Oh wow surprised this thread is still alive. Its been along time and things have and are changing for me. My tanks are pretty much filled with Tilapia now and the stock is so large in size now that I am seriously planning on moving out of tanks and into a pond. As far as my CFS500 and my FX5, I have managed through experimentation to break my records on time between cleanings, about 12 months with absolutely no problems and almost zero fish deaths, like 1 every year from old age. Now what you are about to hear you probubly wont believe but I found that traditional periods between fish feedings and water chnages traditionally are being way way overdone. Today I feed my fish once every three days and my water changes other then adding water due to dehydration, are about once every 6 months. The result is I have experienced much cleaner tanks, far fewer fish death and fish with much longer life span. There is more too this of course with Pothos plants growing out of my tanks across the house with leaves the size of shoes. Anyway I just thought Id stop buy and say hi. When I have my pond going Ill post some info and pics, in the meantime I'm downsizing.
God Bless
PS, while the FX5 is IMO the most effective, long lasting, and reliable canister filter bar-none, its little brother the CFS500 may not be as powerful having a few material issues to deal with, but the CFS500 is the most amazing bargain filter for the power and overall value ever made IMO.
