Fx5 Filter

simonas · Feb 17, 2011

I posted seperately about my slow flow FX5 which is currently detrimental to my set up

It would appear I need to start by sorting the media out. I only have filter wool in the centre compartments with a bag of carbon and what looks like some type of sand in the centre compartments as well. Nothing in the rings.

Looking on ebay theres all kind of different types of filter media.

I keep discus etc in the tank and basically want decent bacterial filtration with some mechanical. I;d like clean water effectively.

Should I be leaving the centre compartments free and using the rings from the outside or just packing some of the centre compartments.

what media would you recomend?

Simon :good:

N0body Of The Goat · Feb 17, 2011

Even though it's normally a bit more expensive, I bought 5l of Eheim Substrat Pro through Ebay (bargain price of £31 for one-off sale), mainly because I have been led to believe that this media lasts years compared to other brands. I used about half of it in the FX5 baskets and the other half in my Eheim 2078 at the time, but I do keep wondering if I should top them both up with some more. I think I also had filter wool in each basket too (definitely used some from 2078 to help seed FX5), but I would not stake my life on it!

Recently I've been wondering about getting some Nitrazorb, to act as an extra nitrate buffer, but I've not come to any conclusions about whether its a good investment or not.

Always Learning · Feb 17, 2011

Ceramic in the baskets and the Fluval sponges around the edges, that's it.

If you give Hagen a call, they will happily talk to you for a while about what to put in and in what order. They base it on your stocking too, as it was different for Malawi than it was for the Americans. I have another filter which I pack up with polishing cloths, as everyone advices not to use floss of fine pads in the FX5 due to how easily it clogs and destroys the performance of the filter. It's also one of the reasons why you get the fine bubbles from the outlet.