Well my first "tip" would be to first and foremost please yourself - be happy with the way your tank looks even if it doesn't conform to traditional setups - if your happy with the way it looks and everything is doing great - just be happy
My 2nd tip would be if you do your water changes manually - like I do - get a smaller pump and attach a piece of vinyl tubing or spa flex to the outlet and use it for both taking water out of your tank to your change bucket and for putting the new water back into the system. I use rubbermaid garbage cans for mixing my new water so I just put the can right by the tank I am going to change the water in - mix the water for about 24hrs - and then use the pump with spa flex to replace the water I have just removed with new.