Review on 🐢 Zoo Med Turtle Clean 15: The Ultimate External Canister Filter for Turtle Tanks by Kimberly Roemer

I bought three of these to use in three 3.4 gallon aquariums with natural invertebrates (crabs, shrimp, snails, betta). After working with them for almost two months I was incredibly impressed with the quality, performance and price. I use caribsea eco-complete as a substrate and in one tank where I added old filter material the tank turned on IMMEDIATELY; the other two took monitored ammonia for about three weeks. I did a lot of research to find the best filter for my small aquarium and for my purposes this is absolutely the best quality and performance at the best price. However, there are two important things to consider before buying: 1. Turtles. Why is it sold for turtles? Turtles produce a HUGE amount of ammonia and waste and while they are definitely superior to HOB filters, I doubt this product will be able to keep even small amounts of turtle water clean for more than a few days depending on the bioburden. If you have turtles and want good filtration without spending money on Eheim you will need one of the sunsun filters, maybe at least a four stage one with a sterilizer. Zoomed have created an amazing product, but to advertise the perfect canister filter for a small aquarium as a mediocre turtle filter is a marketing mistake. As with most filters that don't cost hundreds, the media in this filter is really for decoration only. The ceramic rings and charcoal bag went straight to the bin and were replaced with a Fluval Biomax with a small layer of filter thread on top to capture large debris. A box of Biomax fills about two of these. If you have aquariums that are too small to cycle (<2 gallons) or want to use an inert substrate like sand or regular aquarium gravel where cycle bacteria don't accumulate well or you can't resist the temptation to wait a few weeks to to your tank cycle before adding fish, or worst case you actually bought this for turtles. Remove the sponge and wrap one of those purigen bags around the outlet. Don't waste your time with carbon; risk it with the wrong type and it releases phosphates and causes algal blooms and Purigen cleans better and can be upgraded with bleach and reused many times.