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Well we are on Day three of the new FX5 and all I can say is WOW!

The water looks unreal!

It must be working great, the turtles have not been this active in a long time!

I set it up like VeipaCray suggested, with both carbon and purigen, I will probably reduce the carbon all together, the purigen is amazing stuff.

Anyway here is a picture of the brats, and tank.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4wBZl ... 3dqN1o2cjA

This is a 55 gallon tank, I think I just found a great deal on a 125 gallon, still trying to work the deal.

Looks great... good luck on the 125, that would be a terrific upgrade. Carbon can pull out chlorine/chloramines, so it does have that benefit over Purigen.

Glad it's working well for you .

When you get the 125, try to go more toward the corners for the intake and output, that will give you better circulation through the tank, I have been running mine for 9.5 months now with no maintenance (except adding water to the tank) and the water is still crystal clear.

I will say that changing the media is a pain. But pay to play.

@pridgnyc: how are the water parameters holding up?

@thinkskater: what media are you having to change besides a little carbon?

Just finished measuring:
PH 7.2-7-6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate about 50

I have a very small amount of algae growth on submerged portions of the basking area and small speckles here and there in the sand, that is probably what is keeping my Nitrates down. (plus the deep sand bed is probably also harboring some anaerobic bacteria)

I through the FX5 five manual it had stated that the filter media needed to be replaced. It didn't specify what did. I assumed it all needed to be changed. Was I incorrect in that assumption?

Yes, you were incorrect, the only thing that needs to be replaced is carbon, sponges can be rinsed and reused, and bio-media can be rinsed and reused (just don't let it dry out while you are cleaning). Purigen, if you are using it, should be replaced with a fresh packet and recharge the used one for the next time you clean the filter.

The manual says to replace everything because they make their money on media, but it is not necessary, especially with the FX5 which allows you to use whatever media you like.

With VeipaCray's media suggestion, this is what my tank looks like after 9 1/2 months without any cleaning (except for cleaning the glass above the waterline). My levels are in a previous post.

Looking really good pridg... Thanks for the pics.

Are you doing water changes or just topping it off?

Just topping off so far. Interestingly enough, my nitrates have dropped. I attribute it to the possible presence of anaerobic bacteria in the deep sand bed (it's about 4 inches in certain areas) and the growth of some algae. It seems to have achieved a balanced equilibrium as far as biological filtration goes. I'm actually concerned about cleaning the filter and disturbing the balance.

Well I didn't use enough ceramic rings to begin with so it had to be done. Ever since I have changed from the submerigable to the fx5 ( with veipacray's media suggestion of course) my tank has been clean and stayed that way.

PridgNYC wrote:Just topping off so far. Interestingly enough, my nitrates have dropped. I attribute it to the possible presence of anaerobic bacteria in the deep sand bed (it's about 4 inches in certain areas) and the growth of some algae. It seems to have achieved a balanced equilibrium as far as biological filtration goes. I'm actually concerned about cleaning the filter and disturbing the balance.

So don't clean it... just swap out carbon and purigen then. If the water parameters have stabilized at 0, the nitrates are as expected, and your flow rate is still producing enough turn over to keep the water clean... there's no reason to clean it. My only concern would be replacing the carbon to strip chloramines from the top off water unless you're doing what I do and are filtering the water through carbon prior to adding it to the tank.

Thinkskater wrote:Well I didn't use enough ceramic rings to begin with so it had to be done. Ever since I have changed from the submerigable to the fx5 ( with veipacray's media suggestion of course) my tank has been clean and stayed that way.

Glad it's working for you.

My top off water sits for a week or so inside a 5 gallon jug with a big bag of carbon inside of it.