Habitat - Indoor :: Fluval FX5 in 55 gallon

[awatson88]

Hi,

I have been reading the forums for a while and everyone seems to recommend the fluval fx5. I went ahead and got it the other day. I installed it last night and it seems like it's way too powerful for my tank. I am not sure what do. My turtle seems to get blown around by the output and gets sucked towards in the intake. My fish seem to be struggling too. Is it too big for my tank?

Thanks,
Andrew Watson

[seanwb]

I am sure one of the experts will help more, but I believe you can turn down the water flow on these filters with the valves without risking damaging the motor. Suggest you check the instructions.

[seanwb]

Andrew,
looked in the on line manual. It says

AquaStop Valves
The AquaStop valve makes maintenance easy by allowing you to
stop the water flow with an easy 90-degree turn of the valve
lever. This means you can separate the hosing from the filter in
one step. The valve lever can also be used to regulate water flow
with no harm to the motor or its components. Three Valves are
provided; one for the intake, one for the output and one to be
used to drain the filter under certain circumstances during the
maintenance process.

So it looks like you will have a solution.

[Daniel3507]

i have an FX5 in my 55 gallon. even though it says you can use the shut off valves and it wont damage the motor, i still dont like to do it. mine are wide open and i just pointed the outputs toward the glass and it works perfectly. there is still good flow but not near strong enough to push my turtle around.

[BullDog]

There are a number of people who use the FX5 in a 55 gal (just like Daniel).
One thing you can do is point the outputs toward the wall or corner, so your turts don't have to swim full against the current. Also, the FX5 has a big strainer on the intake, so I've never really noticed any "suction" (other than the little pieces of junk floating around). It could be that the output is pushing the turts toward the intake, rather than the intake sucking them back.
Also, what media do you have? The more media, the lower the flow. So if you are running it empty, you'll get a lot more flow than if all the baskets are filled with various types of media.

If you've tried just about everything else, you can turn the aquastop valves down (start by just turning them down a little bit). Fluval says it won't damage your motor, so it's not going to void your warranty or anything.

[awatson88]

I have bio balls in the lower two bins and I have carbon and ammonia filter in the top one. Is there other stuff people recommend to instead of that? I will also adjust the values and slow down the flow rate a little.

Thanks,
Andrew Watson

[BullDog]

You media sounds fine. I think media is largely a personal thing, and you have to see what works for you.
I use:
Top: Prefilter + coarse filter pad
Middle: carbon + bioballs
Bottom: biomax