"Building" an aquarium

[seangee]

For ease of use and maintenance I like the Seachem Tidal and can vouch for them. They are also quiet and come with regular media, not cartridges. Note @Essjay's comments about needing a hole in the lid and the need for a straight glass edge. Plenty of cheaper options on Amazon - but I haven't tried them.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I had a Marineland Penguin Biowheel HOB for several years. It worked fine, although the impeller shaft only seemed to last a year or two before needing replaced. Not a big deal, but annoying. I don't care for HOBs as they tend to be a bit noisy and churn the water more than my floating plants like. But for effectiveness and ease of maintenance, they're hard to beat!

 

[PygmyMitch]

but I've never "built" a set-up from scratch; I've always relied on the Fluval built-in system

I have my own built-in system using the pump and nozzle outlet from the fluval flex tank. I ordered the acrylic plastic, pre-cut to the sizes I needed online. I cut the outlet holes myself and then used aquarium safe silicone to seal it into the tank. I kept mine simple, I have one compartment for sponges and filter floss, and a second compartment for the heater and pump.



I find it really easy for maintenance as it is easy to access the sponges, where as an internal filter you generally have to mess with the filter and in some cases remove the filter to get the sponges out. I also use the sponge chamber for adding water back into the tank when doing water changes as this stops the substrate getting pushed about.



I have of course lost some space for the fish, but on the plus side I have much more space for sponges and there is no heater or filter on show, so in my opinion it definitely does look better.

 

[seangee]

I have my own built-in system using the pump and nozzle outlet from the fluval flex tank. I ordered the acrylic plastic, pre-cut to the sizes I needed online. I cut the outlet holes myself and then used aquarium safe silicone to seal it into the tank. I kept mine simple, I have one compartment for sponges and filter floss, and a second compartment for the heater and pump.

Great idea. I thought of that when I set up my newest tank but the tank itself was the wrong shape to try that. The Flex design is brilliant and so simple.