HOW MANY FLUVAL FX5'S ARE YOU USING????

[Somethingfishyinc.net]

my take,
I'm like the consumer reports for my customers. I buy whats new & try it out first before selling it in our shop because if its crap & I would not use it then i'm not selling it! Well I bought & set one up when it came out & placed it on a 110 with a trio of wild samazi fronts 6" size range, group of 5 Placido phenochilus & a couple scanvengers. It went 14 months before the first cleaning! Yes the bio load was not heavy but I like the filter myself & it worked very good & is well made. I used coral chunks, bioballs, bio chem zorb & some floss pads within mine. Going on two years & not a problem or with the many I have sold. I have one customer that has bought 4-5 already. One guy that helps me at the shop at was having problems it spitting air & little noise but redid the media placement & it to take care of it. I also know if you use the fine filter pad which works really well but it clogs much quicker, then filter needs to be clean as such. I also put one on my 350 gallon at home along with a 500 gallon wetdry system & I now get a extra week or two before water changes. I have a xlarge drift wood piece which tainted the water some, but with the biochem zorb the water is clear.
Remeber your media selection can determine how it filters & for how long?

I use some of the ehiems & have sold them & used them on maintenance accts & they do work well, but the newer hagen line i lean towards because of ease of use & they move water more.

Also I did try the new Marineland 360 can filter & it also is working well & doing a good job for over 6 months now with one cleaning.

I think the magnums are going to be discontinued soon? The penguin filters are being eliminated also. With two major players that own half of the industry they have product competing against their own line so we will be losing some of our options/choices of filters etc. out there.



me dave
www.Somethingfishyinc.net

 

[Merbeast]

I have 3, all on my 135. They do a dang fine job. I needed the flow to move all the crap off the sand. I avoid the polishing pads, I use ceramic beads in the baskets. Just with all the foam and water movement I get plenty of mechanical filtration so any additional in the baskets is just redundant.

 

[WyldFya]

Eheim wins hands down. I run purely eheims.

 

[L A R R Y]

I will be getting another FX5 for my 160

 

[vfc]

The FX5 is just another marketing gimmick that gets people to spend more money on filtration.

The marketing folks have correctly identified the trend of the ever-increasing "minimal" turnover rate in filters and are putting out new products that generate a higher profit margin.

Next year Rena may release an XP15 with 1,500GPH flow. Fluval will counter with the FX20 with 2,000GPH. Then Eheim will trump everybody with the 5,000GPH PRO V canister.

These new filters won't be cheap, as with any new (and temporary) top of the line models. Of course they won't mention you have to clean them weekly or they will clog. Or they will market the high-flow / low-maintenance versions that allow bypass so you can keep the crud in your system for months; even years. Keep in mine you will also need a "normal" size canister for bio-filtration.

I agree with a few others that the best filtration is done with a couple "medium" size filters and a few power heads.

Don't forget that the filter manufacturer's marketing folks are reading these forums all the time. And you know some of them will post here (anonymously) about how much they love model "X" and what a great job it does (far better than the other manufacturers they supposably owned ).

Some people have such weak mines that can be easily manipulated......

 

[HarleyK]

Don't forget that the filter manufacturer's marketing folks are reading these forums all the time. And you know some of them will post here (anonymously) about how much they love model "X" and what a great job it does (far better than the other manufacturers they supposably owned ).

Some people have such weak mines that can be easily manipulated......

True. And some are paranoid

All it takes to identify such a "bad apple" as you described is to look at the member's record on MFK. You can see when the member joined, how many total posts the member has made, you are even linked to the posts and see what kind of posts these were. That's all you need to know about a member to come to a conclusion if you should trust him/her or not....

HarleyK

 

[Merbeast]

I specifically chose the fx5 for the flow rate (I would love to get the eheim 2262 instead, but it was much more expensive). I needed the flow rate to move the poop off the sand and over to the filter intake. In my planted 55, I have a fluval 203 (low flow).

 

[parrthed]

I run 6 (working on another) now and I love them all. If you ask me it is an excellent filter for the price and does its job well. I have had no shortcomings with any of mine. I chose the FX5 because of the flow plus the simplicity of the design. Also it has a decent amount of media space and the customer service is excellent (I know from previous hagen products). Granted it may not have all the bells and whistles of other filters but it does its job and does it well.

 

[scubasteve06]

Personally I would rather run two smaller canisters for bio(redunancy). I have heard the FX5 is a great mechanical filter, but IMO it is best to remove the mechanical waste from the water system on a weekly basis. I supose though you can just leave that crap in your water system for a month if ya like, better keep up on them water changes though.

I just got 5 of those supertrap things that replace the fabric mech pads, that you just rinse off and replace and supposedly last...<shrugs shoulders> forever? I dunno all I know is you have to replace the waste trap once a month and they are really cheap.

And I dont have a FX5 if I had the money to buy one I would spend it on a Eheim pro 3.

 

[L A R R Y]

Mmmmm well since I only joined less than a month ago, and I have a low post count means that I have no knowledge in setting up and maintaining a healthy aquarium and can't raise a beautifully colored fish?

wowwwwwww

I'll just keep my comments to myself so I won't be considered a "BAD APPLE"