My FX5 is driving me nuts

[DaveB]

For the past two weeks one of my FX5s has been making a very annoying trickling sound and keeps getting air in it. It keeps me up at night if it happens to be noisy when it's time to sleep. It'll be that slight trickle noise with the occasional sound of it spitting the tiny air bubbles out. I'm sure everyone's familiar with the sound.

What's odd is that it only happens sometimes. Much of the time it is silent like it's supposed to be.

I've had the thing for a year and it'd always fix itself with the daily 2 minute pump timeouts, or if I took too much out in a water change and exposed the intake, I could just shut it off, wait a bit, and turn it back on and it'd be fine. I try this every now and then when it makes the noises, but it doesn't always fix it.

The lid is on tight, there's no leak or anything, it's not clogged, and flow is good... but somehow air keeps getting in.

Anyone ever have this happen and pinpoint it to a specific cause? It's driving me crazy.

 

[lighthouse39183]

What do you have in the top basket? Sometimes the polishing pads or poly fiber create an air pocket.

 

[Jgray152]

Are you using any small particle filtration pads?

 

[FSM]

sleep with a fan on until you figure it out.

 

[malawi mayhem]

I have 405s and not framilar with the fx5... but I do remember one of my intakes working it's way to close to the air bubbles coming from a disk difusser.

It must be very frustrating....

Good Luck...!

mm

 

[Will Hayward]

While the filter is running, close each valve slowly one at a time. Then open them. If that doesn't work, do it again, starting with the opposite one.

 

[puntoturbo]

Im not familiar with that sound! And i have four Fx5's running,have done for years! They work just fine for me,never had a single problem.Going to buy another soon.

 

[Morledzep]

have you thoroughly checked the intake hose for leaks? sometimes air can get sucked into an intake hose that isn't completely sealed.. or maybe has cracked?

just something else to check..

 

[MurderedOut]

mine does that and always has after a water change and turning back on. i turn each valve off for a few seconds seperately (close one valve, wait a few seconds and open it, then do the other)and it goes away.


i FiNALLY got my fx5 setup properly. i had everybody tell me to run the top basket with pre filter media then later realized its just a waste of money that does nothing. (wasted like 40 bucks). Chompers helped me and Now i have all biomax. And a large particle filter mesh (the blue marineland kind that you can cut to size) on top basket with some biomax on top of it to keep it from floating up. So now i finally can wait a month or more between cleanings. The filter floss just kept clogging so quick, even with one layer.

 

[Will Hayward]

mine does that and always has after a water change and turning back on. i turn each valve off for a few seconds seperately (close one valve, wait a few seconds and open it, then do the other)and it goes away.

Nope this is a feature of the FX5. 60 Seconds after the filter is plugged in, it will turn off for 120 to purge the air. There is a microchip inside that controls the motor.