Update: "API Quick Start" is AMAZING

Hey Guys.

Today I feel so much better about my turtle habitat even though the overflow is still not fixed. I need to go out and buy silicon to adhere the check valve so it's still not 100% finished. Almost there though. I didn't have a filter running for a whole day since the overflow wasn't working and I bought 20 more minnows to add to the tank. While I was bobbing the bag full of minnows in the tank, more than half of the minnows died inside the bag. The turtle had a fish feast but the remaining dead minnows made my tank really cloudy and gross. So today I emptied out 90% of the water and put in brand new water. I put on a regular filter for fish tanks just for filteration until I finish my overflow. I put some priming de-chlorinating solution in to make the water livable for the fishes and turtle. 

I bought a bottle of API Quick Start solution and it is amazing! It basically neutralizes ammonia by adding natural nitrifying bacteria inside the tank. None of the fishes died when I did the 90% water change which is very nice. The water is getting clearer every hour. Im sure in a few days the water will be crystal clear. It is necessary to have a filter running when using QUICK START from API because if you do not have a filter, the water will get very murky and very thick. Once I have my overflow running, it will have better filteration since the pot scrubbers (cheap replacement for bioballs) will have enough surface area to constantly have living nitrifying bacteria growing around and inside of it. I am very excited about my tank now. I can finally see inside the tank and can see where the turtles are hiding. I cant seem to see inside the tank when the UVB and heat lamp is off though. I think this is because the background of my TRUVU tank is black and makes the tank look really dark. I will probably put a background on in the near future, just to give it a natural or realistic feel. The black just makes the tank look dark and gloomy.

The water hasn't warmed up completely so the turtles like to hang out on top of the heater. I am thinking about adding some african ciclids  to the tank. The turtles are way too slow to catch the fish anyways so I think it will make the tank look more lively. I will be going to the store tomorrow to pick them up. This will be the true test to see if the API Quick Start really works since it says its perfect for adding fishes to brand new water that has been de-chlorinated. I hope the african ciclids leave the cory catfishes alone. I really enjoy the cory catfishes. They are getting so big now.

I took this picture of my pair of turtles. The one on the left is the female. She's staring at me, confused of the camera. She is usually camera shy and only comes out during feeding. There's a few Bottom feeding pellets laying around her and the male (on the right) has a pellet in his mouth. The fishes come by and try to eat the pellets as well since they are too scared to go to the surface and get the fish flakes. I think this is okay because, although I have cory catfishes inside the tank, the minnows also help with cleaning the left overs on the bottom of the tank. It's funny though. The minnows swim along side with the cory catfishes. I think this is because they are very scared of being eaten by the turtles so they like to stay in a pack with the corys for security. The cory catfishes keep running away from them but the minnows keep following them no matter what. haha. Its pretty cute. After the release of the 20 minnows, all have died off. Including a couple of the original minnows. I think this is because of the high amount of ammonia once the fishes started swimming around. (fishes release ammonia which high amounts of ammonia is fatal to all fishes). I only have 2 minnows left and all 5 of the initial cory catfishes. I think the cory catfishes are very hardy. Even through drastic temperature change from water changes, they still are all alive and swimming around restlessly. I will be getting more corys for sure.

I found a lot of old fish food laying around the house. We used to have Koi fishes as well as ciclids so I decided to let the turtles have them since variety is key when feeding turtles. They seem to enjoy every type of food I give them whether it be pellets for fishes or live fishes. I am so glad they are not too picky. I still want to try and give them some scallops and other types of sea food. I need to go to the grocery store and find a bag of mixed sea food that is unsalted. But for now, they seem to really enjoy the pellets, even if its sinking to the bottom or floating up at the surface of the water.