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Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:15 am
by Oval291
Quick question, has anyone here used an Fluval FX6 on a sand substrate. If so do you have any issues with sand in the impeller?

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:39 am
by Diana
I have not specifically used the FX6, but I have used several different models of canisters from several companies (Fluval, Ehiem and Rena Filstar) and HOBs from several others.
As long as the intake is not too low sand does not get up into the filter.
If you have fish that dig, then you might keep the intake high enough that they won't kick up the sand that high, and put a coarse sponge over the intake.

I only had one tank where the fish rearranged the substrate that much, it had Botia kubotai, but I also had the intake quite low, so it may not have been entirely the fault of the fish. The substrate was coarser than sand, and all it did was to clog up the sponge over the intake. Other species of fish dig a lot more than these guys. Yoyos and Clown Loaches seem to dig the most, IME, but none of them can match certain Cichlids for the amount of digging they can do.

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:25 pm
by Oval291
Thanks very much for your detailed reply

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:20 am
by zenins
Putting a sponge over the intake is a good suggestion,
make sure it is rinsed and squeezed out in a pail of tank water every time you do a partial water change :)

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 3:07 am
by Anne Thynne
I have personally used Fluval Fx6. Keep the intake a bit higher to the substrate level and you won't face any problem. To be extra cautious you can tie the intake with synthetic cotton. If you are keeping shrimps then putting foam or trying up with synthetic cotton is a good idea to keep the shrimplets safe. And I love the Maintenance Reminder feature of Fluval FX6! Happy fish keeping

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Sun May 06, 2018 9:52 pm
by FranM
I’ve just purchased a new tank and Fluval fx6. Nothing is set up yet but I planned a sand substrate as well. What about putting a fine filter media bag over the intake tube?

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 9:22 pm
by loachnoob
Still on the fence regarding this filter, still kicking the tires so too speak :mrgreen:

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 5:22 am
by FranM
Not cheap, that’s for sure. If you look it up on YouTube they can’t say enough good things about it. Good luck. I hope I like it when I finally have it set up. I plan to put current filter media from my HOB into the canister among other media, particularly Matrix—and lots of it.

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 2:53 pm
by FishyLady
I haven't got one but I really like the way you can alter the direction of the in/out tubes. Looking at the inside on Youtube, I still favour Eheim, I have their large external canister filter - brilliant.

Val

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:20 pm
by FranM
I finally have my filter set up. It has been running a couple of weeks. I have the intake tube set up about a third of the way from the bottom. I don’t see any sand getting kicked around so I doubt I’m going to have a problem. Of course I have not checked yet either. It’s a pain in the neck to get into a canister. I do love the strength of the output tube. The filter is incredibly quiet. I do love that. Currently I still have my HOB hanging on the aquarium because I am still cycling the FX6.

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:25 am
by RichardAnderson
Wow, that's new to me. Going to try it out too, as I see lots of positive replies already

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 7:55 pm
by FranM
Now that I have had this filter for five months I think it is a huge waste of money and the trays do not hold as much media as they should.

As far as the sand goes, I decided to take the motor apart and check the impeller and the sand amount was negligible. This was done a couple weeks ago and the first time I did a big cleaning.

As I’d said earlier I keep the intake tube quite high so sand is barely an issue. I also didn’t use aquarium sand but, rather, pool sand which I was told is less fine and less likely to kick up as much.

Re: Fluval Fx 6

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:07 pm
by loachnoob
thanks for the review fran