Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
fx5 help needed.
- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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its down to about 30% flow rate,
i have tired everything i can think of to get it going right,
took it apart and cleaned everything,
the problem seems to be that it is not clearing itself of air, that is the only thing i can come up with, it is re starting itself but dosent seem to get going properly after,
anyone got any ideas??? coz all out at this stage!!

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- Brazzill (john)
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- Rummy (Stephen)
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- dubfish (Alan Martin)
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Regards Alan..
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- smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
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I keep Discus, rummys, black ghost knife, corri, have no substrate anymore (tried to get it cleaner), have 2 big peaces of wood with couple anubias around them + 2 big plants in pots.
All this in 450L (RIO400) with FX5. I feel with barebottom tank and FX5 I shouldn't have much dirt on the bottom. I know royal pleco is leaving loads of wood bits behind him, but that shouldn't keep me cleaning it every day.
Now whoever has FX5 can they tell me what sort of tanks they have, what media they have in them, how often do they need to clean and if ever or how often sponges are replaced?
All help appreciated.
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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i have rings balls and sponges in it cleaned it once a month only a light clean though you should only have to change the sponges if they are falling apart other then tank leave them
A small bit off filter wool will help keep the water polished
As for the botton off the tank the intake should take up most off this as the FX5 is a great filter and is rated for up to 1500L so is great for a 450L tank you could move one off the outputs down a small bit just to raise it slightly not to much that it will be all over the tank but a small bit so that the intake wil get it in
Sean
Sean Crowe
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Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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- Blue Land (Brian McGeever)
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Media in use, Bottom tray - Bio Balls, Middle tray- Cintered glass and top tray - Ceramic rings along with a small amount of peat.
Flow rate is good and it seems to be filtering the tank very well.
Intake is 1/3 of depth of tank from the bottom, with the outputs being directed 1) down and along the lenght of the tank and 2) up and towards the front of the tank.
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- smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
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Using an FX5 on a Rio400 also.
Media in use, Bottom tray - Bio Balls, Middle tray- Cintered glass and top tray - Ceramic rings along with a small amount of peat.
Flow rate is good and it seems to be filtering the tank very well.
Intake is 1/3 of depth of tank from the bottom, with the outputs being directed 1) down and along the lenght of the tank and 2) up and towards the front of the tank.
How often would you clean the filter?
Do you change sponges or always just wash?
What about IN & OUT pipes? do you clean them? I sometimes clean the filter very well, clean even the motor very thoroughly, but when I start the filter, so much dirt goes in to the tank..
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- Blue Land (Brian McGeever)
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I rinse the sponges in tank water. I don't and have not ever changed the sponges. I think the sponges are fine until they are essentially falling apart.
I clean the pipes on a less frequent basis. I have noted that when I clean the filter but do not clean the pipes, on reconnection the filter just refills itself and there are no issues about noise etc. It seems that retaining the water in the pipes is like a primer for the filter itself - if that makes sense.
If the filter motor etc. are being cleaned thoroughly but on restart its releasing debris then I think the intake and output pipes need to be cleaned. Any LFS will sell a brush that you can push/pull through the pipes to take care of this. Generally they are not long enough, so I attach a length of straightened wire clothes hanger (the ones you get with your dry cleaning). This will give you the additional length necessary.
Hope this helps
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- smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
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