well i noticed a lot of questions about the fx5 setup so heres my setup and performance
i have had my fx5 for 2 months now and i broke it down for its first cleaning today.
its setup on a 180 gal with lots of cichlids & lots of waste
in the top tray i filled it up with carbon. i like to use carbon for order control, although it is only effective for 3 weeks or so i kept it in there for 6 weeks
i figure after its absorbent period it will grow bb bacteria just like anything else in the filter. + plus i don't believe that it leaches stuff back into the water (lack of data).
in the second and third tray i crammed them full of ceramic rings.
now i did not use any type of filtering pads what so ever.
the brake down
the first (top) tray was dirty, well the dirtiest, the foam was filled with waste almost black, and the carbon inside a filter bag was pretty dirty as well.
the second tray foam was not that bad comparied to the first, and the third was almost clean.
now the rings in the second and third trays were dirty, but i simply put them in my sump and swished them around a bit and they were clean.
now i cleaned the foam with a powerspray in my shower and they were clean in minutes.
so with my configuration i feel this filter has worked as good as i could of imagined
now the only changes i would make and did make was added a filter pad over the media in the top tray, i simply cut a bonded blue and white pad to size and placed it on top of the media. this is to keep the media cleaner. i imagine i will have to brake down the canister sooner this way, but when that time comes i will evaluate the effectiveness of the pad and see if it was worth the early brake down.
when first restarting the filter i notice a reduction of flow but after some time and a couple of restarts to purge air bubbles were back up to my previous flow.
well that's my setup and hopefully this will be helpful to at least one person
i have had my fx5 for 2 months now and i broke it down for its first cleaning today.
its setup on a 180 gal with lots of cichlids & lots of waste
in the top tray i filled it up with carbon. i like to use carbon for order control, although it is only effective for 3 weeks or so i kept it in there for 6 weeks
i figure after its absorbent period it will grow bb bacteria just like anything else in the filter. + plus i don't believe that it leaches stuff back into the water (lack of data).
in the second and third tray i crammed them full of ceramic rings.
now i did not use any type of filtering pads what so ever.
the brake down
the first (top) tray was dirty, well the dirtiest, the foam was filled with waste almost black, and the carbon inside a filter bag was pretty dirty as well.
the second tray foam was not that bad comparied to the first, and the third was almost clean.
now the rings in the second and third trays were dirty, but i simply put them in my sump and swished them around a bit and they were clean.
now i cleaned the foam with a powerspray in my shower and they were clean in minutes.
so with my configuration i feel this filter has worked as good as i could of imagined
now the only changes i would make and did make was added a filter pad over the media in the top tray, i simply cut a bonded blue and white pad to size and placed it on top of the media. this is to keep the media cleaner. i imagine i will have to brake down the canister sooner this way, but when that time comes i will evaluate the effectiveness of the pad and see if it was worth the early brake down.
when first restarting the filter i notice a reduction of flow but after some time and a couple of restarts to purge air bubbles were back up to my previous flow.
well that's my setup and hopefully this will be helpful to at least one person
