Hi everyone. My name is Lisa and I’m fairly new to this. Last February (2019) my 27 year old son brought home to me two red eared sliders. They were tiny things about the size of a silver dollar. His friend couldn’t keep them so my son thought I would like them. I was just finishing chemo and he thought it would make me happy and take my mind off everything that was happening. They did and still are. They came in a 10 gallon tank with a very large rock for them to bask under the light and a filter. Mind you, I had no idea at the time about proper care. It wasn’t until a few months ago that my daughter asked me a question about them and I went to google and found a ton of information about care and proper set up. For whatever reason I never looked up care for them previously. I also learned that they are girls. So I named them Thelma and Louise. I was calling them Bevis and Butthead. Currently they are about 2-2.5”.
I found on Craigslist a free 50 gallon tank and stand. Not ideal size but I don’t have space for a larger one at the moment. The tank will be filled to the top. I plan on making an acrylic above tank basking area for them since I have plenty of downtime at the moment.
I have read filtration is key to maintaining a clean tank. Currently I am cleaning their tank every week and partial water changes. I have narrowed my search to Eheim Classic 600 or Marineland Magniflow 360. I kinda like the Eheim because of the design and simplicity of it.
My question is regarding filtration. Anyone using either of these and if so, what are your thoughts on performance? From what I’ve gathered, a lot of people use SunSun, Penn Plax, or Fluval. I don’t read too much about these. Any input would be greatly appreciated.