i got it at a good deal but i m a little confused regarding the media how to place it and what . i intend to keep some discus and plants . i already got hydor ceramic rings
bio chem stars from rena
the polishing pad (round blue for fx5)
peta keat nuggets(weiss)
purigen
. if u can tell me how to stack them i would apreciate
and if i have the foam on the sides do i still have to put some in the midle?
thank u

If you use the blue pad you will have to crak the FX5 open and remove it after 1-2 weeks as it gets clogged FAST.

If that isnt an issue, fill the bottom two with the bio media and in the top try place the blue pad and lay the purigen on top of it. It flows from top to bottom

I filled the bottom two with nano bio balls and place my chemical filtration in the top tray.

I have also filled the center rounds with additional coarse Aquaclear 110 sponges, that works too.

i ll do w/c so i don t want to open it to often. so i ll put some foam on top round and sponges below?

If you dont wanna crack it open too often just place the media you bought in the bottom and middle and place your purigen in the top. Call it good.

I use 2 of the blue pads in there, one in the bottom tray along with ceramic rings and one at the top tray also with some ring media. Having one at the top and bottom is just so any last things get filtered out before it flows back into the tank. I don't have any trouble and don't find the need to open it up often at all. Great filter, my water loves it =). Good luck

Matt

some people say that it clogs very easy. i ll use it for a 115 g with a deacent bioload. but because i didn t got it new i didn t knew how to use it
and from what i understand now the foam on the side gets the big debris and the rest is for polishing

Mine is on a 125 with a Eheim 2026. When I use the blue pads it clogs quick. 2 weeks or so

I've got one on a 180. Clogged fairly quickly the first month or so, until I stopped mucking around in the tank. I also started wrapping a piece of filter floss around the intake, does a great job as a pre-filter if you're mucking around a lot. If you go this route, make sure you clean the filter floss regularly, or else any 'clear' patches on the intake have greatly increased suction, and any fish fool enough to try and suck the algae off gets stuck. I lost one of my juvie ABN's that way. Great filter though, extremely quiet. I eventually swapped the outlet for a piece of drilled pvc as a spray-bar at the bottom of my tank.

I'm just going to start off by saying that I have a bit of overkill in the filtration dept. (FX5 x2 in a 110 gallon)

They clogged way too fast for me with the blue pads. Now I just run the supplied outer foam and some bio-rings. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. It works just fine for me. Water is crystal clear and my 29 fish are healthy as can be. I have 25 decent sized Congo Tetras and 4 Clown Loaches.


My $0.02