Reed
Very Fishe
I am going to be installing my new FX5 and want to see how others are packing the 3 layers.
mdlnewman
Members
3 layers of ceramic rings
jeffmo78
Members
each tray i have is filled with the ceramic rings. I cut circular pieces of the blue and white filter floss and placed them on top of each tray.
YSS
Members
I have sponges packed with two coarse fx5 filter pads on the top tray, bio media, and another coarse pad in the middle tray, and more bio media and more filter pads in the bottom tray. I have found that fx5 is not a great mechanical filter used only with the side sponges that come with the filter.
Andrewtfw
Global Moderators
I fill the top with ceramic rings, the middle with AC70 sponges and the bottom with more AC70 sponges. I occasionally add carbon to the middle, if I have some laying around. I will also occasionally add the blue/white pad to the middle layer but never the top. I have had the filter all but stop due to this pad clogging the center holes.
YSS
Members
By the way, water flows from top to bottom in FX5.
Andrewtfw
Global Moderators
True, but I only had a pad in the top. The pad was being pulled into the holes in the center and blocked water flow. I removed the pad and did not touch any other part of the FX5. When plugged back in, the output was like new, where as before it was trickling.
If you use a similar type set up like the polishing pad in the top tray, you will experience a similar result.
YSS
Members
Yup. I tried placing polishing pads on the top tray and it got clogged in two days. I put the coarse sponge (ones you use for AC HOBs) on the top tray with the coarse pads at the bottom of the tray under the sponges. I clean the sponges and pads every two to three weeks. It's more often than I would like, but if there's that much junk in the water, it needs to be cleaned, I suppose.
jonclark96
Past CCA President
I use the stock foam pads on the perimeter and filled all three trays with Seachem Pond Matrix. It's a little bigger than the normal matrix and way more affordable.
Reed
Very Fishe
Thanks everyone's. I have put Bio media in the bottom 2 layer with floss on top of the bottom layer. Blue pad on top of the second bio layer and plastic scrubber pads on the top layer. Well see how it woks.. may haverop remove the polishing floss.
I do a similar thing. Seachem Matrix on the 2 bottom trays with pot scrubbers on top, top tray is prefilter with pot scrubbers on top of that also. I have tried putting polishing pads and filter floss on the bottom, but they clog way too soon. The pot scrubbers pull double duty as mechanical filtration as well as superior biological filtration due to the surface area. I then add a Emperor 400 and the 2 filters keep my 110 gallon stocked heavy with angels and gouramis sparkiling. Keeps the maintenance down on the FX5 too since it does not clog.
