Anyone using FX4?

[Fish Tank Travis]

I feel junior league with these though lol

The stand can easily fit two fx6 with room to spare.

I'm mainly worried if the fx4 could pump water up that height.

Ok, a little lesson about head height is that a pump only has to pump against net head height. This means that a closed canister filter has just as much head height pushing down on the intake hose as it does on the output hose, effectively giving you a 0' head height. This means that you can have as tall of a tank as you wish, as long as your hoses are long enough. Heck, you could even stretch some long hoses down a floor level and still have the same level of effectiveness with the canister.

The way this is different from sumps is that a sump is an open filter, meaning that the inlet does not provide head height that balances the outlet head height. This is why much larger pumps are necessary to run a sump.

Just wanted to point this out.

Having said that, I would recommend going with the larger FX-5/6 and using a spraybar or throttling valve to reduce the flow, if needed. You can always cut the flow of a larger filter back but you cannot increase the flow of a smaller filter. Since goldfish are generally pretty messy inhabitants, I definitely think you should be looking at as much filtration as possible.

 

[Cohazard]

Ok, a little lesson about head height is that a pump only has to pump against net head height. This means that a closed canister filter has just as much head height pushing down on the intake hose as it does on the output hose, effectively giving you a 0' head height. This means that you can have as tall of a tank as you wish, as long as your hoses are long enough. Heck, you could even stretch some long hoses down a floor level and still have the same level of effectiveness with the canister.

The way this is different from sumps is that a sump is an open filter, meaning that the inlet does not provide head height that balances the outlet head height. This is why much larger pumps are necessary to run a sump.

Just wanted to point this out.

Having said that, I would recommend going with the larger FX-5/6 and using a spraybar or throttling valve to reduce the flow, if needed. You can always cut the flow of a larger filter back but you cannot increase the flow of a smaller filter. Since goldfish are generally pretty messy inhabitants, I definitely think you should be looking at as much filtration as possible.

Thank you for the breakdown on head height I get it now! I really appreciate that.

 

[nossalucard]

I think it seems like a good smaller FX5/6, but it's price point is at least $80.00 to much for my consideration vs. a Sunsun 404B.

Now I do own an FX5 and and FX6 that I got for EXTREMELY GOOD PRICES(and a 2262 / long story , all 3 still waiting NIB for a tank I haven't been able to purchase yet), but I just think the FX4 is too close to SunSun 404B performance to be worth that much more(ADVERTISED flowrate aside, which should be taken with a GRAIN OF SALT).

Now I would take one if it was free, but other wise, $279.00 is the cheapest I can find an FX4, and that's just $30.00 less than an FX6, whereas a SunSun 404b can be had for under $100.00....

YMMV

 

[Cohazard]

I think it seems like a good smaller FX5/6, but it's price point is at least $80.00 to much for my consideration vs. a Sunsun 404B.

Now I do own an FX5 and and FX6 that I got for EXTREMELY GOOD PRICES(and a 2262 / long story , all 3 still waiting NIB for a tank I haven't been able to purchase yet), but I just think the FX4 is too close to SunSun 404B performance to be worth that much more(ADVERTISED flowrate aside, which should be taken with a GRAIN OF SALT).

Now I would take one if it was free, but other wise, $279.00 is the cheapest I can find an FX4, and that's just $30.00 less than an FX6, whereas a SunSun 404b can be had for under $100.00....

YMMV

Good point on the price, but aren't sunsun filters notorious for leaking and not lasting long?

I've never owned one before, I am curious how the output would compare when both filters are stacked with media.

I think i'm going to purchase one just to mess around with it and compare it to other filters.

 

[nossalucard]

Good point on the price, but aren't sunsun filters notorious for leaking and not lasting long?

I've never owned one before, I am curious how the output would compare when both filters are stacked with media.

I think i'm going to purchase one just to mess around with it and compare it to other filters.

Understood, but I currently own 3 sunsun/aquatops, and although they are NOT fluval /eheim quality, they work fine as long as you always lube your seals with silicone grease after cleaning. I (fingers crossed) have never had a leak, but there are always exceptions with ANY filter that's not properly cared for, and then there always the one-off thats a defect. I also use 3rd party intake and output fittings/tubes (mainly from marineland 530c models which are the original design for the Aquatop/SunSun clones)

I also only maintenance my "can's" every 6 months, but ONLY on my NON-OVER STOCKED/populated tanks(only one of my 6-7 tanks are overstocked and it's a amphilophus midevil growout 54 corner at present, with an eheim 2217).

I also never buy second hand filters,(especially cheap ones like Sunsun/Aquatop) as you never know how a filter was treated before you bought it.

I AM a firm believer in and agree with you get what you pay for....

 

[Cohazard]

Understood, but I currently own 3 sunsun/aquatops, and although they are NOT fluval /eheim quality, they work fine as long as you always lube your seals with silicone grease after cleaning. I (fingers crossed) have never had a leak, but there are always exceptions with ANY filter that's not properly cared for, and then there always the one-off thats a defect. I also use 3rd party intake and output fittings/tubes (mainly from marineland 530c models which are the original design for the Aquatop/SunSun clones)

I also only maintenance my "can's" every 6 months, but ONLY on my NON-OVER STOCKED/populated tanks(only one of my 6-7 tanks are overstocked and it's a amphilophus midevil growout 54 corner at present, with an eheim 2217).

I also never buy second hand filters,(especially cheap ones like Sunsun/Aquatop) as you never know how a filter was treated before you bought it.

I AM a firm believer in and agree with you get what you pay for....

Good points brutha. I was tempted to try those, so i'll probably get one too for comparison.

 

[tomojsg]

thats very expensive for a sunsun 404b...

 

[Timmy]

Petsmart has FX6 on sale for 170.00 right now (Black Friday)

 

[Def Leppard Hysteria]

You can also gate the flow down on the FX6, with no negative impact on the motor. We'll be running an FX6 on a fancy goldfish tank in the future.

 

[Cohazard]

You can also gate the flow down on the FX6, with no negative impact on the motor. We'll be running an FX6 on a fancy goldfish tank in the future.

I always forget about this on the fx line. I've never dialed the flow back but I suppose if there's an issue for the golds, I can do that. Thanks brutha.

I ended up not getting an Fx4 and glad I didn't have my mind set on it because they weren't on sale for Black Friday. Got four Fx6 $180 a pop, plus $11 for shipping on the free fx vac that's included.