Will the canister be used just for filtration, or will it also drive a reactor?

 

I’m about 6 months into my first 37 gallon lightly planted tank and this is my upgrade from that. This is my first canister filter and my only experience with plants is root tabs. Don’t even know what a reactor is but these are the things I need to know because I’m really into the plant aspect and my current tank is just now getting to the point where root tabs aren’t enough and have to start figuring out a healthy, effective plant setup. That is what the 75 build is going to be based around the effective setup for a heavily planted aquarium. Will a reactor effect my decision of fx4 vs fx6?


I’m about 6 months into my first 37 gallon lightly planted tank and this is my upgrade from that. This is my first canister filter and my only experience with plants is root tabs. Don’t even know what a reactor is but these are the things I need to know because I’m really into the plant aspect and my current tank is just now getting to the point where root tabs aren’t enough and have to start figuring out a healthy, effective plant setup. That is what the 75 build is going to be based around the effective setup for a heavily planted aquarium. Will a reactor effect my decision of fx4 vs fx6?

 

FWIW, I am running a FX4 on my 75g and in my opinion, it has plenty of flow. Output to tank is in the back right upper corner. Intake is in the same corner, down low. I can see the plants move a little in the front left corner as the water swirls around on it's way back to the intake.

 

I’m about 6 months into my first 37 gallon lightly planted tank and this is my upgrade from that. This is my first canister filter and my only experience with plants is root tabs. Don’t even know what a reactor is but these are the things I need to know because I’m really into the plant aspect and my current tank is just now getting to the point where root tabs aren’t enough and have to start figuring out a healthy, effective plant setup. That is what the 75 build is going to be based around the effective setup for a heavily planted aquarium. Will a reactor effect my decision of fx4 vs fx6?

The reason I asked is that if you were planning to run a large reactor, I think you could get away with an FX6, but if not, it would probably have way too much flow.

I have an FX4 on a tank that size and it's also driving a 20" reactor. I thought the flow was lacking a bit when I was using a lily pipe return (just a single point of flow into the tank) and now think it's perfect since I've shifted to a spray bar. It's not heavy flow, but it's uniform. The reactor gobbles up some nontrivial amount of the filter's GPH, but I don't know how much exactly.

Sounds like you'll be good to go with an FX4, but it might be worth holding onto that FX6 for a future project - that's a screaming deal!

 

A plant- centric tank would be fine with an FX4. If it was more fish-centric and had a high bio-liad then would go with FX6. I have 2- FX6 on a 180 with large cichlids.

 

well I am much more into the fish than plants, I just want to make sure the plants can be accommodated for going into it. Not cichlids tho rainbows, algae eaters, cats, African dwarf frogs, and I have a spotted Congo puffer which is one of the few non aggressive puffers that stays small. Currently I have a small fish in my 37 which will be transferred, 1 Cory, 2 neon rainbows, 2 African dwarf frogs, spotted Congo puffer, 3 upside down catfish and 2 flying fox algae eaters. Thoughts? I plan to get more neon rainbows and corys because I know they like to be in groups. Thanks

 

Fx4 should be plenty, a Fx6 would be overkill IMO. Keep in mind the size of the fish and some fish are not strong swimmers. I remember when I converted my reef over to a planted aquarium, the output was around 9-10x and I stressed out a school of tetras. They spent literally all their time fighting the current (it was on a oscillating wave maker) before I changed it to a spray bar angled to the backwall.