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!

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]