FX5 mods

[becker710]

So I recently just purchased a FX5 filter. These are a couple of mods I made right off the bat..

inline heater. This cost me under $10 to make. My heater is non-submersible. There is a rubber grommet (uniseal) at the top / max water line of the heater to make you water tight seal. And also to be able to remove the heater if needed. 







The pvc intake and outtake is all made from 1" pvc conduit and connectors/ barbed ends for hoses

[becker710]

[...]

Looking good mate...very creative...if you find you lose too much flow rate you could Y port and use a valve to direct some flow past inline heater and the rest of it on the other side 👍 Let us know how it goes Becker 😉

[finadic]

Nice setup, what size hose did you end up using? Did you have to heat it to get it on, or just use clamps. I ended up putting an Ocean Clear 325 connected to my FX6, which is working well, filters last almost 6 months before having to switch out.

[becker710]

Jan 12, 2017 23:40:10 GMT -5 finadic said:

Nice setup, what size hose did you end up using? Did you have to heat it to get it on, or just use clamps. I ended up putting an Ocean Clear 325 connected to my FX6, which is working well, filters last almost 6 months before having to switch out.

Thank you! I used a clear hose that came from an andersons hardware store. It was an ID of 1" and OD of 1 1/4 " I believe. T fit perfect with a hose clamp to seal it tight. Yeah I can't wait to experiment with this guy!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

If I were you I would make the heating chamber larger, this was the water stays around the heat longer instead of passing by it quickly. The heater will be more efficient.

[becker710]

Thanks Andrew, I took your advise and made a larger one since the first one I made leaked😂😂 this one is working like a champ!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Nice! Yeah that should do better. I would connect the output of the FX5 to the bottom so that the water flushes up to the top and keeps the top of the glass cool as well as prevents an air pocket.

Also, There's no need to prime the PVC if only using it for small jobs with low to no PSI. The Priming allows for up to 180Psi. We will not achieve anything near that with the aquarium setups or even the largest of central air systems for hobbyists.

[becker710]

I thought about the air pocket, but figured with the high output from the fx5 there probably isn't a air pocket. I don't hear noises like there is one.i kinda just rigged it like that due to space issues and to make it to the tank straight as possible with no bends.
Also the first one I made I didn't use primer and it leaked. So I just took the extra precision and did that lol

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Odd. I haven't used primer in a long time on aquarium stuff and I;ve not had any issues. I coat both pieces of PVC lightly and then the directions I;ve always used are to insert all of the way in and then wait a few seconds and twist the pieces about 1/8 of a turn. That smooshes the melted PVC surface together.