HoB filter water flow question...

shouldn't have to worry about that in a 29... if you want to ,try a piece of pvc running horizontal off the bottom of your intake ,that should help with flow a little ... also you could try a powerhead on the other side of the tank (away from the filter..) also: aqua clear 70 should be just right for a 29

Im filterin my 20 with a ac 50, a airstone will help with oxygenation, and flow should be ok with either filter


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50 will be ok ,but I like a little overkill on filtration ...

I run heavily modified HOB's in conjunction with canisters on all of my tanks and find they can provide excellent circulation and aeration with minimal maintenance if setup properly. The intake pulls water from the back of the tank and filters over the top of the water towards the front of the tank, creating a circular current along with tiny air bubbles. There will be more bubbles as the water level gets lower so if aeration is a concern you could leave 1-2" from the top or just get a small air pump with tubing.
Aquaclear is my favorite HOB brand by far though (which is now under the Fluval name btw), the ac70 pushes around 300gph which would be more than enough for a 29g and they're only $40 at petsmart right now. I just picked up an ac110 and its a beast tho at 500gph and I don't doubt a gallon of that claim because it just plows thru the water. Whichever one you get put the carbon bag aside until you need it after medications or something and either use a second sponge or more biomax in its place.
I have the sponge at the bottom with a packet of clearmax and ammonia remover on top of that (temporary) followed by a polishing pad I cut to size using a sponge as a guide, and on the top I used two half-full mesh media bags with biomax in one and some bio stars in the other (which I was testing but just read that biomax has over double the surface area of nearly every other brand of media so I'll only be using that from now on) with a small flat piece of slate on top of that to keep everything underwater.
I also extended the intake of my ac70 by breaking off the built-in cover thing and found a foot long tube that somehow fit perfectly inside with a tight seal. I was using it like that for a year but the ac110 came with two for some reason so I added that over the old tube and now its about 8" from the bottom of a 25" deep tank >

Its weird the ac 50 i bought for the 20 gal i was talkin about came with a extra intake tube also, on the parts included list it says 1x intake tube


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Yup I bought an ac70 before exchanging it a few hours later for the 110 because it was only $30 more and that one came with two intakes as well so all the new models must have a spare. I actually cut the end off because it came used with one of my tanks and I didn't want my fry getting sucked in since the plastic grate was already halway broken. Maybe they figure that part is easy to break but ppl will just use spare parts since its a common sized tube so it might make Fluval look bad lol I dunno. But Dark Rose, if you want to extend the tubing I would cut the cone-shaped grate off and smooth down the edges and then find a plastic tube about 1/8" skinnier (pvc might reduce flow tho since its so thick) and then slide the spare intake over that about 2" to create a tight seal. But an ac70 or even 50 should perform great on a 29g so u don't really need to modify it. Especially if you use a powerhead near the bottom to blow debris back into the water. But unless you have one lying around I would use that $20 to get an ac70 with an air stone and keep the tank clutter free

That sounds like a perfect plan to me Heck if you're gonna use the established media and want to get it going early you could even try this stuff called Start Zyme. I used a whole bottle on my new 240g yesterday along with a fully cycled Jebo 865uv canister, ac110 and 2 other HOBs and it tested all zeros a few hours after filling it up. I haven't tried live plants tho because my fish would just tear them up (although I'd really like to) so its probably a good idea to get those going first