Semi-Aquatic Garter Tanks??

[Didymus20X6]

I constructed a two-tank system. I have two enclosures, linked together by a pipe, that has land on one side, and water on the other. The snakes can freely move between them, bask in the lamp and dry off on one side, and cool off and swim in the other.

But it does get pretty dirty at times. I use siphon pumps to clean the water (which I generally have to do once or twice a week), and about once a month, I have to give the water tank a good scrubbing.

You can find pics of my setup here:

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/encl...tml#post211232

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I constructed a two-tank system. I have two enclosures, linked together by a pipe, that has land on one side, and water on the other. The snakes can freely move between them, bask in the lamp and dry off on one side, and cool off and swim in the other.

But it does get pretty dirty at times. I use siphon pumps to clean the water (which I generally have to do once or twice a week), and about once a month, I have to give the water tank a good scrubbing.

You can find pics of my setup here:

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/encl...tml#post211232

have you tried adding a lot more surface area to the water? Including a deep bed of gravel and surface area pellets for your filtration system? The more surface area you can cram into the water, the better. The beneficial bacteria that break things down need as much as possible. And that "slime" that grows inside your filter, and on all of the tank glass and fixtures in the tank is the beneficial bacteria so you don't want to wash them all away and kill them. If you completely take it all apart and scrub everything once a month, your system can never fully cycle and that is the reaso the water gets so dirty. The bacteria need anywhere from a month to 3 months to establish and the more surface they have to grow on the healthier the water will be. All water features are likely to cloud up for a while, anywhere from 1 week to 2-3 months. You simply need to wait that part out and not try cleaning it so much or adding chemicals to try and fix it. It's a bloom of beneficial bacteria that are responding to the elevated levels of ammonia in the water. Eventually they multiply to the point where there are enough to break down all of the waste quickly and that is when your water goes crystal clear. You could add two or three small live fish to the system and then not allow the garters to access it until it has fully bio'ed. The fish introduce the necessary bacteria into the system and then from there they just need time to grow. If you have a deep bed of gravel In the water every once in a while you can siphon to remove the buildup of broken down waste that accumulates slowly but you don't want to remove the stones, wash them, or let them dry out (basically you can't kill your bacteria or you've ruined the whole system). If you use one of those "bio wheel" filters you should NEVER wash the wheel, or replace it (unless it breaks of course) or allow it to dry out. Same goes for the media you place in a filter to promote bacteria growth.

^ this is he number one reason first time fish tank owners fail miserably. They constantly take the tank apart every month or every 3 months and clean everything way too thoroughly and kill off their bio, and then the fish become sick, the water's always clouding back up, etc etc. that and adding live creatures, too many, way too soon, and the bacteria can't keep up with it all and it turns the water downright toxic.