Fluval Fx6 setup's

[rabb1976]

Hello Newbie here,

90 gallon with 7 german discus 3 inch .
Lots of tetra's and rummys .
I have fx6 pointing at the glass to slow the current down and large sponge filter .
10/15% water change's every 2 days and i try and clean up the waste .

My Question :

Whats the best setups for the fx6 or cansiter to get the best water for the Discus .
My FX6 is pretty stock
thanks any tips would be great .

Rob

[Swedgin]

Hi Rob,

welcome to the forum.

I have a few FX6 on my tanks, and I have biomedia in all 3 baskets each. I’m not using the carbon pads, or the red inlays.
The biomedia I use are pumice (Seachem Matrix), those clay rolls that came with the fx6 and loads of other different porous media to house beneficial bacteria. Brand names are basically irrelevant, cheap bulk media will do. If you want to get fancy, things like Eheim Substrat, Maxspect Nanotech Biosphere, fluval gnodes etc are a decent choice.
Generally I would stay away from any chemical filtration media like carbon or zeolite based ones, and only use those when necessary, i.e. removing medication or the like.

The sponges on the outer rings are great, so I use them as intended.

For the return pipe, I prefer to let them go full speed, but facing in a way that it doe not create too much current. Slightly upwards towards the surface will create good surface movement and help with oxygen exchange, sludge buildup etc.

[Filip]

I have a Sun sun- 550 GPH canister and I use it in the same fashion as Tobi described . The canister outlet is free , without a spraybar near the surface in a slightly upward position creating strong surface movement .
The canister is filled with biorings -Fluval rings , Seachem Matrix , Sera Siporax and the only mecahanical filtration I have is the filter floss prefilter on the canister intake , that i regulary change twice a week .

[ggillies]

What Swedgin said.

I have two FX6s on my 200 gallon tank; stuffed full of as much biomedia as I can (Biohome ultimate). I also have taken out all the red baskets and the excess pads to allow for more biomedia. I leave the large side sponges in, I leave the top black sponge in, then no more filters down the center until the very bottom where I put a medium sponge about 1/8th of an inch thick to catch the gravel/dust/small chunks of biomedia and prevent them going into the motor/outlet pipes.

I too, have no chemical filtration of any kind.

This setup works flawlessly.

[bluelagoon]

I would say the most efficient way would be the way Fluval designed them to work.They should know how their equipment works best.https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA750CA750&ei=t5mLXKS3Momn5gLrpYiQBg&q=fx6+filter+setup+by+fluval&oq=fx6+filter+setup+by+f&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.33i22i29i30l9.23791.31053..33414...1.0..0.1 31.666.1j5......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i22i30j33i160j33i21.hxLGFMFwK3M#kp valbx=1