Is my FX5 enough?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks everybody. I actually bought the Fx5 used off of one of the members here and they had done the output alterations beforehand. After I had the thing running for a bit without seeing the improvement I was looking for, I decided to try customizing it myself to change the flow. (I don't have the original piece, which sucks). As far as my water parameters I'm sorry but I have no idea what they are, I usually just lie when people ask, I don't test anything. I like the powerhead idea though, I still feel like my intake/exhaust placement isn't ideal and if I could establish a better flow around the tank from one to the other things would improve. And Maverick that reverse under gravel idea is awesome, I might do that anyway just to help kick up the bear size crap that those two fish produce. Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll see what I can throw together.
 
i was thinking could a person link up the canisters, so u just have 1 intake and 1 outflo, that way u would only have to clean the 1st in line the rest could be just bio and never need cleaning..would it work?
 
^you couldnt run both pumps and im sure output would be pretty restricted but yes you can do that if you want.
 
I have 1 fx5 on my 220. intake on one side of the tank and outlet on the other. The media is rings filter pads and scrubbies . Its been working great for years
 
ChiPerf said:
I'm not that happy with my FX5 on a 125 right now, let alone a 220. Water isn't as clear as I'd like it. I added a Koralia 1050 powerhead and that helped the flow a ton, but the water is the same. I'll probably look for another FX5 soon.
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Agreed. I have one on my 110show(4'x18"x30") stocked with africans, and the tank is constantly dirty. Not cloudy but junk floating around in the water column. I had all the same fish in a 75g das tank with a built in filterbox running with a 1,200gph pump and never saw debris floating in the column. Yes my tank is "overstocked" but bio-wise it keeps up with the waste just not able to polish all the water with its turn over rate. Sad if you follow manufacturers guildlines it should be able to handle a 450g tank? I will stick with my tried and true sumps for the rest of my tanks for sure they are always sparkling clean.
 
Scalesandfins - Bryan, is that a largemouth your holding in your avatar? It's a damn beast. Nice catch. As far as the Fluval I have been looking at it and I am pretty sure my guess is on point. The intake rests just below the halfway point of my tank, about 14 inches off the bottom and the T shaped exhaust is about 8 inches higher, almost at the top of the tank. I'm thinking the exhaust is circling the top of the tank for the most part leaving the mid to bottom section, which is where the crap hangs out, virtually stagnant. I'm going to try and modify one of those bendable exhausts to fit the output and see if I can switch it up and get a better current that will incorporate more of the tank. By the way another piece of equipment that I am missing is one of the hose holders that go over the tank edge. (The one with the buckles) I have one on the exhaust but not one on the input, and for piece of mind I'd like to pick another up. Does anyone know where to get one cheap?
 
Your 3/4" T or nozzel is restricting the flow of your Fx5. Switch to 1" minimum and you could get 600gph flow from your fx5 which is the max flow rate of your filter (not the 900GPH pump flow rate). Your only going to get 2 1/4" cycles in your tank. Not a whole lot. Would help to get more circulation in there as well.. You will have more freedom with custom plumbing if you switch to vinyl tubing.

If your splitting your output then make sure you are going from 1" to 3/4" or 7/8"
 
Make sure most fittings are as close to 1" ID (inner diameter) as possible.
 
I decided to get to it today and recycled a bunch of my old custom flow equipment into a new exhaust. I used a long extention and I have two exhaust points, one at the upper part of the tank and one almost gravel level. Both bounce off of the middle of the side glass and as long as my aim is good should push the water around the tank. The best part is that I used the T to connect to the extention and the other pvc fitting at the bottom so this whole attempt was done at no cost. I did a massive water change and cleaned off all of my tank decor so if it works there should be no reason it would look terrible anymore. We will see I guess, I'll post a couple pictures in a while to show what it looks like.
 
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