Well, I went in to work a couple hours early today and managed to swap over to the new filter. I put a bucket under the desk and as soon as I pulled the old hose off, I shoved the new one on. I only lost a little water and therefore was able to avoid draining the tank (and having to catch the mantis
).
I threaded the submersible lights through the hole that I drilled and sealed it with silicone. I also replaced the burned out bulb so now both are lit again. I put the LR rubble in the bottom compartment and the chaetomorpha in the middle compartment. I am currently curing some LR rubble that chrisd gave me which I plan on putting in the top compartment along with a bag of carbon once in a while.
Here is a picture of the new filter next to the one it replaced:
The real test came when it came time to fire everything up. Sure enough, the moded impellor worked exactly how it was supposed to and despite the beefier filter, the flow in the tank is the same as it has always been!