Yes, moving the turtles outside their tank to feed them is somewhat of a pain and I only do it when feeding whole fish or the mentioned mice. But it would still help if you were desperate.
I have pretty much used the standard setups in my canister filters---the foam type floss sleeves that you can get replacements for and then high quality carbon. I haven't tried the plastic bioballs or ceramic 'noodles' that are used in wet/dry filters though.
With turtles I think we are stuck with frequent cleanings of the filters no matter what.