inTank Media Basket for Fluval Spec | Spec 2.6 | Spec V | Spec 5 | Spec 10L | Fluval Evo 5 | Evo 19L | Fluval EBI

While this product is way overpriced and not really necessary for this tank, it is great quality and a great upgrade to the stock filter block. The skimmer is pretty useless, it is made of what feels like a playing card, but the basket itself is the total opposite. It allows you to really increase biological filtration and you can use so many different types of mechanical. Really the only drawback is the price.

So, yes, the first thing most people notice is that this is on the "pricey" side. However, this is excellently constructed and just the right fit for Fluval Spec tanks. I've been experimenting with filter media placement in this basket. I've found that a mechanical filter up top (foam filter), larger biomedia (Matrix) in the center and fine/polishing media (Purigen) is keeping my tank pristine. (I recently cubed up my mechanical layer, chopping the block up into smaller pieces and placed them in so they are piled in randomly.) No carbon, I have a heavily planted Spec V and it's not necessary in my setup. One misconception, that was entirely my fault, was that I thought this basket had an aluminum/stainless frame. It's all acrylic. I misinterpreted the photos. I don't know if this happened to anyone else, but I thought I would just add that. Being that there is no "frame," it likely makes this rack sturdier and easier to clean. The major advantage, this media basket keeps everything together when you remove/place your filter media. A great improvement over the stock foam block with "handle." All in all, this somewhat pricey media basket is an excellent investment for your Fluval Spec (fits all 3 models). Splurge on an "under-the-hood" upgrade. It'll make your tank sparkle and make maintenance a breeze.

It’s way too expensive for what it is but it really does increase the filtration in the smaller aquarium. I love my Spec V but the filter is preschool. I took the middle piece out and use it to cut filter media out to fit perfectly. I added stages and probably will move them around. Find the right mix etc. It didn’t fit as snug as I was expecting and I actually had to put a cut piece of the old media behind it to keep it snug to the inlet from the tank. I could stick my finger in the gap! Those black pieces really have no instructions or pictures of the use but the are different thickness but the height of the cartridge is fine. I just want the water running through the filter and not that big gap! It’s nice but it doesn’t fit as good as I expected and it really is over priced. Everyone trying to get rich. Its like the Kardashians made this or something

Overpriced? Certainly. But it's damn sexy. Note, the sides of the tank are not solid, so with this insert you will see into your filter. With this basket I was able to change to the following config : polyfiber over the biomedia that came in the top, matrix in the middle, and purigen in the bottom. The middle shelf is not attached, so you do have that option to remove the shelf and have a small and large compartment. I had mixed results with the included skimmer. It definately reduced the film on the surface but also greatly reduced the flow of water going into the filter area even though I removed most of the cutout. I am no expert so I simply leave this as an observation.

I bought this when I rescaped my tank to help me easily remove the filter media while allowing for a little more biological filtration. It's super well constructed and it's fits my Fluval Spec 2.6 but it does not allow for proper flow through the filter media even with the different attachments. Water tended to flow around it. After a week of cycling, my Nitrate & Nitrite levels were still off the charts. I had a piece of coarse filter sponge in the top, seachem purigen and matrix in the bottom. Nothing that would restrict the flow through the basket but the water still preferred to move around the basket. I could tell nothing was flowing through because the purigen was still pretty white at the end of the week and if the nitrate and nitrite were as bad as they were it would turn brown/black quickly. I ended up replacing the basket with the original style filter sponge, still filled with matrix & purigen. Within 48 hours my nitrate & nitrite levels fell to 0 indicating the purigen & matrix were now in proper contact with the water. This might work in your specific situation but it didn't work in mine. I wish it did. 3 stars for great construction but inability to do it's job.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the stock media sponge that came with the tank- it just didn't seem to allow the media to interact with the water enough. This basket, though a little pricey considering the cost of the tank, is by far the best solution I've seen too this issue. It's well made out of good acrylic, and expertly fitted to the overflow chamber. The skimmer attachment took little wiggling to get enough room to let water into the overflow and get a good skimming action going, but it has taken care of the low surface flow issue nicely. The whole setup is well thought out and gives you plenty of room for whatever media you want to add. I'm running with a sponge (salvaged from the stock media chamber) + Purigen in the top, carbon in the middle, and the biological in the bottom. I had enough room in that bottom chamber to combine the Fluval bio rings with Seachem matrix for more bio- which will definitely aid in the tanks cycle stability.

This upgrade is definitely worth the price of admission. It actually makes sure that the water flows down through the filter media the way it's supposed to. With the standard tank media and sponge setup, very little of the water will flow through the media. I'm actually waiting until they come out with a model for the Fluval Evo 13.5 gallon. This basket only fits the Evo 5 gallon and Spec tanks. Just setup the Spec V for my 2 year old niece because she loves my 180 gallon saltwater tank. When you buy this item it does not contain any instructions. But if you look on the inTank website, they recommend that you put a little AQUARIUM silicone over the little slit towards the bottom left of the filter wall, under the grates at the top, but towards the bottom of the tank. That slit is to suck in water from lower levels of the tank. But using this basket, you don't want water bypassing all of the media above. You can go to any pet store and get aquarium silicone and neatly fill that gap. It takes 24 hours to dry, so don't put water in the tank right away. But this basket kit is a very good upgrade to a terrible stock aquarium filter kit.

the image is exactly what you get, except for the one image where they show the 3D printed flow diverter that doesn't actually come with this product, but im assuming is supposed to actually be an image of their skimmer, which if you own a spec V you will have to trim down so that the back compartment doesn't run dry if you deal with a lot of evaporation. After contacting the dealer this item comes from Amazon stock, so you will not receive the diverter which, while a bummer, is available as a separate purchase on Amazon for ~12$. or you can read a little further for the fix I found. This product is a great idea with middling execution, it fits snugly on the sides and the back, but leaves ~1/8" of gap in the front, which water will happily follow instead of actually going into the media box. The reason it cant fit completely snug on all sides is because of the corner reinforceing plastic bits that fluval puts on the spec V. If they made it to juzt outside of exact dimensions then it wouldn't fit due to the interference. The plug for the overflow is also slightly larger than the actual dimensions of the overflow hole, so some filing will be needed to make sure that it fits, overall about 10 minutes of work for something that, honestly, does work better than what i was using (a rubber usb plug), it also looks a lot more pleasant to the eye. But now onto why you need extra air tubing handy, it just so happens that aquarium air tubing is ran in 1/8" size as well, and you can easily block off that gap in the front by ~95% and solve your water flow issue. knowing how much hose you get in pretty much any packaging, it should be a non-issue to have ~5 inches of extra that you have no idea what you would do with otherwise. So with all I've said why 5 stars? Because the dealer got back to my email in less than 24 hours with an honest response, and because the problems that most people run into are solved fairly easily with what would probably already be on hand.