FX5s plumbed together inline?

[Jgray152]

zennzo . from your earlier post about purging air . how do you purge the air from any other canister that doesnt have the auto purge feature ? i imaging the filter would purge air in a similar way to that .

Most canister filters have the pump on the top and will allow the air to purge through the pump.

The Fx5 doen't purge through the pump, only through the purge tube and the filter has to be off. The first filter would purge into the output line but than the air would be trapped in the tube possibly untill you turn the pump on..

Now, doing some quick thinking, if you have the second filter 6 inches HIGHER than the first, you could potentially get the purging to work just fine as air would purge from te first filter, into the second and out to the tank...

all i said was that there is a potential . possibly a nice side effect just as a reduced flow could be a negative side effect of linking them . with a reduced flow a prolonged time that the water is without new air ( doubled ) and with very porus biological medai in the second canister there is " potential " for nitrate consuming bacteria to colonise in * parts * of the media . not saying its likely or anythign just that its a posibility . but really nothing to do with the reason for asking about this .

I wouldn't bet on it. All very porous media, regardless of flow you may have anaerobic bacteria cultivating in the deep portions of the media but not enough to reduce nitrates in the tank.

You need 1-3 GPH for a nitrate filter.

 

[gaz025]

i wasnt betting on the nitrate thing as i said .

but it seems that its possible to do and could work reasonably well also would not have any impact on the pump so its got to be worth a try .

as for the purging . there is the pipe on top as you say i think its linked somehow to the outlet or assume it wouldbe. would the flow not draw air out on its own much like a spray pain gun blows air over a water chamber . this would be water over an air chamber ---- power head is a better example .

if there was air traped in the top of the canister why wouldnt it escape out of the purge tube where its suposed to go ? the pump wont be on after all it would just be a chamber .

still . looks like its possibly and certainly worth a try .

if and when i eventually get round to trying it ill see if i can gather details and post the progress and problems .

thanks for your helpfull comments both of you

 

[zennzzo]

be sure to update,
if you ever do get it installed on a tank and get it cycled, It would be interesting to see what the results are...

 

[gaz025]

im sure i will try it at some point . i want to buy some more hose and some bits so maybe when i have that i can use the old hose and try it out

for info . i took the fluval standard outlets of the hoses today and replaced with 1" pluming conectors . i have two 45 degree bends and 1 x 90 degree elbow pusing water round instead of the dual outlets .

works perfectly . they fit nice and snug but not too tight . they direct water much better than i could get 3 x duel outlets to do and they are much simpler and cleaner .

great idea jgray . made a massive difference to flow in the tank .

 

[Jgray152]

as for the purging . there is the pipe on top as you say i think its linked somehow to the outlet or assume it wouldbe. would the flow not draw air out on its own much like a spray pain gun blows air over a water chamber . this would be water over an air chamber ---- power head is a better example .

The Fx5 purge feature is not design this way. You are thinking of a Venturi effect. Where water is forced to flow through a smaller diameter hole than the tubing its self forcing water's velocity to speed up causing a low pressure zone to be created, thus siphoning air or water through the purge tube.

When the pump is on the pressure created in the output tube is higher than the lesser pressure inside the canister which means water fill flow from the output tube, through the purge tube and back into the canister.

The reason Hagen did not design the Fx5 with a venturi effect is because increasing the waters velocity also increases the system pressure which decreases overall system flow.

if there was air traped in the top of the canister why wouldnt it escape out of the purge tube where its suposed to go ? the pump wont be on after all it would just be a chamber .

I could go into theory after theory but actual testing will prove one of our theorys.

MY theory is that when both canister have air inside them, regardless of how much, when the pump is OFF, air shoudl purge like normal. The last canister will purge great. The second canister may.............changing theory after thinking.......... when the second canister purges this will create a lower pressure before the second canister which should siphon water from the first canister, while doing this it should siphon water and air out as well and all the air should (if the second canister is higher) flow into the second canister and purge out completly....

Possibly.... hmmm.... I may not like the thought of using two canisters on one pump since I don't see enough positive to make me do it, but I will be optimistic to see if this could be done successfully. Its rare I am like this so soak it up while it lasts.

great idea jgray . made a massive difference to flow in the tank .

Glad it worked out!! Now I have a reference. haha