Mignon Filter 60

The AZOO Mignon Filter 60 is a great little filter. I have it on my beta tank and it works perfectly. My favorite feature on this filter is the valve. You can turn the valve on top of the input tube that allows you to control the flow. Having this on a beta tank is the biggest reason I like to have this feature as the beta's fins can get beat up if the flow is too strong. I also like this feature because I prefer planted tanks as well and there is nothing worse than an overpowering filter tearing your plants up. This one does not do that. I also really like the fact that this filter can fit on flat or curved tanks and sits snug on either kind. I like the filter material itself. It is very efficient and also easy to rinse out for easy cleaning. This filter uses very little electricity unlike some of the older style filters by other companies. The outer shell of the filter is clear so it is easy to see if gunk is building up in it so you can easily see if it needs to be cleaned of if the filter is clogged and restricting water flow. There is an option to put a sponge that is included in the box, on the bottom of the intake tube. This is very helpful for tanks that may have fry or small fish. It is also helpful if you have a tank where you are treating sick or injured fish so they don't get stuck to the tube and get hurt. Overall this filter is one of the best ones I have used for smaller tanks. It is a compact size so it does not look bulky or take up too much tank space, it is very quiet, and is very easy to care for with very little maintenance.

Was a little noisy for about the first 3 days or so and then stopped making noises. Glad I decided to hold onto it because now it’s quiet and works really well. Love how it looks too! Overall, a nice filter!

The media could not be loaded. Ordered to put on a 3.7 gal fully planted nano cube I'm setting up for some shrimp or a beta. Did quite a bit of research on the best, small HOB filter and went with the Mingnon. So far, so good - the major differentiator is its small footprint + it's ability and capacity to customize your filtration media. If you are new to the hobby, make sure you do some research on tank cycling and filter media prior to purchasing. I've listed out some pros/cons to consider below:Pros: Tiny footprint and acrylic-glass adjacent color scheme that looks great with a rimless tank especially if your other equipment (light, heater) are black. It has a minimal overhang on the front of the tank, so it won't completely shade out any plants directly underneath it. Even though the filter is small, it provides ample space to customize the filter medium in the rear cannister (it comes with two types of canister sponges + intake sponge.) I only used the intake sponge - I added in a small bag of biological filter media from an established tank and filter floss, and it would be very easy to add in Purigen or Phosguard or other chemical filtration down the road if needed. Some may view the fact that it comes without filtration cartridges you may get with other similar filters as a con - I actually view this as a huge plus. IMO, those are a rip off, are not as effective and make long term maintenance a lot more difficult.Adjustable flow and the power seems quite well suited to creating good water movement in a nano cube (I do have a tiny hygger sponge filter in the tank as well). Build quality is solid, very little noise outside of the water flowing back into the tank from the outflow.Cons: The one material con is that there does seem to be some filter by pass from the intake through the chamber. This might be because I do not use the full intake extender which would be too deep for my tank, which likely increases the flow rate into the chamber. I've tried to get around this using filter floss, but there is probably still 20-30p bypass for my biological filtration. Overall I don't see this as a deal breaker - it moves enough water and the intake sponge + filter floss provide adequate mechanical filtration. The second thing I'd flag is less a con but more of a consideration -- even though it's a small filter it's not slim and you'd probably want at least 2.5-3'' inches behind your tank to accommodate. So if any part of your tank sits flush or near-flush to a wall, keep in mind you likely won't be able to run it on that side.

TLDR: This filter is the best hang-on-back filter I could find for a 5 gallon nano tank. Needs additional filter media, and with some work, you can change the filter flow to allow for horizontal layering of filters instead of vertically.Details for this product:1. Adjustable flow. The flow associated with this filter is rather strong, and I use it in my 5 gallon nano at about 40%.2. Quiet-ish. 46 decibels right beside the filter, which is just 4 decibels louder than my home's ambient noise level. However, make sure that thereare no bubbles in the intake tube. These bubbles will cause filter to make an occasional slurping sound. If you have these bubbles, just run the filter at full throttle until they disappear, then dial the flow back to your usual level.3. Stock water flow is from back to front. With plastic insert, can be converted to bottom to top flow that people (I) seem to like better.4. Comes with crappy-looking filter media. Suggest at least purchasing bio-filter media and putting it in front of the foam (last stage). Recommend replacing the foam and also adding activated charcoal.5. Transparent - you can see what's growing in it.6. This thing is SMALL. Trust me, you do not want an Aquaclear 20 hanging on the back of your 5 gallon or under tank making your tank look like that creature in the troll market in Hellboy 2 with a tumor that looks like a baby, because an Aquaclear 20 on the back of my 5 gallon tank made my tank look exactly like that.7. Setting the top cover slightly ajar reduces the noise level by a lot. If you're having rattling / noise problems, try adjusting the cover.8. When you get this filter, in the plastic bag that houses the extensions to the inlet tube, there is a small black round plastic piece with a nub on top. This goes into a small hole on the bottom of the filter. Adjusting this may eliminate rattling problems.This filter is miles better than the Deep Blue Nano (henceforth DBN) version (which is almost exactly the same).Comparison with the Deep Blue Nano clone:1. This filter is transparent, with a slight bluish tin2. This filter still produces an audible hum, but it is quieter than DBN.3. Flow "throttle" is so much easier to turn than DBN (which sometimes I had to turn using the handle of a metal spoon).4. You may notice the small white foam piece in the enclosure when you receive this. This is the reason why I bought this after having bought a DBN. This piece can be removed, and with the addition of another plastic piece, allows one to redirect the flow of water for a horizontal filter media layering.Modifying flow to allow for bottom to top filter media layering:Here's what I did to modify the follow to allow for bottom to top media layering. First I did was insert a plastic divider that blocks all water flow, then cut a hole to allow the water to flow through the area which is currently blocked by the white tiny foam piece (remove said foam piece). This channels all water flow through this hole. Next, you can place your foam filter on the bottom. What I also did was to leave a gap between the back end of the wall and the bottom foam, so that water can flow from the hole to the bottom, then get pushed forward and upwards through the foam, and subsequently the bio filter.Modifying outlet to reduce the outlet flow speed:You can use a metal mesh formed into the shape of the outlet to reduce the outlet flow speed and reduce surface agitation if you are, like I am, using this for a nano planted tank with injected CO2. You can use any material that is sufficiently porous to do the job once you attach it to the mesh. If you like, you can attach it directly to the outflow ramp itself. I cut a small piece of mesh and formed it into the shape of the ramp (also I left a substantial amount of mesh folded downwards into the filter media chamber to secure it) and tied a substantial amount of moss to the mesh. Filter foam seems to provide too much resistance and the water tended to just flow over the entire block. If you use foam, I suggest cutting it up into small irregular pieces. I've uploaded a picture of the filter in case you're curious what it looks like with a moss ramp.