Why Does My Turtle Tank Smell? (How to Get Rid of the Smell)

This is a very common problem for new turtle owners. I also had this problem when I got my first turtle, but over time as I got more experience with turtles, I learned how to get rid of the bad smell, and how to prevent them as well. So I decided to write this short guide to help other people that are faced with this problem.

The most common reasons why turtle tanks smell are food particles, algae, turtle waste, and inadequate water filtering. Additionally not cleaning the tank often enough can also cause unpleasant smells.

Turtles are very messy so it’s really hard to keep the tank clean and smell-free. But it is possible. So let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons why the tank smells, and how you can solve those problems.

Why the Turtle Tank Smells

Before you think about solutions, it’s better to find out what the cause of the problem is. This way you will have a better understanding of the problem, and you can adjust every solution that I give you to your case.

So let’s start with some of the most common reasons for the bad smells.

Food Particles

Old food particles floating in the tank are the most common reasons why most turtle tanks smell bad.

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. But there are some things that you can do to stop this. But before we got to the solutions, let’s continue with the causes of the problem. We will get to the solutions shortly.

Shed Skin

Over time your turtle will shed some of its skin. This can happen either slowly over time, or suddenly.

If you notice small slightly white transparent threads floating in the tank then your turtle is shedding and this is most likely the cause of the smell.

Algae

Algaes can be found everywhere if there is enough water. They don’t need too much to grow so they can pop up unexpectedly.

A few algae in the tank won’t necessarily make it smell bad, but if they get too numerous they will start to become a problem, they will give the tank an unpleasant appearance and an unpleasant smell.

The Water Filter

All of the things that we discussed up until now will usually happen, there is little to nothing that you can do to prevent them. But one thing that you can do is to slow them down, and you can do this by using a water filter.

Water filters clean the water continuously, albeit at a very slow pace.

The only problem with filters is that most people buy the wrong type of filter. Choosing the right filter for a turtle tank is not as easy as simply reading the specs on the box since most filters are designed with fish tanks in mind, not turtle tanks. And the amount of mess a fish mess doesn’t even compare to the mess a turtle makes.

Tank Size

The final item on this list, before moving to how to get rid of the smell, is the size of the tank.

As you can imagine the bigger the tank, the longer it will take to get messy and start to smell, so the bigger the better. But what most people don’t know is that there is actually a minimum size for the tank, depending on the size of your turtle. If your tank is smaller than that, it will start smelling bad in just a couple of days.

How to Get Rid of the Smell

Now let’s see what you can do to get rid of the smells in the tank.

Feed Your Turtle Differently

As I said, this is the most common reason why turtle tanks smell bad, but fortunately, there is one way to completely get rid of the food particles in the water. And that is to feed your turtle in a different container.

You just have to fill a different container with water and then place the 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 place 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 lose 35 minutes a week doing this, but overall you will save several hours since you won’t have to clean the tank as often.

Help the Shedding

The only time when turtle shedding becomes a problem is when they do it excessively. To help your turtle with this you must make sure that they have a proper and balanced diet.

A balanced diet should contain a good mix of pellets, meat, insects, fish, fruits, and vegetables.

If you want more information about turtle shedding you can read this article: Do Turtles Shed? Everything You Need to Know About Turtle Shedding.

And if you want to know more about what turtles eat and what a proper diet is check out this article: What do Turtles Eat?

Clean the Tank Properly to Get Rid of the Algae

A really good way to get rid of algae is to use a magnetic sponge. This sponge has a magnet that will connect the outside piece to the inside one and it will make cleaning the tank a lot easier. You can find one on the Recommended Gear page.

Using the magnetic sponge should help you get rid of most algae that form on the side of the tank. But you still have to clean the tank properly once a week.

Cleaning the tank properly is not that hard, and it shouldn’t take too much time. But if you think that you need a little help, check out this article where I cover a similar subject, and where you will find a guide that will tell you how to properly clean the tank, as well as the turtle: Do Turtles Smell? Even if you clean the tank, your turtle will still have algae, food particles, and other smelly things stuck to its shell, so make sure to get rid of those as well. 

The Size of the Tank

One other thing that you can do to reduce the smell of the tank is to get a bigger one.

As turtles grow they will start to produce more and more mess. So to reduce the impact of the mess they produce, and to also offer them a proper environment, you should get a bigger tank that won’t be affected by the mess too fast.

If you got your turtle when it was a juvenile, then it grew a lot in the last months, as most juvenile turtles do. So now the tank that you got for your turtle, in the beginning, is probably too small. As a general rule of thumb, there should be 10 gallons of water in the tank for every inch of shell your turtle has. So if your turtle was 4 inches when you got it, then a 40-gallon tank should have been enough. But now that your turtle has 6 inches in shell length, that 40-gallon tank is too small. You have to get at least a 60-gallon tank.

The 10 gallons per inch of the shell is a rule of thumb, so it’s not exact, but you can’t go wrong with it. If this is your problem I would suggest you get the biggest tank that you can afford, and you can fit in your home. As turtles grow older they will grow at a smaller rate, but they will still grow. So instead of changing the tank every 2 or 3 years, it’s cheaper to just buy a big one from the start.

On the Recommended Gear page you can also find my recommendations on the best tanks on the market right now, the recommendations are based on the personal experience of the turtleowner.com team and a lot of research.

The Water Filter

The water filter is one of the most essential things that keep your tank clean.  But it’s very easy to choose the wrong one.

When I say the wrong one I don’t mean the wrong producer or the wrong brand. No, I mean the wrong power.

Most water filters are rated for certain water quantities. So it’s common to see a seller saying that this model is for 40 gallons of water, this one is for 60 and this one is for 120. But those water quantities are based on fish tanks, not turtle tanks. Fish also produce a mess, but not as much as turtles. So 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 pump, not a 60.

You can always go higher, there is no problem. 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.

You can also find my recommendations for the best water filter on the Recommended Gear page.

Related Questions

How often do you have to clean out a turtle tank? A good practice is to clean the tank once a week. But if you want to be more precise you can always buy a water ph test that will tell you exactly if the tank needs to be cleaned or not.

Why does my turtle tank get dirty so fast? Usually, turtle tanks get dirty too fast because the tank is too small or the water filter is not powerful enough.

Can you clean a turtle with soap? No, you should avoid using any kind of cleaning product when you clean your turtle. The chemicals inside them can harm the turtle.

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