Turtle Smell!! How do I get rid of it?

[zeke]

I have 2 RES, they are houesd in a 55 gal tank, about half full, I have two filters for the tank one on each end, and I clean and add water regularly. But it stinks like WHOA! I was wondering if anyone has any tips to help get rid of the smell.. thank you in advance

Cheers

[mainbutter]

Get rid of the turtles?

To be honest, turtles are just dirty. The only real way to easily lessen turtle smell is to dilute it.. bigger enclosure for them with lots of water changes and lots of filtering.. You may not have the space for one, but have you looked into any indoor ponds for them?

[blackcrystal22]

What kind of filters are you using?
Are you cleaning off the basking spots regularly?

[zeke]

thats what I thought, my lil one is not gonna like it.. I wish I had room for and indoor setup that be nice, but I dont..


once filter is a sting ray, the other is a In tank power filter..
the water level is not high enough to use one of the larger filters that hook on to the back of the tank.

[XSReptiles]

How large are the sliders? Common recommendation is 10 gallons of water per 1 inch of turtle. A 50 gallon filled completely is sufficent for 2 sliders up to about 4''. Any larger and you'll run into issues with keeping the enclosure clean minus extra large filters, weekly 50% or more water changes with gravel cleaning. What type of power filters are you using? The string ray looks like a load of junk from checking it out on line. It might work for a betta in a 1 gallon bowl.

A properly kept turtle enclosure should not smell. If they have good filter in place and not over fed the filter should be collection much of the debris/waste. Power filters and internal filters aren't as affective in general as canister filters. They are generally smaller and have less room for your filter media. The only time I can really smell my enclosure if I am either cleaning a fairly dirty filter or if I have an empty tank with gravel filled with a good build up of waste.

Turtles waste load is much higher than your typical aquarium fish as such its good practice to use filters rated for aquariums larger than your aquarium/s. The last canister filter I used was a rena filstar XP3 which is rated for up to 175 gallons I used it for a 60 gallon aquarium. It worked well yet alot of waste still collected in the gravel which required cleaning via vacuum during water changes. Presently I only have 2 enclosures 2 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks one has an external pond filter rated for up to 1000 gallons the other is a DIY filter of similar size. Both are connected to mag-drive 500 GPH pumps. You really can't have too much filtration. You want one capable of collecting and holding waste well (mechanical filtration) as well as breaking up ammonia and nitrite (biological filtration).

I'd guess your filters probably are suboptimal for the enclosure and your turtles. That there is waste building up in the bottom of the enclosure (gravel will easily get filled with waste). Lastly any uneaten food will fowl if not collected.