What I like about this it is very quiet. The system is well built. It’s nice because you can make your own filters As long as you have the right sponges. I grew cat grass for my first time took only about four days to cultivate. My cats love it perfect little patch of grass.

I like that this filter hangs on the back of the aquarium so it doesn’t take up space inside the aquarium. It comes with instructions, but not very detailed. So I had to go by the picture and tried my best to put everything together with minimal instructions. I still don’t know what a small sponge tube is for. I just put it on the intake tube as a placeholder. It took a little bit of time to get this filter to work because after I filled the water above the fill line it was struggling to siphon or draw in enough water to get the flowing started. I added some more water and then I saw that the water started to flow downward where waterfall area is. This filter does not come with a lid because you’re supposed to grow some live plants on top of it, but I honestly don’t know how to do that , and I do not have any live plants. So I just left it empty. I think it’s a good filter for my small aquarium. The only issue that I have with it is this gurgling noise that it makes intermittently every 15 to 20 seconds. It actually grates on my nerves. But otherwise, I do believe it is a good filter because the water is clear now.

I like this HOB style filter. I will be adding bio stones to the filter boxes inside, & a mesh net small enough to cover the grey water float. So that the faint duckweed doesn’t get sucked down.

I bought this for the clever open top and the SKIMMER. If you are looking for a proper skimmer, this isn't it. I have a mature plant grow out tank, that just has melt, and therefore quite a bit of scum. This filter might as well not even include it. It might work well for other low stock tanks, but if you have a scum issue it's not a solution. Also, if the water inlet is anything over 25%, it bypasses the filter cartridge at the bottom and overflows the top, straight into the plant area. Not a huge deal, and you could switch the filter media in the bottom chamber, but just why include it like that. It's so restrictive. It's pretty pointless. It's just a hang on back without a lid. Don't pay for it thinking it will skim really well or filter better than the cheapest option.

I like to have emergent plants at the back of my aquarium, but I don't like the look of the messy roots hanging in the tank. This filter gives a dedicated space for the plants out of the tank while still circulating water between the plants and the tank. You also don't have to worry about the plant roots getting caught in the impeller. If you use the default sponge to plant your plants just be aware that the plant roots are going to grow into the sponge and you probably will not be able to separate plants from the sponge in the future without damaging both. I replaced that sponge with other media up top and moved the sponge below to replace the media box below the hydroponic piece. I like how each piece of this filter can come apart allowing you to customize it to how you want it. The skimmer and prefilter sponge were nice additions as well. One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the pale green color. While it looks lovely in the stock photos, I would have preferred this to be a darker color to blend in with the rest of the filter and let the plants be the pop of color.

The filter is easy to set up, it's pretty intuitive and it does come with a diagram showing you how to connect the tubes to each other. That's about it though, there is a lot of information on the box, but it is all in asian hieroglyphs. There are no instructions on how to set up a plant to aid in filtration. It gives absolutely no guidance on that aspect which is a bummer. I kinda hoped it included seeds or something, but no, it didn't . The filter itself is very nice, seems sturdy and well made. I cannot really say too much on how it functions once on because I haven't set up my mini reef yet. I'm slowly collecting everything I need to get started. I like that this has a skimmer. As soon as I set it up and figure out the plant situation, I promise, I will update this review with more details on that aspect.

I have a few fish tanks in my classroom, and have experimented with hydroponics as a classroom project. This filter looked like an easy way to grow a few things on the "prison" tank where my male guppies live. The holes at the top of the filter are plenty large to insert a plant stem, and the depth of them and surrounding basket make them idea for propagating water-growing plant species. The filter cartridge just gets removed and rinsed (if no one has ever told you to rinse your filters in the water you remove from a tank during a water change, that's how you rinse them - never under running faucet water, or you risk destroying all of the little balanced bacteria cultures that you've spent all of this time establishing), and the filter runs very quietly. It comes with a couple of different lengths for the part that sucks in water, so you can use what works best for your tank depth. The suction is deceptively strong, especially for how quiet it is - I had some strings of anacharis floating free in the tank for the sulky little dude guppies to flit about in, and one morning I realized that the filter basket had sucked in half of a string of plant! Fortunately, it's easy to remove (I did rinse this part under running water) and clean out, and we were back up and running again. Great little filter.

This is a great filer its super quiet and dose a great job at keeping the tank clean. Very easy to take apart to clean.

I put this filter on a cichlid tank that has nitrates absolutely through the roof. I regularly reach 60-70 nitrate level before each weekly water change. Having the ability to grow plants that pull out the nitrates has been awesome! My levels have dropped a good 15ppm weekly, which helps with the water quality tremendously, as well as the health of my fish. The filtration aspect of it is okay, I'm not sure how much I would trust this as the only filter on my tank. Overall, it's pretty solid and a great price for what is effectively a HOB refugium filter!

Ideal for small aqua-ecosystems, this filter runs quietly and supports both fish and hydroponic plants efficiently. I'm growing Bok Choy in mine.