I had 5 FX5's on my 500, worst mistake EVER. As others have said, cleaning is a pain. I would look into an Ultima 1000, sell the FX5's, get you a pump, build some PVC and have at it. Easy to maintain and cleaning takes minutes 
2 fx5's for 250-300gal ?
- Thread starter rob1984
- Start date
Yeeep cleaning is a pita all I have in there is bio balls. So it don't clog up as fast
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Limited experience with sumps here but that probably would be the way to go. FX5 is a good filter but I am truly starting to believe its all about media volume.You need a decent flow rate, but from all the reading I have done its all about surface. Boy am I going to get flamed for this, Allot of the Oscar folks (many have huge tanks) like the Aquatop,Marineland 530,Rena XP4. These models are massive they hold ALLOT of media, 22" tall with four baskets. They are much cheaper, 3 year warranty, excellent customer service. And I agree with the Oscar folks when they say I think very underrated? Lets face it , Oscars can keep right up there when it comes to Bioload and Mess.
I own a FX5 also and side by side the Marineland (or many other brands) holds more media and gives you many more choices of what you want to use for media. My only issue with the FX5 is that its all sponge and dosn't have near the space for say Biomax, or Matrix that you can get in many other filters. Heck with these filters you can fill the entire filter with just Biomax (and with all four trays thats allot) and still have money left for another one to fill with all mechnical media.
So, Sump is the Pro way to go. Unless you are one of the lucky ones with plenty of $$$ to blow just wanted to throw this out there. You can buy two (or almost) for the cost of the FX5 and Eheim...Well. Just check the oscar sites quick and look at the specs one for one? And when you think about it is the fish going to give a ???? if its a sump,Eheim or a FX5 as long as its getting the job done? And yes I still want a Eheim but?
I own a FX5 also and side by side the Marineland (or many other brands) holds more media and gives you many more choices of what you want to use for media. My only issue with the FX5 is that its all sponge and dosn't have near the space for say Biomax, or Matrix that you can get in many other filters. Heck with these filters you can fill the entire filter with just Biomax (and with all four trays thats allot) and still have money left for another one to fill with all mechnical media.
So, Sump is the Pro way to go. Unless you are one of the lucky ones with plenty of $$$ to blow just wanted to throw this out there. You can buy two (or almost) for the cost of the FX5 and Eheim...Well. Just check the oscar sites quick and look at the specs one for one? And when you think about it is the fish going to give a ???? if its a sump,Eheim or a FX5 as long as its getting the job done? And yes I still want a Eheim but?
Ok so seems sumps are they way to go basically, if that's the case I'm thinking of having a sump with bio balls and rest of my seachem pond matrix as I have a good amount left over (2-3litres worth) and then just have one fx5 to just kinda polish water and either sell off the other or keep it for my 75gal and sell the ehiem 2215, could even use/keep the media from the fx5 if I sold it emtpy (2trays of biomax one tray of seachem pond matrix)
Now what size of sump should I be looking at for 250-300gal tank ? 55-75gal... Would it be cheaper and better to buy a sump from someone used if I can ? Or build from scratch ? And no I'm not made of money I'm poor as crap haha
Now what size of sump should I be looking at for 250-300gal tank ? 55-75gal... Would it be cheaper and better to buy a sump from someone used if I can ? Or build from scratch ? And no I'm not made of money I'm poor as crap haha
Off subject slightly but I love filter stuff
. Rob will this be your first sump? I know they are a whole other beast... and if anyone out there knows a good read on sumps I like rob plan to upgrade in the spring and think its the way I want to go?
. Rob will this be your first sump? I know they are a whole other beast... and if anyone out there knows a good read on sumps I like rob plan to upgrade in the spring and think its the way I want to go?Off subject slightly but I love filter stuff
Yep first sump indeed, otherwise I'd likely already have one hahaha
I'm not really sure about using a rubbermaid bin tho ? .... Don't ya need to have seperate area's for stuff in em ? Or with a rubbermaid bin ya throw the pump in whenever, and then just dump as much bio media as virtually possible ? Why are some sumps seperate comparments ?
...many of them are made of acrylic are they not...I know there are some folks out there that have systems that are true feats of engineering!!!Would something like this here work ? Already has everything needed except a pump, and rest of plumbing of coarse...
http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-pets-accessories-Aquarium-Sump-W0QQAdIdZ428064546
A pump that does 2000gph and up should be plenty shouldn't it ? (Something that submersiable and quiet) mag24 ? And the hard lines on the sump there are for just there for gravity fed drains from the tank and pump would be on left side and pump clean fresh water back in my tank correct ?
http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-pets-accessories-Aquarium-Sump-W0QQAdIdZ428064546
A pump that does 2000gph and up should be plenty shouldn't it ? (Something that submersiable and quiet) mag24 ? And the hard lines on the sump there are for just there for gravity fed drains from the tank and pump would be on left side and pump clean fresh water back in my tank correct ?
Not sure how much room you have under the tank but I like to use sets of stacked plastic drawers (with holes in the bottom of the drawers like drip trays) to support more media in rubbermaid-bin DIY sumps.
Matt
Matt
