Fluval Fx5 Experiences

[DaiMasters]

Hey guys, I'm ordering an Fx5. I've done -a lot- of reading on this filter, countless reviews, websites, forum posts across countless forums. There's a lot of information out there about this filter, but I want to hear some of your guys' experiences with it. Positive and Negative. What are some tips and pointers about it that you personally would tell someone about the filter?

My Plan is to run a Blue Filter Pad on top, some of the Ceramic Rings from my current filter [1000grams] under that With a bit of Seachem Matrix. The Next tray will be Filled with Matrix For 2L total, and then a media bag filled with 200ml of Purigen in the bottom Basket. At least for now, I'm sure I'll end up tweaking it and getting it just the way it's gotta be to make me happy.

The Tank is a 170 Gallon freshwater tank stocked with 2 Oscars[One about 7-8" the other 9-10"], a 5" Cumberland Slider, Two plecos though I'm probably going to re-home the larger one, a Raphael Catfish and two crawfish.

Is there anything I should look out for with this filter? Like do I need to be extra careful about anything in particular?

Also My tank is 5' Tall with stand and 5' wide, will I need any extra Hosing? My Stand has a Solid Back and Undernieth has a Solid Divider. The Back is solid with two standard Holes on Each end [seperated by the divider, and then a 'custom' Hole Drilled on The left side of the right section of the stand.

Thanks for any advice!

[SunnyHouTX]

David, my FX5 polishes like no other without Purigen or floss and have nothing bad to say about it. Every tank it's been on has been crystal clear. One thing to watch out for is to have the intake nozzle at least 4" above the substrate, especially if you have sand. Mine is set up with crushed coral in the top two trays and a bag of carbon in the bottom tray. When i do water changes I drain via the FX5 drain and that helps clean the outer sponges and I haven't had to open mine up in more than 6 weeks. Usually you know when it's time to clean when micro bubbles come out of the return nozzle.

[justdoit]

I run 2 x FX5' s on my 300g planted / heavy stocked tank. Never had any trouble & easy to maintain
Be careful w/ the "clamps" that close up the top that they are lined up exact -- since they are made of plastic it is easy to cross thread.
I have mounted a cabinet slide out drawer to hold each canister which is handy to lift in & out from under the stand.

[rmalford]

When I first got my FX5 I filled the bottom two trays with eheim substrat pro with a filter pad at the bottom of the lowest tray and the included biomax and pre ring mix in the top tray. Personally, I had some issues with a few micro bubbles and decided to eliminate the bottom filter pad and swap the top and bottom trays for fear of loose sub. pro making its way to the bottom (I also cut the intake and output hose to the correct length at this time). Since then it has been months since I've had to deal with the bubbles and overall I personally would reccommend THIS Fluval.

[DaiMasters]

Thank you guys for all the info and sharing your experiences with me! It's confirming what I've already read, and Making me even -more- excited for this Filter to come in. =)

Anyone have real world experience with Seachem Matrix? Supposedly It's supposed to grow Aerobic and Anaerobic Bacteria. The way this works from what I've gathered is that it's so porous, and the pores are so small that inside the matrix rocks it has extremely little flow causing anaerobic conditions inside each 'pebble'. I've also read that it also takes 4-6 months for those anaerobic bacteria to establish a significant enough colony To make a difference on Nitrates. And it's supposed to do this -best- in a canister filter. Any credibility to this? It makes sense in theory, I guess. lol I'm not microbiologist or anything, I just know what I've read on the internets. And we know everything on the net is true. lol. And even if If it does do all that and remove nitrates I wouldn't stop doing my water changes every week. I believe there's probably all kinds of unknown nastiness that builds up in our water that we don't/can't test for. But that could be just me being overly cautious. ^.^;

[crazy42bmx]

Iv got one and i love it, done a few things and seen some cool mods as well. They work good if u know how to set them up.

[DaiMasters]

Yeah it's a great Filter, I love it. =)

[crazy42bmx]

I do use a full tray of s te seachem matrix in mine! Best bio for the money i believe. Yea it takes a lil to build up and get fully established, but its good stuff. Mines set up with top tray carbon. 2nd tray matrix. 3rd tray has matrix as well with 2 polishing pads at the verry bottem. Lot of bio i know. But not like it doesnt hurt! I go through and change carbon once a month and change rinse out my sponges as well. Lil trick tho, take a 5 gal bucket n rinse ur sponges in tank water rather then tap to keep any good stuff alive still. With all that much bio, iv allways got a jump start to set up on new tank.

[DaiMasters]

I've Got 1000g of Ceramic Rings and 2 Liters of Seachem Matrix and 200ml of Seachem Purigen. And it's fabulous. The Foam pads that come with it are all I need for mechanical. =D

My Media is stacked like this:
Cermic Rings---Top Tray
Matrix----------^
Matrix- Middle Tray
Purigen. - Bottom Tray

[fishman1]

I just set mine up about 4 days ago and I have to say it is very powerful the suction from it is too strong that I have a huge pile of sand near my intake so I dialed the suction down and plan on sawing off part of the intake.