I have new aquarium with built-in box filter, which has holes at the top, and it seems to me that filter doesn't suck anything! Now I'm thinking about getting an external filter, but this is Juwel aquarium, it should have good filter and I don't see that anything goes in the filter - everything is floating around or staying at the bottom (food, waste, etc.) .
Does anybody have experience with that kind of filter? I thought I would have less cleaning in bigger tank, but now I clean/suck with siphon everyday. It's so messy.

Lots of tanks have a built in area that is used as a protien skimmer for a salt water tank. Is it possible that this is a skimmer type filter that only removes the surface debris?

If so, it is not going to fully work for the goldies and will need supplement. Most of the filters do not remove too much of the larger waste - it breaks down and then is sucked up..... THe most important function of the filter is biological filtration - and this type of skimmer should be able to do that quite well. So, perhaps an addition of a deep intake on another HOB filter would be the solution.....

If only I knew that before... I would buy another, cheaper aquarium and external filter instantly. Now, this filter is taking a lot of space and it doesn't function as good as I thought. What a waste .

Depending on whether you EVER intend to use this tank as a saltwater tank, and how the tank/skimmer are constructed, you can, perhaps convert it to a nice filter for goldies....

If the divider is of a material that can be easily milled, drill a set of hole in the bottom - down near the bottom of the tank. If you wish, you can also drill holes midway up the tube, too.

Setting a large intake pump in the tube, taking the water up and out into a cannister filter or a homemade wet/dry of media and back into the tank will give you good cleanup, good circulation and good filtration....

Its not a skimmer, its a filter that draws water down through slats and also up through slats on the bottom. The water at the top is drawn down through the white media as is the water drawn up from the bottom.
The problem is the pumps on these things, they just arent strong enough and basically useless on a goldie tank. If you want to get an external then thats great as you can get lots of media for the bacteria to grow on. I removed my juwel by taking a stanley knife and cutting the silicone from the back of the filter. Or you can leave it there and let the external help it along.
How does the white foam look when you change it out? It should at least have picked up dirt.

I will change white foam this weekend, for the first time, then I'll be able to tell. Problem is that filter has holes only at the top, and waste is more or less at the bottom.


I don't think I can drill holes, I will definitively make a mess; maybe is little less complicated to buy external filter (my fourth filter in one year ).

Every since I got these goldies (as a gift, without any knowledge and preparation) I have problems with lack of space, lots of waste, dirty water... I hoped this tank will be OK for them, at least until I figure out where to put bigger tank. And it's very frustrating , because I really thought this is quality tank, and with quality tank should go quality filter. I even talked to some people and they said it's a great filter, but I don't see any results. Sandy, you're right, maybe it's good for other fish, not for goldies. External filter, on the other side, are expensive, I have to save some money first, I guess I will buy it in next few months, and then it's good idea to get rid of the box inside the tank, my fish will have more space. Is it possible to remove all silicone off the glass or the glass will stay dirty?

Ah - I see. Thanks, Sandy. That is different from the ones I have seen around here.....

What Sandy said, ok? (ignore me.... )

Thanks, anyway! I've changed white foam and it picked up some dirt, I guess it will be fine for some time until I get external filter. Maybe it's Murphy's law, but every time when I clean tank, 5 minutes later my gf poop and make one big mess .

Could you get a photo of it??

Hm... You can see how it looks exactly on Juwel site:

It's compact filter. But there's also note that its main task isn't picking dirt particles . I wish I saw that before I bought this tank.

Well not to sound down but those internal filters dont work that great, I use them for frys only not for adult goldfish, since they produce so much waste the filter cant keep up.....you will need to keep the filter pad alot in that filter....

I was thinking about adding filter from old tank, but it's small filter (for 40 l). It seems to me that the only thing I can do is buy external filter and till then clean tank very often. I don't see any other solution .