Fx5 on my 150g

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
aaronb said:
You need to measure the inside of your stand. Any tank that'll fit in there will work. Of course the bigger the better. I guess technically you don't have to put it under the tank. I used a 40 gallon breeder to make a sump for a 180 gallon. I got a filter sock holder from bulk reef supply and ordered some 25 micron 7 x 16 filter socks from Mcmaster-Carr. I bought a bunch of seachem matrix and put it in those delicatds wash bags you can get from walmart. Just put the matrix between the inflow and the pump, so the water flows through the media. I'm going to use a Mag-Drive 18 for the return pump. I'm currently still waiting on the aquarium to put it all together. I got the sump idea from the member jcardona1 and it seems like the simplest setup.

I've never used a hob overflow, so besides getting on that will handle the flow you want. Also you have to have your tank a little ways from the wall to make room for it, so I don't know if that's an issue. Someone else could tell you which is the best quality and most reliable.
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Okay thats cool there is a guy selling a brand new one on CL near me. this is his post on it "a brand new Eshopps over flow box for a wet/dry filter. It has never been used and it is rated for 1200 gallons per hour or a tank up to 300 gallons. It has two 1" bulkheads and the pre-filter box is black to help keep down algea growth. It is all acrylic and you only need 3" between your fish tank and your wall for this to fit. It has 2 U-tubes to transfer the water from the pre-filter to the back box and through two brand new foam cylinder filters before entering your hoses."

I should have atleast 3" between my tank and the wall I guess I should make a knew thread on this?
 
An FX5 pushes 925gph empty, so with media it will push about 500gph. I have an FX5 on my 6ft 150gal with 20 cichlids and a 8inch pleco and it kept my water crystal clear, so you should be fine.

I have a power head in there to keep the waste off the substrate so the filter gets everything. I have to clean it every month though
 
Assassynation said:
An FX5 pushes 925gph empty, so with media it will push about 500gph. I have an FX5 on my 6ft 150gal with 20 cichlids and a 8inch pleco and it kept my water crystal clear, so you should be fine.

I have a power head in there to keep the waste off the substrate so the filter gets everything. I have to clean it every month though
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How do you set your powerhead to do that? When I set mine to low it blows sand all over
 
I use an overflow with my FX5 and just plumbed it in that way so that I was not sucking up sand in my Oscar tank. Though I also have a XP4 on the other side of my 125 gallon with my 2 oscars and such being messy. If you would go a single FX5 I would put in 2 overflows and plumb those two into the one intake and then have the output in the center of the tank with the two nozzles flowed each direction to help with dead spots. Should you have any other dead spots on top of the sand then hit it with a power head.

I also have a kleen sweep unit from Marineland to do touchups on the sand as needed...
 
soulpatch said:
I use an overflow with my FX5 and just plumbed it in that way so that I was not sucking up sand in my Oscar tank. Though I also have a XP4 on the other side of my 125 gallon with my 2 oscars and such being messy. If you would go a single FX5 I would put in 2 overflows and plumb those two into the one intake and then have the output in the center of the tank with the two nozzles flowed each direction to help with dead spots. Should you have any other dead spots on top of the sand then hit it with a power head.

I also have a kleen sweep unit from Marineland to do touchups on the sand as needed...
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say what lmao? You lost me at plumbing 2 overflows into the fX5 and into an intake???
 
Ilovebrittani said:
say what lmao? You lost me at plumbing 2 overflows into the fX5 and into an intake???
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I bought an overflow for the rear of my tank. I think it was like $60 new though you can make them for a LOT less. On the back of the overflow was a hole plumbed with a small piece of pipe that was 1.5" in diameter. All I did was put a coupler on there that shrunk it to 1" tubing and then connected the FX5 intake tube onto that. So now I suck in from the overflow and not from the stock intake inside the tank. My XP4 on the other side of the tank is plumped with its normal intake to pick up the stuff closer to the bottom.
 
My 150g had nothing but a fx5 and it kept all my discus and the tons of little background fish happy and healthy. I personally think the fx5 is a fantastic filter.
 
okay sweet thanks, do you guys think it would still be okay even if I get a school of silverdollars?
 
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