Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently had to separate my 6" red-eared-slider from the female because he was killing her (after all of these years).

I put him in a 55 gallon tank which is only about 2/3 full - so he has room for a dock to bask.

I bought an eheim ecco pro 2236 filter because I thought it would be powerful enough - but in reality it's not. The flow rate is only about 150 gph compared to my Fluval 405 in the tank where they both used to live which is about 350 gph.

The eheim is only a month old - I spoke to eheim about it and first they gave me a spiel about the tank/filter needing to establish bacterial colonies and nitrification and all of that - and I started out by telling the guy that frankly I didn't buy that for TURTLES - and after 10 emails he finally did a 180 and agreed that it was underpowered - even for 35 gallons of water in the 55 gallon tank -because turtles are messy.

Duh.

So now I have to sell or donate this brand new eheim filter - because even adding more mechanical filtration media isn't going to help an anemic flow rate.

I was basically ignorant when I bought it. I hadn't had to purchase a filter since I got my Fluval 405 about 8 years ago and never thought twice about flow rates or gallons per hour.

So - are Fluval and eheim all that are really 'recommended' as brands?

Because if they are - then I'm back to buying another Fluval 405. It has the great flow rate - and mine has lasted this long without too many problems.

My main problem with the Fluval as it has aged - I can't get it to 'gravity fill' the filter no matter what I try. I have to pre-fill it as much as possible and then I can start it. No amount of pumping that handle up and down does it - or tipping the filter or whatever.

I am wondering if there are other brands with a flow rate near the Fluval 405 (about 350 gph) that are highly recommended and maybe easier to use, quieter, or whatever might make them considerations. The Fluval is reasonably priced - even new - the comparable eheim is at least twice the price.

Any others I should be looking at for price and or design characteristics?

Thank you in advance!

Are these Jebo filters even worth considering? Like the 839?
I'll probably just end up buying a new Fluval 405, because it's the best price/spec combination, and mine has worked mainly fine for me for so many years...
It's amazing that there are really only TWO filter companies - if I assume that I'm going to be told to stay away from the Jebo filters... they do have great (according to manufacturer of course) GPH flow rates though for the price. Wow!

Hi,

I hope things are going better for your female. I have a 120 gallon tank for winter time.I tried a fluval and it wouldn't work. I returned it and bought a Rena and it has worked very well for several years. I have my large slider and two painted turtles in it. Most of the time as soon as it is cleaned it primes itself. Once in a while we have to prime it.

Hope this helps
Linda

Actually, I ended up buying a Rena XP3 that should be quite powerful enough for the 35 gallons of water in this 55 gallon tank. I had to decide between that and another 405, so I figured I'd give another company a try, since the Fluval has been a huge pain to get started probably since shortly after I bought it 6 or so years ago. It's been 'reliable' in terms of longevity and has great flow rate, but I ALWAYS spend about 30 minutes trying to get it started the way the manual says, and then I give up and fill the filter first and usually it starts right away after that. It's also grown louder lately, and I'm not sure why - initially I thought it was because I lost the rubber piece that goes in the impeller well at the bottom of the ceramic shaft - but I 'think' I replaced that piece properly today and it's just as loud. Also, just sealing the canister on the 405 has lately grown difficult, so I thought, "I need to lubricate the large gasket. I did that, but it's still not as 'closed' as I'd like to see it - or as it had been in the past. Luckily, it's not leaking since I lubricated the gasket - but I don't like the trend overall. So now that I have this one month old Eheim ecco pro 80 (model 2236) that proved to be wonderful to use, and silent, I was very upset that I didn't think through the fact that it has HALF the flow rate of the Fluval - or the XP3. So now I have to sell the eheim on Craigslist- obviuosly for a significant loss (thank goodness it wasn't a fortune to begin with). It was my mistake - it's only good for 150 GPH - and now I have to suffer for my ignorance - since the Fluval is over 300GHP and so is the Rena that should arrive shortly. Oh well - live and learn. When these manufacturers say that a filter is 'good for' a certain size tank they are right when it comes to fish - MAYBE. But when it comes to turtles, the main thing I've learned is that you need POWER so that there is powerful mechanical filtration going on.