Habitat - Indoor :: filter

[rturtle1]

i am getting a 50 gallon rubbermaid for raphaiel today and i dont hav alot of money to spare my budget is 60 for the tank, lighting, food, and the filter. should i get a powerfilter H.O.T filter. if not what type. all ansers welcome.

[Chrisbarnett]

Well if you can't afford it right now, I'd go for a hang on back powerfilter such as the Marineland Penguin 350, or an appropriate sized Hagen Aquaclear. They are pretty inexpensive and they do the job pretty well.

[BullDog]

$60 isn't a whole lot. You'll probably spend about $10 on the rubbermaid, the UVB will probably be around $15, and where I am the bottles of reptomin are $10 (though they may be cheaper where you are). For a heat lamp, you can use a regular incandescent bulb, which you may already have around the house, or you can find a pack at the dollar store for $1. So that leaves you with about $30 give or take for the filter. I'm not sure if you'll be able to even find a h.o.t. filter powerful enough for $30, but if you can scrimp and save a bit more, you can find the Fluval 404 pretty cheap on ebay, about $80 new or $60 used. Also, check craigslist, kijiji, or any other local classifieds in your area. There have been a couple good filter finds on craigslist recently, so hopefully you'll get lucky too!

I had an aquaclear 300 for a while (now called aquaclear 70) and it was a reliable little filter.

I think though that with 4 turtles, you're going to need to do a fair number of water changes, no matter what filter you get.

[Chrisbarnett]

For $27 bucks you can get the Marineland Penguin 350... does a nice job. I run two on other tanks and I have no complaints.

[papoopeepoo]

Remember, the less powerful the filter the more commonly you'll need to do partial water changes.

Avoid total water changes whenever possible.