Which canister filter for a 120g paludarium?

[Natalie]

Hi everyone, it's been forever since I posted on here. I have a 120g glass tank (4x2x2) that I am setting up as a paludarium for my adult musk turtle. The plan is for the tank to be half-full with water, leaving the upper half for 1-2 islands with plants. For now the tank is equipped with a weak Fluval UV4 internal filter until I can get the entire setup figured out.

I've ruled out drilling the tank for an overflow, because my husband bought the tank new and we're too nervous about ruining it. That leaves a canister filter as my best option, but I need something that can filter not only the 36" height of the stand plus 12" height of the water column, but also the extra 12" between the water surface and top of the tank. Since most filters aren't manufactured to do this, I don't want something that's going to burn out siphoning the extra height. I had an Eheim 2217 on my smaller paludarium and thought it worked ok, but was difficult to prime. Any recommendations for this larger setup?

 

[Oughtsix]

With a canister filter the 36" height of the stand is not relevant since it is a pressurized system. You only have a mean height differential of 12" (from the water level to the top of the tank assuming the outlet tubing will be at the top of the tank and the water will fall 12" to the tank water level). If you loop the return over the top of the tank and down to the water level your mean height differential will be 0 because of the siphon effect of the downward half of the loop from the top of the tank to the water level. With a mean water level differential of zero the pump in the canister only has to overcome the resistance to flow from the tubing and the filter media.

So pretty much any filter that is up to filtering a turtle tank should be fine (I believe turtles need more filtering because they poop more?)

 

[Natalie]

I really appreciate your reply and see what you are saying. I think I am going to go for a Fx4. The turtle I have is a 5" fully grown musk turtle, and they're not quite as messy as other/large species, but I have had several FX5's and absolutely loved them.