hey guys . i have a problem and i have no idea where to ask,since this is the turtle forum, il ask my question here.
i have 4 turtles , 3 res and one long neck turtle. and a 3 feet aquarium.

the problem is maintaining the aquarium.
after i change the water , the water in the aquarium goes clouddy and muddy so quickly. Like 3-4 days after the water cchange. I dont have time as im buzy in college most of it and its hard to take care off. cleaning a 3ft tank is kinda hard coz i have to drag the heavy aquarium to the bathroom once a week...

my RES also looks unhealthy and im kinda sad =[

i have a filter but i dont tink its working good enough.

and ive been looking all over where to purchase basking spots for my turtle...

would anyone kindly give me tips on what type of stuff do i buy [ filters,heating lights ] and where?  checked out other forums but too much info can be so confusing!

ure help is most appreciatedd
i dont want to make my turtles suffer

hey thanks for all the kind replies...

where is pet safari? and can anyone estimate the price for basking spot lighting etc for a 3.5 ft tank ( i just double checked and its 3.5 ft )

what brand of filter model and what not.. beneficial bacteria as in?
sorry im a total noob.. and sorry for a lot of questions 

oh thanks for the info..what brand is good? and gravel n soil...as in? thanks anyway!

benificial bacteria is like effective microorganism, you can get from jabatan pertanian. i got the contact, but not with me now. they sell in big quantity, i think its not suitable lah. i will work on it.

vermiculite, you can go to www.forum.docserpent.com search for one person call docserpent, i think he has got them. but he stay in johore.

lots of them at ace hardware. but currently they only have horticultural grade under horti brand, which crumbles easily when squeezed. the one i use (can't remember brand, bought so long ago) lasts for years.

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as for em products, many agriculture-related vendors carry them now, many nurseries too. i'm not gonna list every single shop (for that we have google). lum chin nursery (sri petaling) might have, bazaar pkps (seri kembangan) ground floor there's 1 shop should have, etc etc

but then again, unless you're a nitrate/nitrite/ammonia-count freak, no major differences can be seen after em usage to turtle tanks that have both good filtration system and change water frequently. i tried them on 11-12 turtle ponds, poos do decompose faster... but still need to count on strong filtration system to clean the huge amount of mess. so, i could only deduce that the need for microbes in turtle tanks is only secondary (just like applying 1.010-1.008 gravity for cb Malaclemys, LOL) but if anyone wants to try, go ahead.

the main benefits of em i could observe is when used as additives to drinking water for galliformes - greatly reduce the smell of poos. so if any Testudinidae keepers want to try on their animals, please be welcomed to do so and send your results here. (disclaimer: please do so at your own discretion and i am not liable to any damages  )

That gravel pictured above is not recommended because the turtles can accidentally swallow the small gravels over time. What i can suggest is, use biological + chemical filter element combo to get the best result. For biological filter element, you can use crushed corals/molluscan shells and for chemical filter element you can use charcoals. A good powerfull pump, good quality wool filter element + biological + chemical filter element combo would get the job done just fine. A monthly change for the wool filter element and once in 3-4 months for the charcoal would result in greater cleaning power and long lasting clear water for your fellow testudines

what uzairi was trying to say is those gravels are just the right size for turtles to accidentally swallow.

so get bigger ones, those that could not be accidentally swallowed.

p/s: btw, bare bottom setup is much easier to clean.

for display purposes, you might need to get bigger sized gravel with no sharp edges..

bare bottom setup would be the best especially when the water is crystal clear..

5.0 is good already for them, 2.0 im not sure wether its enough or not for the uvb output. You can use 2.0 if you bask them under the sun once in a while

hmmm i realised the small one doesnt climb onto the rock at all. only the bigger one, where he will bask under the sun. the small one will just soak inside the water

Something local to get this thread moving !!

Wonder how their hatchlings look like ??

there's another basking area, i have set up 2 for each of them but the small one prefers to be under water. the other day, i increased the water level a bit, about 3 inches, the little guy cant swim. it did a backflip underwater 

Haha .. I have one old spiny hero at home really enjoy watching him moving ..haha

here come my emys good swimmer