A bit of luck is a great thing,

[gnipper 5,945]

I took the big filter box out of mine when I had it, as Gnash said it's shite and I used to get fish living in it. There was one botia who lived inside the outlet for the powerhead. 

[DanJuwelMan 1]

Hi, 

Found this thread looking to find out the same thing; how to remove the ugly internal filter without damaging the tank. I figured it should just be a case of sliding a long stanley blade down the side and slicing through it but that depended on whether it was silicone glue or a harder epoxy, knowing it's silicone is a bit of a relief. 

I've just redone my tank recently, here's how it looked just after setting it up;

 

And a month later, plants are getting a bit lively;

 

 

If anyone has figured out a solution to the green sludge that builds up in the gravel at the front of the glass I'm all ears, gravel vac doesn't seem to do much.