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So I stumbled across a great deal (finally) on a used tank. I think it's a pretty good setup, from what I've read so far in the forums. It's a 50 gallon plexi-glass with a nice stand. It has 4 holes drilled into the bottom for two canister filters and an external heater. The thing came with 2 HUGE looking filters. They are Hydor Renaissance Prime 30 canister filters (now sold at Petsmart under the name of Proaquatics), rated 240gph each. I know that excess filtration is great when it comes to turtles, but is this too much for hatchlings? I'm worried that this will create too much current in the tank. I have 2 hatchlings in there, one is about an inch and a half, the other an inch and a quarter.

Oh -- check out the pics:
http://angella.longstair.com/v/petsgalore_001/fishtanknew/

there are ways to impede the water flow if that is a concern. do you need to use both filters or maybe you can even use your old filter in their place

Looks great. I bet the turtles love it.

That's a great find! (how wonderful are thrift shops... )

You could experiment and set up everything and see how much of a current is produced (two 240 gph filters does sound like a lot for a 50-gallon tank, though--do they come with spray bars (would cut down on the flow)? If it's too much, just try one. What is the filter you were using before?

What kind of external heater came with in? An in-line?

Hmmm.. Thinking I can just use one of the canisters for now and keep the other one for parts in case something breaks. One seems like plenty, I suppose.

Marisa: not sure what an in-line heater is, but this thing I have says "heater module" on it, and a normal looking Tronic heater slides down inside. It hooks up to the outgoing hose from my filter, least I think it does, because the hose says "out" Haven't tried hooking it up just yet since I need gaskets for the canisters. I have one of those "unbreakable" thermometers just sitting in the middle back of the tank for now. I moved them from a 10 gallon one that I found at another thrift shop a few weeks ago to get them out of that little death trap I had them in, and I was using a little dinky Elite filter and just doing daily water changes.

I've since moved my tiny baby ramshorn snails that have just hatched into the 10 gallon. I also found a decent 40 gallon tank that I plan to put my larger snails, feeder fish and some of my plants into, but just now I'm using the filter that came with that tank in the 50 gallon. I don't think it's really powerful enough -- think it's only rated for a 60 gallon tank, but Hopefully I'll be able to get the parts I need for the canister in a week or so.

Not sure from your description. Is the module supposed to be placed inside the tank (if it uses a regular submersible Tronic heater, I would think so)? At any rate, it sounds interesting...