gravel and a red eared slider

[selesnyanqueen]

Hi. I've perused this forum before, but never made an account. I have a "fairly" new turtle (I have had him for about two weeks and was told virtually nothing about him from the petstore) I have done a LOT of research and think I have done a pretty good job with taking care of him, but I have run into a problem. My turtle, Dexter loves his tank. There is gravel, and a basking place, and plenty of water and things to do. However, no matter how often I clean the tank, the water is always murky. I know he has a hard time seeing/smelling his food with the water like that, so how can I fix it? I have a filter in the tank that does well with the water, but virtually nothing for the gravel. I have thought of sand, but I wonder if I would have the same issue? He likes to dig holes in it, and play with it, making piles and then moving the piles around. He does not eat the gravel or anything like that. Oh, and he's about 6 inches long. He has a bit of shell rot, but that's getting a lot better. (I got him like that from the petstore, and I was able to get stuff to help that) Is there something I can do that won't cost an arm and a leg? I'm a college student and don't have a lot of cash. I spent what I had on a tank/filter/setup that was big enough for him.

[turtlegirl]

REMOVE ALL THE GRAVEL IMMEDIATELY. Turtles can swallow gravel which becomes impacted in their intestines and can prove fatal. Use large pebbles that are too big to swallow, or sand instead . You need to clean gravel or pebbles weekly with a manual siphon, the kind used for fish tanks, which costs a few pounds on Ebay or from pet shops.
Removing the gravel will solve your problem as dirt builds up in gravel which filters cannot remove. You could try sand though this also needs to be strained regularly but I find it quickly blocks internal filters. Easiest way to keep tank water clear and clean is to forget substrate and have a bare bottom tank. Any debris can be siphoned during weekly water changes or scooped up in a net.

[selesnyanqueen]

I didn't think that they could deal with not having any substrate at all? That was my ideal, but I thought it would freak out the turtle. If not, that's wonderful! Thank you!

[turtlegirl]

Pleasure to help new turtle owners -that's what the forum is for.
Most turtle speices are fine without substrate except softshells which spend most of their life buried in sand.
If your tank water remains murky and smelly after removing the gravel then the problem is due to
1. Overfeeding -turtles should be fed enough food to fill a hollow space the size of their heads about 4 times a week (or half that amount if you feed him daily as I do with mine). Ignore begging -sliders are pigs. At least once or even twice a week feed him veg (lettuce, cabbage, grated carrot, whatever he will eat) instead of pellets. Raw or cooked fish, shrimp, cooked chicken, ham are good occasional weekly treats -only 1 treat at a time!
2. Inadequate filter -turtles are messy so their filter should be twice as powerfuil as is necessary for a tank that size with small fish. What filter do you have? If you need a better one I can recommend a cheap one that can cope with 3 adult sliders. I use them in most of my tanks.