This product has had strangely mixed reviews, from exuberant to downright hate mail. I bought it because I thought that the other canister filter I was considering would be too powerful and would churn up the water too much for my small turtles.
When you test a filter, you can't just look at the water and say it works great; you have to test the water. Believe me, the turtles can tell the difference when there is a high ammonia content. You would too, if you were swimming in your own pee!
I've had this filter for 4 weeks. The first three weeks I could get no bio filtration at all, and the ammonia stayed at a high level. Then for the last week the filter has worked great and my ammonia is down at zero.
So I can highly recommend this product for a small tank normally used for baby turtles. What I do NOT recommend is the carbon inserts that go with the product! The insert is basically a disposable bag of activated carbon that is machined into smooth pellets. These pellets do a horrible job of absorbing the organics that they are supposed to control.
In the third week, I went to the aquarium store, bought a nylon bag, and filled it with over-the-counter activated carbon. These are basically raw chips of coal. The rough sides of the coal provide ample porous surface area for absorption. Also the activated carbon at the pet store comes a lot cheaper than the 501 carbon inserts.
You don't know clean water until you see the difference between the pellets and the activated carbon chips; you'll see the difference in just one day. But what's more important is that one week later, my ammonia is down to zero.
Turtles create a LOT of ammonia. With the right carbon, this filter will do the job. The proof is in the testing.
Praise the Lord! Someone has finally made a suitable turtle filter. My 6" western painted turtle has clean water because of this filter. This filter was simple to set-up, and hangs right on the side of my tank, not taking up any extra space (I purchased the filter hanger seperatly). As with any filter, you will need to replace the charcoal inserts, and they run around $3. This is a small price to pay to keep your pet's water clean. I find I need to replace them every 3-4 weeks. My turtle loves the optional spray bar (included) but it can be a pain to clean. Buy a cheap, small pipe-cleaner (or use pipe-cleaners like me)brush to get the grime off. I believe it's a small price to pay for a filter that WORKS! The small fish we have in the water as food aren't harmed by the powerful suction created near the water intake, either.
Overall best filter for the money (see update 2). Do your shopping I found one at my local pet store for $50.00 and found one online for $25 with free shipping! With the one-year warranty, what do you have to lose?
*Beware if you have smaller turtles it does create a 'suction' area just like other canister filters and small turtles may become trapped.
UPDATE: 6 months later, this filter is still working like a charm! We had a small problem with the fliter not priming after a cleaning once, but it turned out that I had mixed up the way something went on, so it was my fault. After reading more, the ceramic blocks never need to be replaced, just rinsed, and the foam part doesn't need to be replaced unless it's showing wear. If the foam does need to be replaced, the replacement foam is around $4. After 6 months, we still haven't replaced the foam! We are pleased with how well this filter works.
UPDATE2: My husband went to clean our fantastic turtle filter and dropped one of the pieces down the sink drain! I thought for sure I'd need to buy an entire new filter. I was excited to learn that ZooMed has a an assortment of replacement items for 501 filters! I didn't need to buy a new filter, just a small $4 part! Also, the ceramic pieces are sold (if you hate cleaning yours) for around $6. Mine are on a year and show little wear. I'm so pleased with this purchase and quality of customer service from ZooMed!
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I have a red-eared slider and have tried many other filters at reasonable prices for a 20 gallon tank. It is a good buy for the money. This one so far is the best because all of the algae is in the tubes or in the filter kept on the outside of the tank. It is less stuff to clean. You will definitely need a small brush to clean the tubes and change the carbon once every two weeks. I tried cleaning the carbon filter and using it again but the tank does not stay as clean.
Read Best Reviews of Zoo Med 501 Turtle Canister Filter Here
As others have mentioned, the instructions for the filtration media placement are at odds with the images displayed on the boxfollow the box (ceramic on bottom, carbon on top). More importantly, the carbon media that the filter comes with is much too full. In other words, if you put all of the ceramic media on the bottom, and then attempt to shove the carbon bag on top of it, you will end up with an overly packed filter, leading to difficult priming, low flow rate, and general frustration. As a test, try running the filter without the carbon bag, and see how much more readily the filter primes, as well as the drastic increase in flow rate.
My solution was to cut open the carbon bag and transfer some of its contents to a clean, thin sock. This would probably be an easy issue to troubleshoot for an experienced owner/user, but I imagine that most people looking to buy a small, low-cost unit like this do not fall into that categoryso hopefully, this saves some other novice owners a half-hour or so of frustration.
One additional note: the "activated" carbon that comes with this filter is worthless. I noticed no difference in water clarity, or in the time needed between changes, with the stock carbon (vs. no filter at all). With real activated carbon (the finely granulated kind you can buy from any pet store), performance improved dramatically (stock carbon = needed to change water once every 1-2 days, new/activated carbon = water still clear after 5-6 days). It may help to get a couple of different size filter bags to optimize the quantity of carbon you place in the filter body.
1/6/2012 update:
Having gained a bit more experience with caring for a RES, I'd have to say this is definitely a starter/supplemental filter. By itself, this should be adequate for a 10-15 gallon tank and a single, young RES, provided it is cleaned at least once a month (and assuming regular water changes according to tested parameters). However, an RES will quickly outgrow the capacity of this filter-easily within six months, unless you are willing to clean this out weekly.
That said, it's still a worthwhile purchase, as the size, quiet operation, reliability, and low power draw makes it a perfect supplement to a proper canister (I highly recommend the Rena XP3/XP4). My current setup is:
1. Rena XP3 with sponge pre-filter attached to intake. This does the heavy lifting and is mainly filled with biological media and some foam for mechanical filtration. The pre-filter keeps this from getting gunked up too quickly, but also means that larger particles remain in circulation for a longer period of time. Hence...
2. Zoo Med 501 with open intake (strainer removed-obviously this should be performed only if appropriate, i.e. no small fish or other critters that could get sucked up) and filled with ceramic media/coarse filter material, plus sponges. This efficiently captures larger particles and provides a bit of extra circulation to low-flow zones in the tank.
3. Sponge filter driven by an air pump for additional in-tank bio filtration.
4. Air stone for providing extra agitation to low-flow zones.
With this setup in a 50-gallon pond-style container, I only need to open the canister filters once every few months to perform a thorough cleaning. Partial/full water changes are, of course, still required, but that is an easy task compared to constant filter maintenance.
Bottom line-the 501 is a excellent value for all turtle owners. There aren't many low-cost, reliable, compact canister filters on the market, and this is definitely one of the better choices.
My advice to first-time purchasers is to ditch the carbon altogether and just use ceramic rings or comparable biological media (Seachem Matrix, API Bio-Chem stars, etc). Keep the round sponge filter as is, and be prepared to upgrade to a real canister filter very soon. If you have an additional $20 to spare, pick up an air pump, some 3/16 tubing, a check valve, a small air stone, and a Hydro sponge filter. The sponge filter will provide additional bio filtration and a small degree of mechanical cleaning.
If you feel the need to use activated carbon, the easiest way is to get a fine mesh filter bag and hang some carbon in the water (preferably in a high-flow area). You should be changing carbon every few weeks, and it's much easier to reach in and pull a filter bag out, than open a canister up; this also frees up valuable space in the 501 for more bio/mechanical media, which is what you really need for a turtle tank anyway.
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I recently received two hatchling ear sliders as a gift. Having a 35 gallon hexagonal tank already, we re-outfitted it for turtle usage (floating island, turtle-safe heater, submersible filter, dual heat lamps [night and daylight], thermometers, etc.) and turned everything on. The submersible "drop in" filter was terrible. It did a barely competent job of keeping the water clean and it was loud. That's right, completely submerged, and it was louder than many over-the-back tank filters I have owned (came in a kit, so not a terrible suprise).
I obtained the 501, and now I wonder why I ever used another filter on any tank. This thing runs silent as the grave. Once the system gets any residual oxygen out of the lines, the only sound you hear is from the drip-tube (and if you angle the holes towards the back wall of the aquarium, you don't hear a thing). The suction is strong enough to really pull waste from the gravel at the opposite end of the tank, and the water cleared in less than two hours from its formerly murky state.
This aquarium also houses feeder fish for the turtles, and the detrius can build up quite quickly. No problem for the 501, plus with the drip tube given sufficient height over the water, I really have no need for an air bubbler, as the surface oxygen exchange is excellent with such a high flow rate/pressure.
An excellent buy, I give this product my highest recommendation.
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Great filter for the money. It's similar in design to an eheim and can be zero bypass if used correctly. The only cons are it vibrates a lot. The pump is located on the outflow tube so it's smaller of a unit. It's very quiet, unless it's pushed up against something, then you hear the vibration. I replaced the center sponge with a panty hose filled with eheim bio media. Used on an 8 gallon shrimp tank. Intake and outflow plastic is quality, comes with intake strainer, spray bar and a smaller spray nozzle. For this price you can't go wrong :)
