API XP FILSTAR XP FILTER SIZE XL Aquarium Canister Filter 1-Count Box

I purchased this filter after researching all the available brands and types of filters for my red-eared slider. About a week ago I knew nothing about these turtles until my daughter brought one home as a "gift" from her friend. Does anyone know the start up cost of something that little? I do- and from experience,it costs about $300 - $500. I purchased a 30 gallon start up kit that included lame filter that couldn't manage the mess that this turtle dishes out on a daily basis. After a week, I got tired of changing Scooter's water everyday. Even when I did-the water was icky and cloudy. Knowing that this creature depends on me to keep its swimming, drinking and eating water clean, I needed a better way to clean her water. The Rena Filstar XP4 seemed a bit overkill for a baby turtle but I didn't want to buy more filters in the future to fit a growing RES. I read the unfortunate review of an owner of a baby slider drowning because of the intake pipe coming apart. I took that to heart as I glued the parts together permanently and used duct tape to double secure the joints on the intake pipe. If she starts playing with the duct tape I will be sure to remove it. When I received the package in the mail, I knew that the shipping charge was high but I had no idea that these filters were so tall! My suggestion to putting this together, would be to become familiar with the parts included and how you are going to set up your aquarium. I had to find a taller base to set the aquarium on as it requires a distance of 24 inches minimum from the tank to the filter.The pleasant thing about this filter, is that it offers different options to set up the filter system based on the needs of the aquarium. My tank will not be filled to the brim, so I used the longer extension part of the output tube to reach lower in the tank. The spray bar creates a beautiful little waterfall in the back of the aquarium that my RES loves to frolic in the bubbles or just watch them if she is mellow. After cleaning my tank completely, I set up the entire aquarium. Setting up the filter was slow and tedious. I took a tip from another review here about the flexible tubing. It will not work if you don't coat the inlet/outlet connections with vegetable (I used olive) oil. If you don't, you could break these valves off from the force to get these things on. My biggest complaint about the setup involves the inlet pipes and cap. In my opinion, it would make sense to have just one inlet pipe with no connections to come loose. Or have two inseparable tubes put together where one slides into the other for adjusting the length. The inlet strainer should be non removable because if it accidently fell off the feeder fish that are in the tank could easily be vacuumed up into the filter. I cracked one of the extender pipes when I was putting this together. The inlet pipes are flimsy and should have better safety features than what it has now. The outlet pipes are in much better shape and have a unique connection design and outflow regulator. I like the fact that I can control the water output by simply turning a dial near the spray bar. The flexible tubing is definitly wide enough to prevent clogs and moves large amounts of water quickly and filters it with ease. The start up was easily explained in the directions but I needed to try several times to get the air out of it to finally run smoothly. It wasn't difficult to get the water in the flexible tubing, it just required patience. My tank wasn't full enough and when it was taking the water from the aquarium to fill up the filter container, the intake valve started sucking in air. At that point, I needed to stop the process, fill the aquarium up with more water and then start the process over again. When it did start filtering the tank I was very impressed with how quiet the filter does run. My dog sleeps next to the filter and it seems to have a calm, lulling affect on him. The XP4 has been running for over 24 hours and it looks as clear as it did when I first started it up. Best of all, I don't smell that foul turtle stench that I used to have with the old filter. I hope to have this running in the new tank when little Scooter outgrows this one. Overall, I predict this filter will be saving me time and money. Not to mention a happy and healthy turtle.UPDATE: September 2009. I upgraded to a 120 gallon tank and this filter runs better than when it filtered the smaller tank. I have been very busy this summer, so I have stopped using the lettuce leaves everyday for my turtle. The purple lettuce leaves get torn to shreds and tends to clog the filter. I added an aerator (remember? she loves swimming in the bubbles) and the water seems clearer. I have added many feeder fish and my RES will happily eat them from time to time. She has decided that two of the big gold fish, one smaller minnow, two snails and three bottom feeders(one named Sushi) are her friends. She will not eat them and the filter can manage their waste with ease as well. I have designated one day per month for major cleaning. I put Scooter in a plastic bucket with some water and a rock and she will watch me spend about 2-3 hours cleaning everything. Scrubbing the algae off everything manages the overly green slime problem. I have found the tubes/hose that lead to the filter cannot be removed and difficult to clean. I have a little brush to break up the slime that can clog it at times. Then where I can't reach the tubing, I simply squeeze the tube until the solid slime on the inside of the tubing breaks up and finally filters into the tube/hose or the aquarium. Make sure you do this before you change the water. The slime can be quite messy and you don't want to clog brand new filter medium. There were times that it was difficult to prime, and I am not sure what the problem was but persistence is the key. I kept trying different things like making sure there was enough water in the intake valve and sealing the cap securely. The replacement filters are easy to find and although they are not cheap, they are worth more to me by reducing the amount of time I spend cleaning. I still think the intake tube(s) are flimsy and need to be updated to accommodate aquariums that don't have water filled to the top. I have furnace tape to secure the joints to prevent air getting into the filter. It works but wish the design was better so that I didn't have to resort to such a primitive solution. Overall, the filter earns its keep and provides a healthy clean evironment for my turtle and her fish friends.

Searched long to find the right filter. These Bio filters with multiple chambers for media is the way to go with turtles. We have a female red ear slider about 7 inches front to back of shell (she was about the size of a silver dollar when we got her two years ago). She is very messy and the in tank filter was just not handling it. This filter with fresh water and a good shell scrubbing of our baby has worked fine. We used to have to clean her tank and change water every week to keep her water from getting too filthy. This filter in a forty gallon aquarium has been set up for three months now and other than adding water as it evaporates and cleaning her rocks we haven't had to do anything else except feed her. We did clean out the filter once because she made a mess of some fresh aquatic plants we bought for her. She chewed up fifteen dollars worth of plants in just two days. She probably ate some but most of them were chewed and left floating. The filter clogged from all the plant material. But I can't blame the filter for that. The water is always crystal clear. She seems to love her environment now.There is a couple of things to keep in mind when using the filter for turtles. The intake tubing inside the tank comes in sections that have to be pushed together. They tend to loose prime at the connections because turtle tanks are only about half full and some of the connections are above the water level. I had to glue them together to keep the prime. The filter has to absolutely be at least 16 inches below the tank bottom. I set ours on the floor and the tank on the top of a 29 inch high credenza. When priming remember to fill the tube with water with the filter hose valve in the off position (the instructions will explain). Make sure there are no air leaks and screw on the cap tightly on the prime hole when you are done priming. With no air leaks in the intake hose, the tank about half full or more and the top of the filter about 16 inches below the bottom of the tank when you lock the hoses in place which opens the valves the weight of the water in the intake hose should pull water through the intake tube to fill the filter and you should at this point have a prime. This should now let you turn the filter on without loosing prime and your tank should stay clean like ours for months. This filter has three cannisters and each cannister has two chambers. We are using the foam layers as they came with the filter, two large pore followed by two small pore foams filters in the first cannister (this is from the bottom of the filter to the top). The water moves around the cannisters to the bottom of the filter and is pulled up to the top. So the set up is from the bottom up. The second cannister we used for the biomass. We used the round pellets in the first (bottom) chamber with a mesh top (included), followed by the star biomass media in the second chamber (top). In the third cannister we used nitrate/nitrite (white amonia media) in the first chamber followed by a mesh and then charcoal media in the second chamber with a micron filter on top followed by another mesh. Then we placed the top on that and closed it. After about a month and a half we had the plant incident and had to clean the filter. I just rinsed everything out real good except for the biomass media which I lightly rinsed (you want to keep the bacteria that collects on the media because this helps eat the chemicals in the water and solids). I then replaced everything again and it has been working great since. They recommend changing the carbon every month but we haven't yet. They also recommend changing the nitrate/nitrite media every ten months, so we have a while to go. The micron filter needs to be changed also after a few months. I wouldn't change the foam unless it is clogged to the point were I can't get it cleaned out. It is only to collect solids and retain them till they decompose and are absorbed by the bacteria.I think any multiple chamber filter would work as well. I am skeptical about anything below three chambers for turtles. One large turtle I think is the equivalent of a thousand fish in feces and pee (that's just my guess). This filter is rated for a much bigger tank but I think a smaller filter would not have worked for a turtle as large as ours. Turtles do grow fast and keep growing. They also live for forty years so get a large filter that will handle larger tanks. If you can afford it I would go for the XP4 which is bigger and rated for larger aquariums. For turtles I think multiple chambers are really important because they do not need oxygen in the water since they do not have gills but they do need clean water to stay healthy and they are super, super, mega super messy.The biggest complaints I have read from turtle owners about filters is getting a prime. Remember, you can not have any air leaks in the intake tube or hosing. We are going to look for a solid tube that we can cut to use for our intake so we do not have connections above the water.Cons: Only the tubing, It should be a solid piece that you cut to size instead of multiple small pieces you connect together. But then again this setup works fine for fish tanks since the level of the water would always be above the connections. For turtle tanks which are only filled a little above half way you need to glue the connections above the water or find a solid tube to use instead.

I had the old Rena XP3 and this is almost the same. My old Rena lasted 8 years before the pump strength started to weaken. There are a few differences with the power head and the input/output tubes but they are almost the same as the old model. I haven't had any problems with this filter and am very happy with its performance so far. I am using it on a 65 gallon turtle tank.This filter can sometimes be a little tricky to prime, but after a few tries it does work. I haven't had a problem with it struggling to restart after a power outage.I was a little concerned with the many people claiming it leaked after the first day or two so I did take precautions. I placed the whole filter in a deep Rubbermaid bin to avoid flooding my house in the event of a leak. I left it in that bin for 2 months and never once had a drop leak out. Make sure you seat the lid correctly. It shouldn't be too much of a struggle to clip the lid on or clamp the hose assembly down.Overall I'm very happy with my purchase and I hope that this one lasts another 8 years (but I'd be happy with 5). It is a great price for a filter designed for 175 gallons and keeps my 65 gallon turtle tank sparkling.

Great filter system, easy to set up, quiet operation. I highly recommend, this is my second Rena filter, wore the other out after many years of hassle free use.

Using this filter on a 50 gallon bow-front tank, and have to praise it's ease of setup, use, and maintenance. It's quick and convenient to disconnect for cleaning, which I do on a weekly basis. The problem is the tank size rating they go with. There is NO WAY I'd ever use the size L filter on a tank any bigger than 50 gallons, as it doesn't really have the flow rate to be effective. Even though my tank is less than half the size the filter can supposedly handle, I need to use a power head or two to circulate the water towards the intake, as it doesn't have the power on it's own. On top of this, once you add in the recommended finer and micro filtration pads, that flow rate drops even further.Good filter, easy to use, just cut the tank size rating AT LEAST by two thirds when choosing one for yours. There's no way the large can handle a 175 gallon tank, 50 tops.

I have been running this filter for 3 months now, and I have no complaints so far. Clean construction and easy to maintain. Buy a big sheet of aquarium padding and use it instead of the one's produced by api, they make no difference and it saves you a bunch of money. No problem with priming. This filter runs on an overstocked african cichlid tank.

A little tricky getting all the air out of the canister to preserve motor function (instructions on youtube on how to remedy) and no matter what I do, very fine particles get back into the tank (seems to be bypassing the baskets which contain extra filter floss). So I will indeed need to add sponge filters for additional mechanical filtration.Update: I've been running this filter for a few months now and can further elaborate on issues mentioned above. Indeed, a considerable amount of dirt does bypass the baskets. Water enters the filter and some of it immediately exits through the top before having been directed down into the unit and up through the baskets. I found it necessary to put sponges and floss in the top and bottom baskets, and keep bb media in the center where it accumulates less debris. I've also had to add air driven sponge filters to the tank to make up for the lack of mechanical filtration the Filstar provides.From day one, air gets sucked inside continuously. I've switched the hose clamps to metal clamps, replaced o-rings and gaskets and still it sucks air (which makes it noisy, blows micro bubbles into the tank and causes greater wear on the motor) and ensured the primer spout was sealed tight (even wrapped the threads with plumber's tape). Nothing has slowed the amountmof air that gets pulled into the canister. After taking it apart, I notice there is nothing wrapped around the power cord to prevent air from being pulled into the sizable hole. I'm working on ways to seal it, I will probably end up using silicone. If this effort fails, I'll honestly give up and seek out a new canister filter or build my own.