FX5 not working as it should

[Joey47]

My FX5 doesnt keep my water as crystal as my XP3.
I do my regular water changes 50% a week.

Heres my setups in the filters:



FX5 (90 gallon housing 5-3" rbps): foam blocks and 12 scrubbies in each tray
XP3(75 gallon housing 2 large FH): sponges that came with it in bottom tray and scrubbies in middle tray.

Whats the problem here?

 

[zerelli]

The increased flow in the FX5 is probably blowing stuff through the media more than the slower filter?

 

[Joey47]

so what should i do, turn down the flow on the valves?

 

[clgkag]

I put filterfloss in one tray of my fx5 and it works great. The first few times I put it in it clogged pretty quickly(like in 4-5 days), but once it got most of the debris out, it lasts for 2-3 weeks.

 

[DISCIPLE]

i use the 6 foam blocks and the rest is ceramic rings. crystal clear with 2 oscars , 2 gold sevs, a pleco in 150 gallons. have you taken everything out and cleaned the filter and the propeller?

 

[BushFishRox]

that is why I like bio max it acts as mechanical filtration while doing the bio at the same time, so it help catch the small partials in my over stocked pred tank...

 

[seamus]

FWIW I love my FX5s but i don't think they are plug and play filters. I have 2 on my 150 and it took some trial and error to get them setup to where I had great water. I was curious to see if adding a 110 would get me better water so I added one for 2 weeks and it showed no improvement. I figure the only way I can improve my water would be with small micron pads and that would only be possible with a sump. BTW, I'm a nutcase when it comes to water quality and I can see clear through my 6' lank longways.

 

[Cross127]

Mine is set with the foam blocks. First tray is mixed with ehfi substrat and ehfimech and then 2nd tray all ehfi substrat and 3rd tray is stuffed with filter floss. Keeps the water in mint condition.

 

[Joey47]

Mine is set with the foam blocks. First tray is mixed with ehfi substrat and ehfimech and then 2nd tray all ehfi substrat and 3rd tray is stuffed with filter floss. Keeps the water in mint condition.

how often do you change out your filter floss?

and should I just take out all the pot scrubbies and replace the first tray with 2 boxes of biomax and the second with prefilter?

 

[DISCIPLE]

how often do you change out your filter floss?

and should I just take out all the pot scrubbies and replace the first tray with 2 boxes of biomax and the second with prefilter?

i got best results w/ biomax in all trays. i tried 3 ways but this worked best 4 me.