# Filtering water for Water Dragon



## s22jgs (Apr 5, 2009)

Hi all

I am thnking about replacing the little reptofilter i have with a proper external filter.

I know some people will just go, "No you must change the water every day or they will die a horrible death" or "if you cant afford water treatment you shouldnt own the animal"

Its not about cost. I dont beleive that treated tap water can be better than what i am thinking about doing. It also in the long run would actually save a fair bit of cash.

I want some considered opinion on filters and specifically whether people think treating of water with UV light would be beneficial to the dragon.

In the wild they have no such water treatment such as conditioners. I am of the opinion that a filtered and UV sterilised pool of RO water, will not only last a couple of weeks between changes, but also would probably be better for the dragon than water treated with conditioner. All crap will be filtered out, and the UV will sterilise any pathogens and bugs.

Surely if anything this is going to be more natural from the point of view that water in the rainforest does not get changed every day, and would be filtered by gravel etc, as well as taking UV rays from the sun.


----------



## stungy (May 28, 2011)

hi there mate ive done the same for my cwd instead ov a substrate ive built a custom full sized glass tank about 160l into my ax36 and i use a Fluval 206 external canister filter and a uv sterilizer from an old marine tank its been up and running this way for about 6 months and ive only needed to do a 50% water change the once and it stays crystal clear and no smell at all,ive also converted an old filter into a serfice skimmer for poops which i only use as and when needed for my info and help i posted in the aquatics section for advise and that was a god send try there mate i might be more help


----------



## s22jgs (Apr 5, 2009)

Im into marine fish mate so i know about the filtering side of things, and uv on water etc.

I was just after some opinion as to using this method with reptile


----------



## graham40 (Dec 19, 2011)

I filter my AWD's water. With a Exo terra turtle ridge with filter and an external filter (don't no the name of it as its one my dad had lying around). I also have fish in my viv and have some fish tank gravel in the bottom which I hover ever 2-3 days as they do there business in the water lol. I have fish tank in the bottom of the viv so to change the water everyday is a big job that would take hours. As long as the water is kept clean and flowing so it won't go stagnant I can't see there being a problem. 
The only thing I can't decide on is wether it should be heated or not


----------



## stungy (May 28, 2011)

thats all good then my opinion is the more you can do to keep metenance to a min,is all good but as you no overkill when it comes to filtration can also be a problem i dont see why your ideas wont work it does for me and my water dragon loves it and it looks great.


----------



## s22jgs (Apr 5, 2009)

i dotn think heating is really required.
Unless you are changing a large amount every day. after a couple of days any large volume will be the same temp as the ambient air


----------



## graham40 (Dec 19, 2011)

s22jgs said:


> i dotn think heating is really required.
> Unless you are changing a large amount every day. after a couple of days any large volume will be the same temp as the ambient air


That's what I gathered. They spend a lot of time in there water so it must be ok lol


----------



## stungy (May 28, 2011)

as far as heating mine i did have one in the beginning,but it never switched on so I don't bother now the temps always around the low to mid 70's my tropical fish and baby terapin are thriving its funny watching my cwd and turtle playing the little one said on the basking rock in the water ,and if chappy,thats my cwd,jumps into the water from up high,the turtle bounces around like a pin ball :lol2:


----------



## graham40 (Dec 19, 2011)

Ha ha I was thinking about a terrapin but I was going to look for something native to australia (I don't even no if they are lol) the thought has crossed my mind so maybe the research will start soon


----------



## alex_p (Jul 20, 2010)

Be wary of terrapins in with your water dragon, they will take off legs with a nip. Also there must be some stress on the terrapins part as it can't get away from the dive bombing loonies.

I've got a big external fluval filter which rarely needs cleaning, I just swap out a big bucket full of water every week or so and all the levels stay fine. The water stays between 24.5C and 25.5C all the time without extra heating. I have guppies and a pleco in there too. So it's run exactly the same as you would a normal freshwater fish tank, but obviously if the filter says it's for a 100L fish tank that doesn't mean it will keep up with a 100L fish tank AND lizard. My filter is for up to 5 or 600 litres, but it's only cleaning about 150L and much more would need extra filtration.

Alex


----------



## stungy (May 28, 2011)

The terapin isn't going to be in there for long he is only about 3 inches at the mo but since iv had him ive taken bit ov a shine to him so when ive finished my bosc build im going to build him his own little crib with a little she terapin,for company


----------



## clairesimza (Jan 11, 2011)

this is a really good idea!! any tips?? using a stingray filter and its crap, only good for waterfall pump lol


----------



## s22jgs (Apr 5, 2009)

clairesimza said:


> this is a really good idea!! any tips?? using a stingray filter and its crap, only good for waterfall pump lol


 
I will be using one from allpondsolutions. They do their external filters with a UV option. They have been subject to many aquarium magazine tests and always come out with very good results - at half the cost of comparable brand names.


----------

