The flow rate of the FX5 is very overrated. If you want increased flow then buy some big powerheads. Me personally I want filtration capacity. The FX5 holds 5.9 liters of media, while a 2080 holds 13. A marineland c-360 holds close to that amount of media as well and can be found for 175 bucks. Even the 2075 and 2217 holds about as much if not a little more media than an FX5. The FX5 is a fine filter but I don't think the guy should be disparaged for wanting to go another direction if added filtration capacity and not just flow rate are his primary concern.
Thinking about switching to ehiems
- Thread starter pURPLEcHILLIrED123
- Start date
jgjoneslaw;5066714; said:
Quite a few people have tested the FX5 at 600gph with media. Do some more research. Also, it's easy to mod an FX5 to hold more media (although I can't think of many tanks that have a heavy enough stock list that two FX5s full of a high quality bio media couldn't keep up with).
Just trying to save the guy some money and time, I think he should be "disparaged" from it.
both are great filters. the old arguement, ford or chevy. I have used Ehiems for many years and never had a problem. easy to prime and clean. I will say that you should save your money and buy the one without the heater. I have had two and the heater stopped working after about six months. pretty expensive to replace and not worth it.
The flow rate is overrated not because it's a lie... the flow rate is overrated because it doesn't have nearly the importance to filtration that people place on it. The flow rate is marketing hype. Even if an FX5 does get 600gph, I would rather have the eheim with double or even close to three times the filtration capacity that flows 300gph and I think the tank will be just as if not more healthy. Studies have been done which show that increased flow rate over a certain point over biological media actually decreases the efficiency of the media which is why the eheim's consistently cycle faster than the FX5 as was illustrated by that thread that was simply dismissed as simply written to praise eheim.
Flow rate is like horsepower. There comes a certain point where having all that power is useless. After that it is just for bragging rights.
By way of reference I currently run 5-6x filtration on my cichlid tank and the tank is crystal clear and water params are perfect. It is 100g with 30 fish.
If I were to listen to most people who post I should run out and buy a FX5 to bring me up to 10x+ As of now, for my tank, I see no reason to spend the money.
By way of reference I currently run 5-6x filtration on my cichlid tank and the tank is crystal clear and water params are perfect. It is 100g with 30 fish.
If I were to listen to most people who post I should run out and buy a FX5 to bring me up to 10x+ As of now, for my tank, I see no reason to spend the money.
jgjoneslaw;5067420; said:
Fine, if you want to pay more for a less efficient pump, go for it. If you really think the whole lower flow rate thing cycles tanks faster, here is an idea: ADJUST THE FLOW OF YOUR FX5! You can crank it all the way down to barely anything and it won't damage the motor...
dotbomb;5067510; said:
I dont think that's really part of this conversation? No one is claiming you should add an FX5 to your setup... This is about the OP replacing his FX5s with Eheims.
if your filter isn't broken don't replace it, even if the new filter were 20% more efficient it will take a couple of years to break even
