FX5 - Most Effecient Cleaning Method

[nzafi]

All,

I have a FX5 on a 75 gal with a single piranha. My cleaning for the last 8 months since purchase of the filter consists of the following:
1) Shut down filter
2) Remove all media (only have provided foam blocks, 1 blue filter pad in top tray, and biomatrix in all trays)
3) Rinse all foam blocks and biomatrix with tank water
4) Thoroughly rinse the filter itself by using a hose/shower spray. I try to remove all the gunk that builds up on the side of the filter and at the bottom

This is all a pain, but I understand why it needs to be done. My question is there a more efficient way of doing this? I was thinking that if I use the FX5 purge valve when I do water changes I can get a lot of the gunk out, so I can either clean less often or not go nuts on the filter itself.

Because I have a solitary piranha with no gravel, feeds about once a week to every two weeks, I clean the filter about every 8-10weeks and the pads themselves do not collect a whole lot. I am trying out the blue filter pad for the first time though and will see how dirty that gets.

Thanks!

 

[justarn]

the purge valve alone should be enough as per the manual says, also im the same as you but we should be cleaning our pads in tank water really as we are killing all the bacteria in our filters everytime we clean em!

 

[deeda]

Your filter cleaning process sounds good to me, I don't really know that it can be improved on any better.

Do you have much gunk or debris in the foam blocks? I find they are difficult to remove any larger debris such as plant material from without using a strong spray from a hose or sink sprayer.

I've never used the backwash feature on the FX5, I only use the purge valve for draining the filter prior to moving it to the sink for cleaning.

I think the beneficial bacteria are hardier than you think and I've never experienced a problem with using tap water to clean any filter components BUT I also run more than one filter on my larger tanks.

 

[nzafi]

Justarn - All filter media is cleaned in tank water only to prevent any bacteria dying off.

Deeda - The gunk level depends. I started developing a lot more gunk when I was experimenting with pothos. A ton of debris came off them randomly (roots fall apart, etc) and they would get trapped in the blocks. Recently I have removed all plants, gravel, everything so I am curious how much gunk gets trapped. The foam blocks do trap the large debris but I literally sit with them and continuously dip them into a bunk of tank water and pick out whatever I can. I am not that gentle on the foam blocks as I rely on the biomatrix for bacteria more so.

I think my process is pretty good, the biggest problem is being in a small apartment on the 4th floor which means I have to try extra hard not to spill water.

 

[lunker65]

i do about the same with my fx5. i have the blue pad in the top, purigen and a white polish pad in the middle and the bbottom full of seachem matrix. my water is crystal clear all the time. ont thing that i do with the filter pads is i will drain about 30 gallons of water out of my tank into a garbage can with wheels on it. then i have a sump pump like you would get water out of your basement with that i drop into the trash can. that gives me my hose and water pressure to clean my filter pads. you can get the can and the pump for about 50 bucks if you look at like harbor freight and places like that. it dont need to be fancy you are just spraying fish poop with it lol.

 

[Cicho]

The FX5 does not backwash. The drain is right near the impeller so there are only two options for water flow:
1. If the intake valve is closed you simply have water from the tank from the output hose entering the impeller housing and exiting the chamber.
2. If the output valve is closed you are flowing water from the inlet through the foam then media and out of the impeller area.

Neither of these back flows the media and does nothing for service life. The drain only serves to drain the chamber prior to lifting which you can do with the pump by closing the intake valve, disconnecting the intake valve wait 2-5 seconds, close output valve and unplug filter. The drain valve on the FX5 is nearly worthless once you realize that you can use the pump to empty the canister.

When I had an FX5 here is what I did. I filled a big rubermaid container with tank water and a 5 gallon bucket with tank water. I then bought a couple of small buckets for the media not sponges. I would pull the filter internals and put them on the concrete outside. Throw the sponges in the big rubermaid and the bio from each chamber into it's own little bucket. I'd then use the small buckets to swish water around and drain to clean the media and keep the media in tank water. Then I would squeeze the sponges out and rinse them in the 5 gallon bucket that had remaining clean tank water. Dissasemble the filter motor and clean the impeller area and get all of the sand out from the canister. Reassemble.

As long as you don't allow the water to drop below the intake you still should have water in your plumbing to fill the canister so you don't need to add any water to restart the system. This is the same with Eheim's too which for some reason people seem to feel are hard to prime.....

 

[jechrz]

I don't think there would be any more efficient way of cleaning an fx5 as nzafi described. Efficiency varies with how much filter media you have to clean out/replace that's in your canister and how much gunk is produced by tank inhabitants (in nzafi's case, basically just rinse away).

 

[nzafi]

The FX5 is a good filter but I do miss the simplicity of having dual emperors on my tank. So much easier to clean.

 

[lunker65]

HOB filters are very easy but canister filters are so much more efficient and clean the water so much better. not to mention much quieter.

 

[F1 VET]

Big hobs are still a pain to clean and because of the smaller volume and media capacity this makes more frequent cleanings necessary... Cans are more of a pain but longer intervals between cleanings (unless Bio load is immense)

Imo there's 2 types of filter cleaning routes: quick and simple or long and thorough.

*Quick & simple consists of breaking the filter down and cleaning the basics I.e media, baskets and maybe a quick spray of the can.

*Long & thorough consists of breaking down the filter, intake/output, tubing, media, canister, impeller/housing and motor. This doesn't mean just spraying everything with water, I take a long wire brush and clean all the parts even using q-tips (when applicable) on the impeller and housing just to make sure all the gunk is gone ensuring complete efficiency, no point in wasting an hour or two and taking everything apart if your not going to do it all!

I believe this method will lead to increased filter longevity & efficiency! Been running a Fx5 with 6 adult messy RBP for over a year and the unit looks and runs like the day I first set it up, impeller is in perfect shape as is the housing.

On hobs I usually do a few quick cleanings and maybe 1-2x per year ill do a thorough but now I don't run any hobs.This is why sumps are popular amongst larger tanks, easier to clean especially when running a filter sock.


On another note OP with one piranha 3 full baskets of Bio is unnecessary IMO and not only decreases your gph or turnover rate but Bio max also breaks down over time especially in a canister. If i were you every 2-3 weeks I would take out 2-3 handfuls and eventually end up with just 2/3rds a basket full of Bio. Trust me when I say that is plenty! Its understandable people think more the better but the amount of beneficial bacteria that colonizes is dependent on Bio load and with a single P in a 75gal that's NOT overfed doesn't require much BB, in fact a handful is probably plenty to easily keep the tank cycled and just as healthy!



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