I had heard some pretty mixed reviews on the Fluvals also.
The 1-3 just don't turn over the water enough and don't have enought media trays to cover needs for bigger tanks w/ turtles IMHO. I also had heard that the earlier 404's did have some problems, but they had those were supposedly pulled and refurbished last year. The stock out there now is supposed to be the all new and improved latest versions.

I just bought TWO of the Fluval 404's for 90.00 each brand new.
They were super easy to set up, and primed in seconds beacuse I filled the cannister about 2/3rds with water before clamping the motor on. So far I'm really impressed and like my filters.
Trust me, my wife even commented that the water was crystal clear on day 6, and she couldn't smell them even in the same room!
She was getting pretty down on the turtles because of the smell and the water quality. For my media trays, I went stock, but I did add some poly fiber in the bottom (1st) media tray. I used a handful on each side, but I didn't pack in in tightly.
In the media tray above that (1up from the bottom ... 2nd)
I took about half a handful of poly fiber and put in in the bottom of each side then placed the activated carbon packets on top of the poly fiber.
In the 3rd tray I have one activated carbon bag on each side.
In the top tray I have one bag of the bio ceramic rings on each side.

I also use Tank clear drops every few days and the water is the clearest I have EVER had in any of my setups~ including standard fish tanks without turtles. There is absolutely NO SMELL.
Right now I am running one 55 Gallon tank with a 404, and a 60 Gallon tank with a 404. I have about 4-5" of water in each. There were a couple of "dead," spots after the first time I set each up, but after a little tweaking of the return I was able to remedy them for the most part.
I should also take a second to mention that I have REAL stumps in my tanks right from my yard~ that release lots of tannin in the water and have been killing me with excessive water changes and tank cleaning. I now have NONE of those problems! :D

What I wanted to get was a couple Ehiem ProII 2028's.
They are REALLY nice, BUT after you buy all the NOT INCLUDED stuff that you need to finish the filter setup you're talking in the neighborhood of around 300.00 / / for each setup.
Then there is the additionnal media you need which wihle isn't super expensive, isn't the cheapest around either.

Bang for the buck~ the 404's got it all~ 4 BIG media trays for anything you can think up to catch all the dead fishy parts, crumbs, dyes, excess medications, etc.
Not to mention priced affordably at under 100.00 if you shop around.
PLUS...they come outta the box ready to plug ~n~ play.
I really feel that I nailed a home run with them.

They're still brand new so I'm not going to go buy stock in Hagen just yet, but for the price, and what I feel that I've gotten from them in just a short amount of time...
if I do change my mind on being a fan of the 404's...
My wife and my wallet aren't going scream at me for spending more than I did~ TWICE!

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