Wouldn ' t you want to ? It ' s like super big kid RC helicopters ! <| sep |> I see two options . You could go with a canister or sump of some kind , which would be the easiest . Intake at base and return at top , and you could conceal the canister chamber or sump tank in a cabinet or stand . Alternatively , you could DIY a intank filter . I ' d probably try this in your place . Something like a four foot PVC pipe with holes drilled in the bottom . Pour a bunch of biological media seachem matrix , lava rock , whatever into this thing , put a pump in the top drawing water from the top of the tank and forcing it downward , and cover that with sponge for mechanical filtration . You could conceal a heater in this too . Would probably be super cheap and easy to maintain since you ' d only need to clean the mechanical filtration in the intake . You could even reverse it and have your mechanical filtration at the bottom , but I ' d be concerned about disturbing the tank too much during cleanings . Most commercial offerings have serious problems with this kind of setup . . . A sponge would be impossible to clean , since you ' d scatter the surface debris getting it out , knock your ornaments about , scare your fish , etc , and a HOB would not be able to mix the water column adequately . Hope that helps .