Equipment Review and Discussion :: Filter Experts! I need your knowledgable opinion.

[Daniel3507]

haha. thats what i thought when i opened it up.

[imderanged]

I had to cut the intake on mine. I used a hack saw. It felt insane to be cutting up a $200 peice of equipment!!!

[Daniel3507]

i probably should have cut mine. but like you said, its $200. i couldnt bring myself to do it. haha

[JeezLouise]

holy mackerel, looking at the pics posted it does look like a small garbage can!

Luckily, i have the same stand as imderanged but smaller in length and im hoping it wouldnt be a problem setting it up since we're putting the tank in the dining room and it would be weird to have a black garbage-can looking canister in the middle of the room. >_>

[mat012]

It looks to me to be the size of a 5 gallon bucket. How easy is it to operate. She is thinking about something easy that her mom can run and clean while she is away. Is this easy to take down, clean etc? To me this just seems like a bit of overkill. Personally I would go with two smaller filters. But then my tank is not a huge 100+ gallon one.

[BullDog]

did you have to cut the intake tube on yours? does it make much noise?

I didn't have to cut it on mine... It's in a 90 gal, so it's about 2" from the bottom, and the tubing is still in the water.

It looks to me to be the size of a 5 gallon bucket. How easy is it to operate. She is thinking about something easy that her mom can run and clean while she is away. Is this easy to take down, clean etc? To me this just seems like a bit of overkill. Personally I would go with two smaller filters. But then my tank is not a huge 100+ gallon one.

I thought it would be a beast to clean as well, but the thing that takes the most time is rinsing out the sponges. You have 6 sponges to clean (compared to 4 in the Fluval 404/5). A quick rinse of the bucket and the media, and you're done.
If you have a piece of 1" tubing, you can use the filter to drain itself, so once you drain most the water out, it's not too heavy. It also has 4 carry handles, so it's easy to carry.
My favourite feature though is that it's self-priming. Once you're done cleaning, pour a bucket or two of water into the filter, seal it back up, and start it up. Done!

If I'm doing a cleaning + 25% water change, it takes about 45 minutes, about the same as my Fluval 404.

[JeezLouise]

thanx for the cleaning tip BD! at least i know what to expect when the filter comes.

cleaning the filter is one of the most overlooked aspects in choosing one because people tend to get excited and they focus more on starting or priming the filter and getting it to work right.. then comes the cleaning part and the panicky feeling comes back again.

[mikee]

The FX5 is one heck of a filter with a lot of bio surface. When clean and not cramed with bio media it will put out about 850 to 900 gph. When I get to my new house I am getting a 124 to 150 gallon and this what I will be using. GPH, GPH is the way to go!!

[imderanged]

Honestly I find the FX5 really easy to maintain. The hardest part was taking off those hoses that attach by those big orange latches. Those are VERY stiff at first, or atleast they are on my filter, but I was told they will loosen up some with use. I have to get my hubby to turn the latches for me, but otherwise I do the mantinence myself, and I am a 5 foot tall woman with some health issues. I had one of those little zoomed 501 filters, and it was actually harder to use then the big FX5!!!

[TheComputerGremlin]

45 minutes to clean?!? My experience so far with my Rena is less than 10 minutes, from stopping the filter to having it up running again. I use a pressure-spray attachment to get the sponges clean, just line them up and spray them down, spray down the Zorb (or replace if I'm replacing it), rinse the canister, pop it back in and done ... Maybe I'll stick with my Rena when I get a bigger tank!

[Daniel3507]

45 min. though includes a water change though.

[Chrisbarnett]

Same here JAX. It takes me at max 25 minutes to clean everything(tubes, canister, media etc)

and maybe 15 minutes if Im being lazy when cleaning the canister&media alone not the tubes.

Renas are really easy to clean

[mat012]

I am beginning to see too the advantage of the media trays that come with the Rena. I havent pulled everything out of my filter yet (so far just the top two filter pads). But all the media in the filter is currently loose. I wish I had put the rings, etc in a nylon bag or something. That would make it so much easier to pull it all out for a good rinse. Is the media in the FX loose as well?

[Daniel3507]

in the fx5 you just put the media in the 3 trays. they stack together though so it wont spill out. some of the stuff comes in a bag though

[MoreBloodWine]

Just wanted to see if anyone can confirm the size of the FX5 being 21" high with a diamater of 14" because I'm writing up the plans now for the stand I wana build and I need to make sure I'll have enough room on the inside for the syetm. Last thing I'd want is to finish building it then go oops and be stuck with having to keep the filter on the outside of the stand heh... Thx.