Recommendations on media for my new FX5

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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nospeed411

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 13, 2009
96
1
0
Central PA
I have fallen into a brand new fx5 for 60 bucks and need some ideas on what to stuff it's innards with. We are currently in the middle of setting up and moving our boys from a 55 to a new 90 and this is perfect timing. We currently have all SA's in the tank including a 11 inch JD. I have always been a big fan of our Penguins and had nothing but success for the last 6 yrs so switching to a canister is a big move for me. I would like to gravitate away from carbon if I can in lieu of something more natural i.e. peat. I also think the addition of a DIY spray bar across a dual bio wheel set up would be a good idea.

LMK what you guys think
 
Yeah I thought of doing that but if this thing can handle a 400 gal tank It really should do fine as my only filter,,,,however I may retain one of the penguins.
 
nospeed411;3597495; said:
Yeah I thought of doing that but if this thing can handle a 400 gal tank It really should do fine as my only filter,,,,however I may retain one of the penguins.
Click to expand...

I would personally. I've got an fx5 and a fluval 305 on my 75 gallon and I still wish I had more on there.
 
you can use the ehiem brand media. like substrat pro.. but it can get pretty expensive.
 
The fx5 should be more than enough, i run one on my 150gal and a powerhead for a lil extra water movement, with very messy cichlids and it keeps up great, mine is stuffed completely with Sera Siporax ceramic rings, all three trays, the ehiem media is fine but i have heard that it restricts flow some, I'd stick to any of the ceramic rings, The Sera holds up great though.
 
Ok so I decided to get slightly creative in the filling if it.

Top layer 1 Bag of overpriced name brand carbon with a medium filter pad on top of it.

Middle layer is a mix of Biomax and tiny lava rock

Bottom layer is a handfull of very small bio balls, some more biomax and a fine polishing style filter pad material.

I went to home depot and found some really nice semi course blue filter sheets that my wife diligently cut and fit to the outside rings.

I will probably adjust this over time but we will see how this goes. The only reasone we use the carbon is because we moved every one to a 90 from a 55 and with all the new water that was added I wanted to make sure it was clean and clear. By the way I will add that the fx5 makes swapping tanks a real breeze. After I had the 90 about 1/3 full we put the intake hose in the 55 and the outlet in the 90 and just used the fx5 to pump it in. (it was at this point we realized we didn't have it quite where we wanted it)
So now I have a tank , full of 90 gallons of water and need to move it about 10 inches...aaaarrrggghhh! Thank god for WD40 and hardwood floors..LOL
 
polishing pads asr pretty much a waste in there, will probably clog really quick, unless you don't have messy fish at all.
 
im running two FX5's on my 150G... one is full of bio ceramics and the stock filter sponges... the other has the bottom tray in bio and the other two trays have a bag full of carbon and qa bag full of zeolite each... this is the one that I regularily overhaul (every 2-3 weeks) to replace the carbon / zeolite... the other stays put for a lot longer or untill the output drops and its a bit clogged...

Id like to get a third to run as bio ceramics aswell and just to push the filtration up a bit more ;)
 
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