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.

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