General Care Discussion :: Newbie - Living in Italy - 220v Filter help

[Oliver'smom]

My niece came home with two half dollar sized red eared sliders the other day. I'm living in Naples, Italy and can't find an appropriate filter, so I'm looking for one in the states that is 110/220 volt 50-60 hertz. I have a 50 gallon tank, so I guess I need a filter for a 100 gallon tank. Anyone know of any brand that is 220v compatible?

[BullDog]

Welcome!
What is most important in a filter is the amount of water it can turn over. This will be in gallons per hour or litres per hour.
You want something with at least 3x the gph (or about 11-12 lph) the size of your tank. So for your 50 gallon tank, you want something that says it's rated at least 150 gph or ~570 lph. But more is always better.

Canister filters are recommended over internal or waterfall filters, because they generally hold much more media.

I think that Hagen makes their products internationally. A good filter for your tank would be the Fluval 404 or 405.
On their UK site, they list the 405 as 220V, 60Hz. Not sure if that would work for you:
http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/product ... 2160030401

This is just a suggestion though. You may be able to find other filters that will work. Another filter you can keep an eye out for is the Rena XP3.
You may also find something at a local pet store, which would be compatible of course. Just be wary of pet store employees. Most know very little about turtles, and are just out to sell you products you don't need or that won't work for turtles.

[Oliver'smom]

Thank you for the link. I'll see if I can get one of the UK stores to ship to me. I live in Italy, but have a military stateside address. Most of the stores I've found won't ship to an FPO address. Thanks again. I'm sure I will have tons of questions in the near future.

[steve]

I would think you should have good access to aquarium supplies/filters in Italy. Do you know if there are any stores nearby?

[Oliver'smom]

I've been to all the pet stores in the area. A lot of them don't even carry aquarium supplies. It doesn't help any that I don't speak the language. I have to drag an interpreter around with me. I've emailed several of the UK stores to see if they will ship to my stateside military address...still waiting for replies. I was hoping I could find a filter in the States that was 110/240v 50/60 hertz.

[jozzep]

Oliver's mom........
I lived in Italy as well and i know what you mean....the filtration set ups are different, they actually use a chamber at one side of the fish tank that is filled with media and small power head pump to pull the water through that chamber and filter it.I've never seen a canister filter in the stores there.
You can try ebay.uk or ebay.au, which are united kingdom and australia that both have 220v current.Or you can buy a 110v filter from the states and use it with a 220 to 110 "step down" transformer.They sell them online as well.Radioshack has them for sure.
Good luck

[Oliver'smom]

Yes!...That's exactly what they gave me with the aquarium...a pump, the white cotton like material (will learn proper name soon...LOL), and a bag a charcoal filtering material. They stuffed it under the basking area, and said it would be fine. I just didn't feel confident in the actual filtering effectiveness. I've tried several ebay.co.uk sellers and they don't want to ship to the US (I have the military address), so I've ask an Italian friend if I could use her mailing address....working on that now.

Another question...They didn't have a new heater so they threw in one out of an aquarium...yep, they just unplugged it, let it cool down and put it in my bag. It has water marks where the cord has been under water. It is immersible, but does that mean heater and cord (at least 3 inches)? I will purchase a new back up, but want to be sure this one is safe.

[jozzep]

All aquarium heaters are "submersible" and water resistant,even the Italian ones ...

[BullDog]

All aquarium heaters are "submersible" and water resistant,even the Italian ones ...

You have to be careful about that. Both my heaters are not supposed to be submerged. There is a line on them that has marked "high/max water line". I'm sure they're water tight and all, but they're not really meant to be fully underwater.
Oliver's mom, if there is no line near the top of it saying high water line, then it should be OK to fully submerge.

[jozzep]

You have to be careful about that. Both my heaters are not supposed to be submerged. There is a line on them that has marked "high/max water line".

Never heard of such a thing, and why would you even bother buying one

[mike hill]

The standard water heater has an adjustment ,twist knob, that is sealed by an o-ring, and that is the first thing that wears out from the heat. If you are in the habit of not letting it get above that seal it will not leak. That o-ring will hold out a small amount of pressure but not for long period of time. When water does get in, it shorts out the element and or boil, causing the heater to crack or explode.

[Oliver'smom]

O.K..now I'm really confused...doesn't take much. I have a Hydor ProTherm Heater 200W. I've read up on it and it says it is fully submersible. I don't want it to "crack or explode"...so I don't put the twist knob below the water?

Thanks you all for the help. This is all so very new to me. I feel like I'm in a race against time to get the proper set up, and my address is working against me. I have two repti glo 5.0 26 watt bulbs on the way from the UK. I should hear back later today about a fluval 305 from the same guy.

We just noticed today that one of the little guys has a darker area on the shell that wasn't there before, and the other one has a lighter spot on the outer edge. They are in a 10 gallon tank until I get the bigger tank set up. I do have a 60 watt light above the tank and an basking area for them...I don't want it to get too hot in the small aquarium, so I went with 60 watt. I will call around and see if I can find and herpetologist tomorrow. Also, I've been using bottled water because where we live we are not suppose to drink the water. I can't imagine it being good for them to live in, but I read somewhere else that they need tap water for some reason...but no chlorine or flouride.

The guy that sold these poor little turtles to my niece said all they needed was a tank and the shrimp that came with them. I guess some people are just out for a quick buck. It's so unfair to the turtles. Thanks again!

[scottpkura]

You can submerge it completly, if it says it's entirely submersible. The only thing to make sure that it doesn't explode or crack is to leave it in your tank ungplugged for 15-20 minutes before powering it on.

[Oliver'smom]

O.K...I've got the heater figured out now...working on the rest. Thanks!