screen top though, so you may be able to use the spray bar if you mess around with the setup before making any major decisions like cutting a screen top!

Good luck and sorry I didn't answer sooner!!
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Thanks for your replies! I got the tubing up far enough that when my husband came home from work and couldn't get it to budge any farther than I did (the first was at 2 inches and the second was about 1/3 of an inch away from being there). He told me it was good enough and put the clamp on lol. I do not have a top to my tank. I tried to get the spray bar to work but had to raise the water level higher than I usually have it and it still is not high enough. Since the bar would not fit under the dock I had to move it over so it's now next to the dock. Here is a pic.
home.comcast.net/~jgibson9890/XP3Filter.JPG
I'm sorry if that doesn't work then you can copy and paste it. I still have not gigured out how to post pictures here.
As you can see, the bar is next to the dock. It is as far extended as I could get it and the waterfall (because the water level was too low) was too loud so I had to raise the water to the pipe. But since some of the water evaporated or something last night one of the jets from the pipe makes a little spurt noise and it scared Binx lol. He hides on the other side of the tank. I added more water this morning but would really like to figure out how to extend the bar just a little more.
Any advice? The tank water is already higher than I would like it. I live in an apartment and I don't know how sturdy their floors are. We are on the bottom floor though so I assume I am safe. They OKed a 20 long but not a 90 lol. Anyway any suggestions or help would be wonderful. Thanks!

Oh I forgot to say that they carbon in the filter should be changed every time you clean the filter. They are really cheap online and you can even upgrade to a better kind than what comes with the filter. But I think the booklet that came with the filter says this. The sponges can be cleaned and reused but the carbon pouch can't be.
Another question, what additional media do you use. No one has answered me on the painted forum about it and I was wondering if I should add some bio-chem stars, ceramic rings, Nitra zorb or phos zorb. I was leaning toward some Nitra Zorb and maybe the stars and some rings. I figure the stars are not needed as much as some other things though since they seem to be the same as the bio-chem zorb.

It looks like you got the spray bar figured out. I think it looks just fine. I don't think there is a way to make it any longer unless you have any extra tubing left....or maybe you can purchase extra tubing to extend it. I'm not quite sure.

As for extra filter media, I use the stars. I thought that would take care of the biological filtering...but I'm no expert. All I know is what I researched online.

In the filter instructions, it says to clean the filter and its contents every 3 months. So when should we clean them...every month, 2 months, or 3 months?? Mine has been running about a month now and the water seems clear and the filter is running just fine. The only complaint I have is that a film forms on the top of the water. I don't get it because I have done about 3 or 4 partial water changes already. And, each time I have vacumed the gravel. The film started to form awhile back...soon after I just started the filter...so I don't think it is because the filter is not doing its job properly. Hmmm???
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

I got the same thing when I first set up the filter. I emptied about half the tank so I could have some working room and then wehn I filled the tank back up there was a little film on the top of the water. I got the filter running and the film made it's way over to the outlet bar and just stayed there. I had to fish it out with a net.
I have one piece of pipe left but it's an elbow so I don't know if that will work. I might just do the power jet thing and see if that's any better.
I thought the filter should be cleaned once a month but if the book says once ever three months then I would think every other month would be good. Since Turtles need better filtration than fish do and they also put out more waste, it sound about right to clean the filter once every other month. I think I read somewhere that turtles need twice the amount of filtration that fish do. So if you have a 50 gal tank then a 50 gal filter would be fine for a fish but a turtle would need a 100 gal filter. I have also heard that it should be trippled for turtles and not just doubled so I don't know. Since the XP3 does up to 175 gals I figure I am safe.

I guess it's just going to take a little time for us to figure out what is right for our tanks as for cleaning the filter, etc. It does seem that you find all kinds of different ideas when researching so the best we can do is just take it all for what it's worth and adjust it to our situations! I think the jet nozzle works fine. You can use a section that has an adjuster so you can control the force of flow out the nozzle. Do you think we need any kind of air stones or anything of that nature...I wonder if that would help cut down on the film at the surface??
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Yeah you are right. Every tank, turtle and situation is diff. so we will have to play it by ear. I have been wanting to get a bubble curtain because Binx loves playing in bubbles. The XP# filter book mentioned something about air getting into the filter through air stones though. So if you get one be sure to keep it away from the intake pipe. This morning my husband woke me up saying the filter was making a whistling noise. I got up and went to check it out and could not figure out what it was. I put more water into the tank because again the water and gone just under the outtake pipe and it was making noise. I unplugged the filter, lifted the lever, waited a sec, and then pushed the lever back down and plugged it back in. It still whistled but it was quieter. So my husband noticed that the intake tube was full of air. He got out the funnel and filled it again. The noise seemed to go away for a second but then came back. So we adjusted the water flow and that seemed to help. I can't for the life of me figure out what went wrong. I hope it did not keep Binx up all night! This filter is top of the line but all it has done is cause me alot of headaches! I hope I get the hang of it before too long. I think I will raise the dock and raise the water a little more so that the entire outlet pipe is under water except for the valve. Maybe that will solve one problem.

Oh man I wish I would have remembered to tell you this....Are you using the spray bar by chance? If you are the whistling noise is coming from it. That is another reason that I didn't use the spray bar. To fix the whistling noise, try adjusting the pressure of water flow with that little valve thing. Sorry I forgot to tell you that! Let me know if that is what it was!
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Just another reason for me to switch over to the power jet spray. I will do that today. Although we did get the whistling to stop, I don't want it to happen again.

That whistling noise is pretty annoying. I'm glad you got it figured out! I put an air stone in my tank and it cleared the surface film pretty fast...so I'm happy about that. I'll get some better pics of my setup on here later this evening.
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!