Cleaning turtle enclosure
Posted by Marijn Rongen on November 28, 2009 in Random stuff
I have two turtles who have been in my care for over 10 years. They are both red-eared sliders and are an estimated 20 years old. The official name of the red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin is trachemys Scripta elegans.
Their filtration system needed cleaning yesterday. The system, an Eheim professionel with integrated heating, is an external water filter standing beside the turtle enclosure. The system can go for quite a while without cleaning but when it needs cleaning it is really dirty, turtle-poo everywhere!
To clean it properly I've got to replace one filter membrane, rinse out another and rinse of two types of organic filtration media. Then comes the tubing and the in/outlets, for this I've got a brush set made especially for these filters. This sounds quick and easy but it can easily take up to two hours.
To change the water in the tank I use a simple but effective tool, the Sera Gravel Washer. This works lika a vacuum cleaner on the gravel, cleaning out all the muck that gathers there.
After that the only thing left to do is fill the tank and filter with water and plug it all back in, resulting in a pair of happy turtles!
