I hate my FX5

[RNeiswander]

A while back a got a xp4 from marine depot for 150 bucks on sale. The flow slowed down after the first week or two, the water however was crystal clear. I replaced the fine pad on the top basket with the foam pad that goes around the magnum 350 carbon canister. Its been running for about a month and a half like this i believe. Water quality hasnt dropped at all and the flow has only slowed down slightly.

My only complaint about the rena is that its a bit of a pain to prime, but besides that its great, quiet and easy to service. Im thinking about getting another so ill have 2 on my 55 lol.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

anything that automatically shuts down and restarts, is bound to fail sooner of later.

I have had 6 FX5 running for 2 year now on timers 30 minutes ON/30 minutes OFF, that's 36,500 times not counting the 2 minute automatic timer which because of the 30/30 analog timer resets it to shut off and on additional 36,500. That's 73,000 just 1 of my 6 FX5 has been switching on and off compared to stock 730 times per year. To date I have had not one issue with my FX5's, other then the fact that they make filter maintenance pretty infrequent in my overstocked tanks like once every 6 months. But then my tanks enjoy the complete nitrogen cycle.

You have to know your equipment and how it works before you make claims caused by your own human error. Start by carefully following the video step by step especially when it comes to hose location, length and placement. Also the fundamental reality that you cannot place polishing media in the in-line basket section, that is what the circumference section is for.

In most of these cases, there are no problems, only solutions.

 

[Rbishop]

Guess you have some of the good ones! I still stand by my statement. There seems to be growing complaints about the purge function on the FX5s.

 

[DrgRcr]

I have had mine running for nearly 2 years as well, and never had a problem. It stops and starts flawlessly and has plenty of punch. The only issue I've ever read a few times about was people getting a lot of micro bubbles from it. It seems this comes from stuffing too much fine media in there. I know when I need to clean it if the flow starts slowing down, usually once every 2-3 months. It is also on a 125, along with an AC 110, housing 35 mbuna and 6 syno cats.

 

[fshfanatic]

I bought an FX5 and sold it not to long after getting it. If you place any type of polishing pads in the center it clogs up so fast as to not be very effective. I picked up an Eheim 2260 and absolutely love it.

 

[slipgate]

I share the OP's pain. Maybe Fluval has re-designed the blue filter media pads. They clog up VERY quickly and when they do, they seal so well in the basket that nothing will get through it. When I take it apart to clean it, you can see water sitting in the basket with the blue filter pad and NOTHING is draining out of it. It is totally clogged. This is why I stopped using the fine polishing white pads. They would clog so quickly and cause the micro-bubbles. I think this is a case of the pad being too dense. My fear is that the pad clogging will stress the motor and cause early failure.

So I am not ready to dump the FX5 but I am looking at not using this particular pad anymore and replacing it with either ceramic pre-filter media or else maybe just filter floss. I also think you could cut the pad so that it doesn't fit quite as well in the basket so water is able to flow when the pad clogs up.

 

[platytudes]

I would maybe try plastic scrubbies...they serve as mechanical filtration as well, even though they are mostly used for bio. Eheim and Fluval make some ceramic rings for pre-filtering that might do the trick nicely if you want something not so ghetto

 

[Crispino Ramos]

I feel the same way, having two filters for a large tank is better than just one. Why don't you call the customer service before giving up? Otherwise, Eheim and Rena are good filters - I have them and are user friendly.

 

[msjinkzd]

I LOVE my FX5 with no modifications. i use it on a 220g tank with a c360 as well. I only pack it with bioballs though, and have never had an issue. I use the c360 (much lighter and easier to clean) for all coarse pads.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

I LOVE my FX5 with no modifications. i use it on a 220g tank with a c360 as well. I only pack it with bioballs though, and have never had an issue. I use the c360 (much lighter and easier to clean) for all coarse pads.

You see she fills the center baskets last stage column with Bio-balls and so do I but also lava-rocks. That last stage center basket column only has a liner throughput surface area of about 50 square inches and placing a polishing bad in just 1 basket chokes up the entire channel in no time about 1 to 2 months, so use this section for highly porous (bio-balls, rings, course-carbon, lave rocks, media ONLY. The first stage where the 6 long sponges surround the filter 360 degrees or in circumference is where there is enough throughput about 50 square inches for each 6 independent sponge or 300 square inches total. Independent becasue they operate in parallel not in series like the basket section. This means that not only can you place polishing strips in front of the sponges and they will last becasue of 6 times the surface area of the basket section but becasue they work independent if 1 sponge clogs the other 5 take over the work. I use split poly batten strips on all 6 sponges and after I pull the filter in 6 months and have caught substantial fine debris and poo, at least 2 of the sponges still has plenty of room for polishing. I recently pulled one of my 6 FX5's that had been operating on my 244 tank for 1 year, and even though it was black with debris the flow was still unchanged. This is not magic but just applying fundamental principals of hydrology.
Below the 1 year FX5 test.