Tank and care issues
Hello, everyone. This is long, so apologies in advance. And it was initially a reply in someone else's post, so it had already started.
Okay, so I started with something like a maybe 20 gallon tank that I got when he was given to me, quite abruptly, by someone that figured I could give him a better home. That was about 8 years ago and I guess he was smaller then. I was initially using the Tetra filter for that size tank, the one where the water flows over the top.
I upgraded his tank to 50 gallons and was still using the same type of filter but I got the larger one for 50 gallons. That one died out relatively quickly, so I put 2, then 3 of the smaller ones in the tank. Those filters use the charcoal and padding.
In the beginning I used a gravel substrate and I added things like bricks and a couple of concrete slabs to give him a platform that he could climb onto but he knocked it down every time I set it up, so I stopped doing that but I didn't take them out.
Now, here's the thing. Up to that point the tank would get murky and dirty but it did not smell unless you were standing right over it and even then it was usually after he ate. At that point I was adding about a couple of gallons or so about every week because the water seemed to evaporate quickly, almost by half every couple of weeks. I think the filter sprayed/splashed a lot because water film was on my window and stuff near the filter side of the tank.
The tank is in front of a big picture window that is uncovered because I wanted to give him some sunlight and something interesting to look at. I should note that he had a habit of climbing the filters and sometimes he would just sit on top of the tank (it has no lid) but sometimes he would jump out. After a few times of this, I figured he knew what he wanted and just let him walk around the house for a few days before putting him back in. In those days I had a small dog that would constantly bark at him, so he would usually go somewhere under a chair or couch to hide. More recently when he jumps out he seeks me out wherever I am before moving on in his travels.
Anyway, here's where things changed for the worse and haven't been right since. Early this year I bought him some goldfish to eat. I bought too many. I thought that what he didn't eat right away, he'd get to. Nope. Soon I found myself with a pet turtle and 10 pet goldfish that had doubled in size since I added them. They had to eat, too, so I bought flakes for them. They were coexisting independently for a while and it looked like the goldfish were eating some of the stuff on the tank walls and in the water, so great. I hoped they would help keep the tank clean.
Well, the goldfish went from 10 to 9 to 8 and I couldn't tell if they were dieing or if he was eating them. I saw no evidence of bodies except for one horrifying faceless one that I found when cleaning the tank. Around that time is when the tank started to smell bad. I emptied and cleaned the whole thing and got rid of the fish, I thought they were the cause. I changed filter type, from the three Tetras to these cog shaped sponge types that someone recommended. I started with one of those, it was supposed to serve 50-75 gallons, I think. I added a second because one didn't seem to do it. The tank got dirty more quickly than it had with the Tetras and the smell got progressively worse and filled my whole house. I cleaned and recleaned the sponge filters, took out all of the substrate and bricks and slabs and still the tank got dirty quickly and the smell just got worse, to the point where I was about to no longer have a pet turtle.
Last ditch, I ordered a different type of filter, one with a uv light and apparently a sponge filter. It seemed to be working okay the first few days but it's been in there for about two weeks and I'm back to the smell emanating through my house, although not as bad as it was at its worst. When it was warm I was able to minimize the smell by keeping the windows open and having an exhaust fan. But that's not an option now.
All of the filters have been rated for at least 50 gallons, except the smaller ones that I then used 2-3 at a time.