and for my next question......?

How exactly does a FX5 work????

My other canister, along with all other canisters i have seen are pretty simple, they filter from bottom to top....water go's inthrough pipes to the bottom of the filter and raise up through all the media and leave through a pipe at the top all nice and clean.

But with an Fx5 all the sponges and are around the outside of the media baskets with baskets for bio media in the middle.

On the inside of the fliter lid there is a pipe attached underneath the IN connection which would take water straight to the bottom of the filter and the is also a pipe attched to the bottom of the filter that lines up with the OUT connection.

I know these are great filter but could some one please shead some light as to how these bad boys do there job????? and is there a preferd order for media???? where is the best spot for fine filter wool/polishing pads?

I still need to get some parts to get it running (got is 2nd hand missing some parts) but finding it hard here in australia, no website stocks spares for and FX5....will get most bits from the hardware shop but reall want the origional intake and output.

water comes in through the top "inlet" of the filter down the plastic pipe inside the canister to the bottom of the filter, sucked up to the top passed the sponge and back down through the baskets(passed all your media) back to the bottom into the "outlet" plastic pipe and back to the tank. because the water and muck are being drawn up past the sponge(with some suction pulling crap into the sponge) the sponge catches the crap. so basically you have a down and side sucking action from the baskets and sponge. water takes the route of least resistance so most goes pasted or through the media. does that make sense? I hope so ))))

media order is top large blocks or what ever you use to catch the crap(dirtiest) middle and bottom your best media with the polishing pad at very bottom of basket.

i fill all 3 baskets with the same media and use the side sponge alone for mechanical. i wash the sponge once a months now and the media is always very clean.

Hi, thanks marcus, it kinda makes sense.

So i should put the finest polishing media at the bottom of the bottom basket, under the bio media?

What is finer...the fx5 polishing pads or the fx5 fine filter media?

Also the filter came with some stones in one of the media baskets, just look like small river stones to me, should i use them or just replace them with extra ceramic rigs or bio balls?

the polishing pad is the finest of all, these block up very quickly so need monitoring and replacing. i would try polishing pad at bottom, then fine sponge media straight on top. then media on top of those. bag the media in a stocking. my thinking to this is bagged media is easy to remove than loose. the fine sponge can be washed so extend the life of the polishing pad. fill all 3 baskets with your chosen media.

I am not sure what the stones are, they don't come with the filter so you could just discard them. i prefer to fill all the baskets with media balls. this gives me the greatest amount of of biofiltration, and the sponge around the filter is the mechanical. I buy 5L of media for the filter and use about 4L of it inside the baskets.

thanks for the advise marcus, it will still be awhile till i get all the parts to get my fx5 running but at least now i know how it works. A bit annoying how filter pads that needs to get changed the most is the hardest to get to....ohh well