How Often Should I Clean My Turtle’s Tank? (Beginners Guide)

Turtles can turn the cleanest tank into a complete mess in just a couple of days. And somebody has to clean that mess. But doing so too often can become quite unpleasant. So, how much mess is acceptable in the tank? How often do you really have to clean the tank?

On average you should clean the tank of your turtle every two weeks. But this amount of time can increase or decrease based on a few factors like the size of the tank, and the power of the water filter.

Two weeks is the average, but as you might expect, the exact answer will vary depending on a few things. If you do everything right you will only have to clean the tank once every 3 weeks, but if everything is wrong you will have to clean it once every 3 or 4 days.

So let’s take a closer look at what exactly those things are, and what you can do so you don’t have to clean the tank too often.

A Big Tank Is a Clean Tank

The size of the tank is the most important thing when it comes to how cleanliness, and this is for a very simple reason. The more water you have in the tank, the longer it will take for it to get dirty. So the bigger the tank the better.

There is no such thing as a tank that is too big for a turtle, but instead, it’s quite easy to go for a tank that is too small. There is a rule of thumb when it comes to turtle tanks, and it says that the tank needs to be able to hold 10 gallons of water for every inch of shell your turtle has.

If you just got a small turtle, and you still haven’t gotten it a tank, you should keep in mind that turtles grow very fast in their first couple of years, in just one year they can go from 2 inches to 4, or even 5 depending on their species. So, when choosing a tank you might want to go for one that will be good for your turtle when it grows. While this will mean a bigger upfront cost, it will actually save you money in the long run since you won’t have to get a new tank every year or two. And time since the tank won’t get dirty as fast.

Having the right sized tank will make the biggest difference when it comes to how often you have to clean the tank. If your tank is too small the water will turn green and start to smell really bad in 3 or 4 days. If the tank is the correct size the water will get dirty much slower.

But having a properly sized tank is not enough, you still need to have a water filter.

The Water Filter

Having more water in the tank is great, but if you don’t have something to keep that water clean, it will still get dirty in a week or so. This is why you need a water filter in the tank.

A good water filter will be able to keep your tank clean for 2 or 3 weeks, without you having to do anything. But a bad water filter won’t be able to keep up with your turtle and in just a few days, the tank will be a mess.

And surprisingly enough, most people choose to buy the wrong water filter for their tanks. And when I say wrong I don’t mean the wrong model or the wrong brand, no. The problem is that those filters don’t have enough power.

Filters are rated based on how much water they can cycle, so we have 20-gallon water filters 40-gallon water filters, 60-gallon water filters, and so on. The problem is that most of those filters are rated for fish tanks, not for turtle tanks. And the amount of mess a fish mess doesn’t even compare to the mess a turtle makes.

For a turtle tank, you should get double the power that the tank needs. So if you have a 40 gallons tank you should get a filter that is rated for 80 gallons, not for 40. If you have a 60 gallons tank then you should get a 120 gallons water filter, not 60.

You can always go higher, this will only keep the tank clean for longer. But going lower will usually mean that you will have to clean the tank a lot more often, and the water will start to smell bad really soon.

If you have a tank that is big enough for your turtle, and a good powerful filter, on average you will have to clean the tank once every 2 or 3 weeks. But there is one more thing that you can do that will keep the tank clean for even longer, and that is to feed your turtle in a different place.

How to Feed Your Turtle to Keep the Tank Clean for Longer

The thing that makes the most mess in the tank is food. When turtles eat, they don’t use their “hands” to hold onto the food. Instead, they charge at the food and take a big bite out of it, and then they break it into little pieces that they can swallow. While they do this, small particles that are invisible to the naked eye, will break off from the food and start moving through the water.

This will happen with pellets, fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. So regardless of the food you are giving your turtle, it’s inevitable to have those small particles in the water.

As those particles continue to build up, the water in the tank will start getting dirtier and it will start to smell bad.

Solving this problem is very simple. You just have to fill a different container with water and then place your turtle inside of it, and then place the food there. After the turtle eats you should let it stay there for another 10 minutes, and then put it back in the tank. After that, you can just throw the water from the container away and you are done. It’s that simple.

This method is very simple and 100% effective. Just make sure that you don’t use the container for anything else, like placing food that you want to eat in it. Turtles carry bacterias that can be harmful to us.

You will have to clean the container after you are done, but just putting it in the shower and washing it quickly shouldn’t take more than a minute.

The whole process should take less than 5 minutes of your time since you don’t have to supervise your turtle while it’s eating. So you will spend 10 or 15 minutes a week doing this, but overall you will save several hours since you won’t have to clean the tank as often.

How Often You Should Clean Your Turtle’s Tank

If you have a properly sized tank, and a filter that is powerful enough for your tank, on average you will have to clean the tank once every 2 or 3 weeks.

If you are also feeding your turtle in a different container, you can expect the tank to stay clean for 3 or 4 weeks.

Just keep in mind that those are averages, and you shouldn’t just take time into consideration, you should also look at the water in the tank, if it’s very dirty, if it turned completely green, or if it smells really bad, you have to change it, regardless of how much time has passed.

In my case, I usually have to clean the tank every 3 weeks. But there are months when some of my turtles are not very active, so the tank stays clean for longer, and there are times when they swim all over the place and mess of the tank, and I have to clean it after 2 weeks. So there is no fixed amount of time that you have to wait.

And in case you don’t exactly know how you should clean a tank or a turtle, you should take a look at this article, where you will find a detailed guide on how to do so.

But no matter how long it takes you still have to clean the tank at some point, so before ending the article I want to tell you about the products that I’ve been using to clean my tank, as they’ve made the whole process a lot easier.

Tank Cleaning Gear

The Tank Filter

I am personally a long-time fan of the Fluval Filters Series. I tried a lot of filters and I had mixed results with the but after I discovered these filters I’ve only used them. I’ve recently purchased a more powerful model for my new tank because the old one was too small for the new tank (I changed my 45 gallons tank with an 80 gallons tank ). I had the previous one for almost 2 years and I had no problems with it. The noise levels are not that bad, don’t get me wrong you will definitely hear it if you are in the same room but it’s not as bad as other filters.

One great thing about those filters is that the producer also offers a great variety of filtration mediums so there won’t be any compatibility issues or anything like that.

While I used it never broke down or anything similar to that. But if you have any problem like that the seller also offers a 3-year warranty.

Overall the Fluval filters are the best filters I’ve used and I am very pleased with them. So I will recommend you to give them a try. If you want to get one here is a link to Amazon.

Note: In general try to stay away from undergravel filters they are usually not very efficient, not necessarily all of them, but the ones that I’ve tried were not very good.

The Siphon

I’ve tried multiple siphons over the time I found that a lot of them are unreliable and get stuck or break really easy. A couple of years ago I purchased a Python No Spill Clean and Fill, and I am still using it today. It is long enough to fit medium and big aquariums and you won’t have to keep the water bucket ( or whatever you use ) too close to the tank. It also comes with an attachment that allows you to easily connect it to most faucets. Until now I had no problems with leaks or loss in suction. So if you want to get this pump here is a link to Amazon.

For a tank smaller than 10 gallons I would suggest you use the Genuine TERA PUMP, it’s a great fit for smaller aquariums. I used this pump when my turtles were smaller and I had a smaller tank for them. I had no leaks or any type of problems with this pump. If you want to get this pump here is a link to Amazon.

Magnetic Sponge

This single item completely changed my life, I might be exaggerating a bit but a magnetic sponge will most definitely make cleaning the tank a lot easier. You can use the sponge to clean the algae off the walls of the tank before taking the water out of it, and then you can use the siphon to remove the algae from the water. You can also use the sponge to occasionally clean the algae off the walls of the tank, this way you won’t have to clean the tank as often.

These sponges are really easy to use and you don’t even have to get your hands dirty or wet, because you only have to touch the part that is outside the tank. Here is a link to the sponge that I am using.

Algae Scrapers

The sponge can be really useful to get rid of the most algae, but if you want to completely get rid of them you will have to use a scraper. This is the scraper that I am using. It is really useful if you want to get rid of all that stubborn algae from the corners of the aquarium. The handle is very solid and you can apply as much pressure as you want to get rid of the algae. The blade is very good and will get the lid off the most algae in just one scrape. Here is a link to Amazon if you want to buy it.

And this is the brush that I am using to clean the rocks and decorations from the tank. If you only have rocks as decorations in the tank you can use any kind of brush, as long as it’s clean, but if you have more complex decorations in the aquarium I would suggest you use a brush like the one I am using otherwise you can damage them and they can break and hurt the turtles.

Water Test Kits

If you own a turtle you should get one of those kits, even if the water seems clean it can still be full of ammonia which is very dangerous to turtles. But in general, a water test kit will tell you if you have to change the water or not if you are not sure if you have to change it.

There are two types of test kits: liquid and solid ( strips ). In general, the liquid ones are more complex and they are supposed to be more reliable, but in my opinion, the strips are just as good and they are a lot easier to use.

To use the liquid ones you have to take a sample of the water in the tank can combine it with the liquids provided by the kit and then see the results and then compare the colors with the ones from the chart, so they are not that complicated to use. If you are going to use the strips you just have to insert the strip in the water and then compare the color to the ones on the chart.

You can try both of them and see which is more to your liking. I used both methods and all of them are efficient and easy to use. Here are some links to the kits that I have used (and still using), this one is for the liquid test kit and this one is for the strips.

Final Thoughts

And that’s about it. On average a turtle tank should be cleaned once every 2 weeks, but if you take particularly good care of the tank and your turtle, that amount of time can change to 3 or even 4 weeks.

But as I said, you shouldn’t think about this as just a matter of time, if the tank looks dirty, or if bad smells come from it, you have to clean it, no matter how much time passed.

I hope this article answered all of your questions. But in case there is something else that you want to know, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below, I will answer your questions as soon as I see them.