Its 3500lph "without load" so yeah, no media and it does 3500 but normally it will do 2300lph.
Ive read that artical that michaelw posted, and it outline the best bits of both, allthoguh I was never going to get the 2080 because of its price, but the info on the FX5 is really useful. What I think I might do is get a 2217 which I can get for £70 inc some foam and sponges, and then maybe get the 2028 which has more filter volume, and comes complete with all the actual eheim media (like the substrat pro etc) which is about £130. The other thing I could do is just get two 2217s, and one suitable media kit for about £35 and have one as the prefilter with just the sponges and the other with all the proper media for the best filtration. I think the seccond on will be best in terms of value and quality. I would also get the powerline filter to give lots of internal water movement.
I would do the sump and trickle tower, however I have no clue how to set one up and there dont really seem to be any sites with info on a FW sump.
Mike