Fluval FX6 canister filter experiences and set up

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jim barry

jim barry

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jun 21, 2006
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Hi all

I see a lot of people using these. Are they any good?
I have a large tank and sump but have never been happy with my sump and it has become very dirty.
I was hoping to run a canister filter just on the sump to help clean it up. But i read on the instructions that the lid of the FX6 must be a minimum of 20cm below the water line as it is a gravity fed canister.
I can not achieve this due to the hieght of my sump. At best i think i could get the lid of the FX6 to sit around 5 cm below the water line of my sump. I was hoping to start the filter up by placing the intake and return lines on the main tank, then once primed, switch off pump, shut intake and return valves and move the intake and return lines down to my sump, open the valves back up and restart the pump.
Do you think this would work or am i barking mad?
Any help and experiences appreciated.
Thanks
 
In my honest experience the fx6 is a great, albeit far to efficient, filter. I had mine loaded with the pads it comes with as well as some of the blue polishing pads you can buy extra. That thing filled up to the point of almost zero flow in 2-3 weeks. I switched mine over to completely biofiltration after a few months of that fun. And I'm guessing with a tank full of rays you are going to have a way more fun time cleaning that thing than I did on a tank full of polys haha.
as for the height between the tank and filter...I could see that being a factor...you would almost be better off getting a cheaper canister like a sunsun or aquatop and seeing if you can even run one from the height you are talking behind your sump.
 
Yeah because of the rays i am thinking of just filling the thing up with coarse to medium foams and no polishing. I don't need any bio filtration as i have a moving bed in the sump. I am only realy interested in more mechanical filtration at this point.
 
How the FX works is the same as all canisters. I swish the water around with my hand before water change to move the gunk into the tank. Most of it gets taken out in a water change. If you do this with each water change, you keep it pretty clean. Problem solved and no extra work.
 
jim barry said:
Yeah because of the rays i am thinking of just filling the thing up with coarse to medium foams and no polishing. I don't need any bio filtration as i have a moving bed in the sump. I am only realy interested in more mechanical filtration at this point.
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well the fx6 will certainly do the job y ou are looking for. as for the height thing I'm not sure...I haven't ever tried running a can that close to the height of the tank.
 
jim barry said:
Looks way too small for my application. I have a 9x4x2 tank
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Agreed, but you said you had bio filtration covered and wanted some mech which seems to be a strongpoint of both the ac110 and the fx6. I have run an fx6 and like predator keeper said they are really good at mech. I also had foam and polishing pads in it and like he said 2 weeks and little to no flow. Which is workable if you want do that much maintenance on a time consuming filter. With an ac110, while it's not big enough to filter on its own, you could hang it on your sump with just foam and pads and when maintenance time comes its relatively easy to pull the pads and rinse. Ac110 does flow pretty well and even on your size tank I think you would be surprised on what it will do. I believe the fx6 won't run all that efficient w/o the gravity fed pressure of being below the tank.
 
Chockful O Phail said:
Agreed, but you said you had bio filtration covered and wanted some mech which seems to be a strongpoint of both the ac110 and the fx6. I have run an fx6 and like predator keeper said they are really good at mech. I also had foam and polishing pads in it and like he said 2 weeks and little to no flow. Which is workable if you want do that much maintenance on a time consuming filter. With an ac110, while it's not big enough to filter on its own, you could hang it on your sump with just foam and pads and when maintenance time comes its relatively easy to pull the pads and rinse. Ac110 does flow pretty well and even on your size tank I think you would be surprised on what it will do. I believe the fx6 won't run all that efficient w/o the gravity fed pressure of being below the tank.
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Point taken and understood. Many thanks, i will take a closer look at them ;)
 
I got one sitting on a counter beside my 75 gallon it works fine. it is about 3 or 4 inches below the water line in the tank. I filled it with water and plugged it in. it has a auto purge system and worked the air out of the system the first night it was plugged in.
 
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