African Cichlids...they're from either Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi or Lake Victoria. They're very colorful fish and some have very interesting characteristics and/or highly specialized feeding habits. They require very pristine water conditions, much like saltwater species, that's why they probably had them in a setup like that.
That kind of filtration would be very nice for your turtles. Skimming the water off the top of the tank is one of the more efficient ways to filter an aquarium as that's where a lot of the organic waste tends to adhere to. There's been a couple of threads about an oily scum layer on the surface of the water in some people's tanks. Usually the turbulence from the filters just churns the scum back into the water where the filter will eventually pull it out later. Skimming that scum right off the surface and into the filter before it builds up is even better.
The question is, where is that water being drawn into? Is it a cannister filter underneath, a "wet/dry" filter, or just an open sump? The first two are fine for filtering your tank water. The open sump will require some additional material to do the filtering. But it is more versatile to work with and you can choose whatever filtering media you want, like a sponge or filter floss for mechanical filtration, a carbon bag for chemical filtration, and some ceramic rings or bio balls for biological filtration. It's also a great place to keep the heater out of harms way.
Sounds like an nice setup. Show us some pics if you do get it.
