I've used 5 fluval canister filters in the past and now (304, 404, 405 and two FX5) and they all worked great. as long as you install the top and fittings properly there shouldn't be any issue. but if you do not feel comfortable with them that's fine.
Filtration
- Thread starter 90crxsi
- Start date
just about ever mfk'er i know personally uses fx5's and they all seem to love them. if its not an fx5 filtering their tank, its a wet/dry. its cool if your cascade works well for you, but i would suggest going with a more reputable brand such as fluval, eheim, or rena. you may also want to considering DIY'ing a wet/dry to handle the bio load.
The FX5 has no similarities to the other Fluval Canisters, other than being made by the same company. There were some flaws in the 404 series, which is why Fluval released the 05 series under a year later.90crxsi;3017087; said:
Also consider the Filters Gallons Per Hour Rate.
The Cascade does ~350 Gallons Per Hour.
The Fluval FX5 does ~950 Gallons Per Hour.
On a 110G tank you can have either 3X Turn over per hour, or 8X. Lower turn over is fine for Biological Filtration, but not effective for mechanical and particulate Filtration.
i know no one with or who had an fx5. im going to go to the lfs tomorrow to check these out. i will most likely order from the www somewhere.
cascade is made by penn-plax. reputable company.
cascade is made by penn-plax. reputable company.
penn plax isn't a terrible company by any means, but their products don't stack up to eheim, fluval, rena, marineland, etc... with filters, you really get what you pay for, especially if you are trying to filter a large tank. if you are set on buying a canister filter, you are going to need to spend some money if you want to provide adequate filtration for a tank of that size.
i found 2 fluval 405s locally for 150. one works and the other has broken impeller shaft i believe. ill most likely be picking these up. should i still use the biowheels with this as well?
If you have them, and have no other tanks that need them, YES. It will also keep them running and cycled so if you ever need to setup a tank you have a fully cycled filter to use immediately. Also once you ad the 405s to the tank you'll need to wait a month or more for the 405s to grow the bacteria needed, before you can safely remove the other filters anyways.
yeah i was planning on a 6 week cycle with cycle and maybe a few tetras. the biowheel 350 is not being used for anything now. it was on a 55g reef tank for a min but that tank is long gone. damn hurricane katrina!
Well the amount of Ammonia being produced in a tank is directly proportionate to how much good bacteria grows. So a few tetras will only produce enough bacteria to eat the ammonia being produced by... a few tetras.
i did not intend to imply that cascade/penn plex is not reputable. i was stating that i believe eheim, fluval and rena are much better. i'll take a cascade over one of those cheap chinese knock offs any day.
