Zilla Aquatic Reptile Internal Filter - Keep Your Pet's Habitat Clean and Healthy

SOMEwhiteBEARSOMEwhiteBEAR: Well my impression is I was desperately looking for a good filter system to keep my African sideneck turtles tank clean and this gets the job done definitely. My only complaint is the noise level if zilla releases a improved 2.0 version I'll definitely buy it. The suction cups are very strong I'm a 6ft large built guy and I can tell you it sticks to your tank well.
I'd recommend this definitely if you can compromise a little noise.

United States on Nov 05, 2023

Audrey White: Learned this the hard way. It catches a lot so it gets pretty gross if you more than 2-3 weeks without replacing the filter. It makes a horrendous noise if the top is not on correctly or the filter is full.

It does make noise so folks think water is running somewhere in my house. You can hear it across the house. This only 4 stars. But it does a great job.

United States on Jul 27, 2023

Cathie C. M.: I have a snapping turtle in a 20 gallon tank. We have gone through several filters. They breakdown fairly quickly because they suck up the sand. This model has four suction cups that hold it quite securely to the inside of the aquarium to elevate it above the sand. Its also very quiet. Its more expensive then the other filters I have ordered...but hey, I had to replace those multiple times. We will see how this one holds up. So far I'm very happy with it. The water was clean within a few minutes.

The day after the post my filter stopped working. No warning. Just stop. The company sent a replacement. Fingers crossed it was just a bad part.

United States on Jul 17, 2023

Giant Turtle Gamera: I've purchased this twice now--not because of issues, but because it's exactly what I needed. When my first one finally gave out after years of cycling my turtle's water I immediately bought another one. I spent years trying to find the right filter setup. (Started when turtle was 5 y/o - he's now 27).

I tried below tack hose systems, actual pond filtration systems-which were great but too much power in water pressure and electric bills, smaller compact kit systems-never enough pressure/filtering power, and finally settled on this one. It's super quiet-aside from the sound of the water. Easy to change the filter media, and easy to remove from the tank for deep cleaning of the unit itself.

Suction to the wall is great. Turtle can't rip it from the wall of the tank when secured properly. I've half-axxed reattaching a time or two and it's no match for im. As long as you take the time to make sure it sticks it'll be fine.

Highly recommended - will purchase again when the current one reached end-of-service.

United States on May 20, 2023

Ian Fisher: The media could not be loaded.  I have just received this filter today (Aug 8) and set it up in my tank. This filter is very noisy. It almost sounds like there are air bubbles inside that it can't purge. I held the filter underwater and shook it to try to get the bubbles to escape, but it doesn't stop the excess noise. Power cycling changes the noise, but doesn't eliminate it.

The filter housing itself is pretty neat, and comes apart pretty easily for cleaning. There is just a power head sideways under the filter holder insert that slides into the outer casing. It might be the pieces of the housing amplifying the noise of the filter though.

*Edit* Dec 6
The filter has stopped making that noise and is working fine. I bumped it to 4 stars as it still has some flaws. The suction cups are fairly unreliable. It is usually hanging on by one after a few hours, though whichever decides it will hold typically will for a few days. I do wish more manufacturers would switch to magnetic mounts, they hold in place much better than suction cups, especially over time. I might fabricate something to hang it.
That being said, this is quickly overwhelmed by turtle debris....

United States on Aug 08, 2022

Tara111: Broke after 1 day

Canada on Sep 14, 2021

Pete: Works great.... But it is so loud I had to stop using it... Disappointing

Canada on Apr 16, 2021

Cheryl J. Kautz: I likes this a very nice quiet & more room to add my ammonia, carbon, foam, & biofiltration stones in the zilla filter. More powerful nice to keep clean water for my aquatic turtle. Perfect & Awesome! :)

Canada on Mar 13, 2021

jones: Cycles a ton of water per hour. Very good at keeping an aquatic turtle tank clean. My only gripe is that it is a bit loud. As in you an't do things like read next to it. Something I enjoyed doing to keep my turtle company

Canada on Nov 11, 2019

Laura Torres: It doesnt keep my turtle tank clean for more than a few days. Disappointing!

Canada on May 31, 2019