So I have a 45 gallon, and a 65 gallon tank in my entry way, that I have been raising Tilapia in them… the entryway is heated, but it is far away from a water source, or a drain, but it is close to my grow out tanks, out in the yard… while I’m not in love with the skimmer, on the filters… the filter part is the best of any filter design I’ve tried, and the pump design is awesome… it’s super easy to remove the filter “pan” and put it in a dish pan, and transfer it to my aquarium sink.. I have made one custom change… it comes with a fine mesh zippered bag for ceramic media, I feel the bag is too fine a mesh… ceramic media has kind of fallen from grace, but the nuggets are the same that come in the Aquaclear series, albeit not enough of them, imo… I replace the fine mesh bag, with another, the same size, but with a coarser mesh, as I find the fine mesh blinds over faster, reducing the flow to the media, and then I add about as many ceramic donuts / pipes, as there as nuggets, effectively doubling the amount of media… the sponge at the bottom of the pan is coarse, imo, just about the perfect size… they literally take me 10 minutes to clean them, and I have to go up and down a staircase to get to my work area…
