jonclark96
Past CCA President
I keep my intakes a little higher above the sand substrate in my tanks to minimize the amount of sand that gets sucked in when my fish dig holes.
I would say just a little bit more higher, as depending on the substrate and where the fish dig, sand my get into the intakes.
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You can order the tube online or check with LFS..they usually carry those.. I'd you mean the ribbed hosing or the intake attachment?
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frankoq
Members
I meant the solid plastic tube. Trying to avoid ordering online.
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cichlidaddicted
Members
3/4 inch pvc fits perfect in the soft rubber end peices on the fx5 piping. Not sure if the strainer peice on the bottom of the intake will fit in right but you could add a street coupler and it should work fine.
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So you want a white PVC intake tube? Hmmmm..why not order online? I'm sure they have it somewhere for cheap..better than having a white long pipe visible on my tank IMO.. I find the PVC bother the "hidden" look I want to achieve in my 180 drain system..so I'm ordering black PVC from bulkreef supply..you can order there if you don't want to order a OEM replacement..
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cichlidaddicted
Members
You should obviously paint it, my pvc spray bar is painted and it looks better than the grey Fx5.
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What I'm worried is paint that may have a toxic effect on the fish.. What are your experiences?
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dogofwar
CCA Members
I filter my 180g (pretty heavily stocked with new world) with a single FX5 that feeds a "dump" filter on top of the tank (i.e. a rubbermaid container with holes in the bottom so water can flow back into tank... filled with bioballs, scrubbies, etc.). I also have a sponge filter on it (for back-up/additional aeration).
An extra FX5 would be an extra filter to clean an and extra filter consuming power.
I'd add an extra HOB or powerhead driven filter for (primarily) mechanical filtration before I'd add another big canister...
I'll spare everyone my opinion on whether it's a good thing to let canisters go for months between cleanings... and just say that I clean mine every week or two.
Matt
An extra FX5 would be an extra filter to clean an and extra filter consuming power.
I'd add an extra HOB or powerhead driven filter for (primarily) mechanical filtration before I'd add another big canister...
I'll spare everyone my opinion on whether it's a good thing to let canisters go for months between cleanings... and just say that I clean mine every week or two.
Matt
cichlidaddicted
Members
I don't have the brand paint I used on me now but there are several types of paint that are safe. All diy backrounds are painted lots of decor is painted. The wrong stuff could be very toxic but it is possible to do safely
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dogofwar
CCA Members
krylon fusion is fish safe once it dries
Matt. Got a picture or video of that dump filter? Would like to see how it looks on top of a tank..
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dogofwar
CCA Members
I don't but it looks like a Clear plastic rubbermaid bin on top of a 180g tank (supported by 2x4s) 
Water runs into the rubbermaid via the outflow from the FX5 (or I could use a water pump in the tank, as I do on a couple of other big tanks)...and returns through holes in the bottom of the rubbermaid to the tank (I removed that section of the glass top).
How it looks is completely based on the vessel that you use for the filter. I like clear rubbermaids so that I can see whether water's flowing through it and whether the (top) layer of fluff needs changing...
Matt
Water runs into the rubbermaid via the outflow from the FX5 (or I could use a water pump in the tank, as I do on a couple of other big tanks)...and returns through holes in the bottom of the rubbermaid to the tank (I removed that section of the glass top).
How it looks is completely based on the vessel that you use for the filter. I like clear rubbermaids so that I can see whether water's flowing through it and whether the (top) layer of fluff needs changing...
Matt
Hannibal
Members
Exactly what I used on my spray bar. I let it dry for about a week before putting it in the tank.
frankoq
Members
LFS has 2ft pieces of clear tubing for about $5.
neut
Members
Big +1 to that. (Hey Matt, we agree on some things.
) To the original question, for whatever reason, the fixation on over-filtering is becoming a meme with a segment of the hobby, but that doesn't make it necessary. The law of diminishing returns applies here. Fact is, for all the extra horsepower and media capacity, your beneficial bacteria colony will only be whatever size is supported by your bio-load, no more and no less, no matter how much filtration you have. And once your tank is crystal clear, another filter won't make it more crystal clear.You could put 2 FX5s on a 30 gal tank and your bacteria colony won't be any larger or healthier than if you had one modest but adequate hang on filter, only now your colony is more or less split between the two FX5s. If one of your redundant FX5s break down, you've still lost part of your bacteria colony and the remaining beneficial bacteria colony in the other filter still needs to get up to speed with the tank. And since it's biochemistry-- not overfiltering-- that determines how fast they reproduce, you're still looking at a day or two or so for them get back to equilibrium with a decent sized bio-load. Not saying that some redundancy is a bad idea-- I generally have extra filters floating between my tanks, giving me ready to go backups, or running filters to start new tanks or tubs, etc., just like I like to have an extra heater or two lying around-- but that doesn't mean I want to run five 300 watt heaters on a 90 gal tank, 'because you can never have too many'.
So, to me, the question in the case of an extra FX5 on some of these tanks is: how badly do you really want to be paying the bill to run an extra 50 watts of filtration on your tank that it doesn't need? Or how much money do you want to put into superfluous filtration that could go towards another tank or some nice fish?
If you want extra filters, knock yourself out, not saying it bothers me. My point is some people these days are making it sound like way over-filtering is a cosmic truth of fishkeeping or a fundamental requirement for a healthy tank and it's simply is not.
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