Turtle filter for aquarium

My turtle lives in a 26 gallon tank and I do not fill the water up to the top. It has a palm tree & a rock platform to climb up on and loves its living arrangements! Pebbles is one happy turtle. But I need a filter that will work in this 26 gallon tank even if the water isn't that terribly high, the tank is high (he was known to climb out of his old 10 gallon tank). The filter I have now is called 520 something. It doesn't work and the employees at petsmart suggested it too. I used TopFin filters in the 10 gallon tank, and it worked slightly better but I don't think it would work since I don't fill up his tank. Any suggestions? Thank you! :)

Your definitely on the right track on your set-up.:-) Keep in mind though that a full grown water turtle needs no less than a 50 gallon tank filled 3/4 full. Fish gravel is one of those things a lot of people use, but a lot of turtles ingest this stuff which can cause fatal impaction. The suggested bottom covering is river rocks. Rock big enough there's no way it can fit in the turtles mouth.and it looks more natural.:-D

As for the filter.one used for water turtles needs 3 things. It's an external canister filter which uses chemical, biological and electrical means for the best filtering.

The Fluval 440 is what's recommended by top rehabbers because of the quality and efficiency of these. It's worked great for my daughters RES tank. Feeding your turtle outside of the tank will help keep the water cleaner. Using a smaller feeder tank.or rubbermaid "feeding box" will keep the food out of the main tank from rotting. A lot of turtles will also defecate in the feed box cutting that portion of filth in the main tank down, too. They'll still poop in the main tank, but the mess will certainly be easier to deal with.:-)