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Hello everyone, I am new here and this is my first post (and I hope that I am posting this in the correct area!)

Almost a year ago I acquired a very young RES that my roommate's son named Squirt. I had him in a 20gal tank with a 50gal filter for several months until he started getting too big for it. I got a 55gal long for free from some of my sister's work friends and kept the 50gal filter on it. I recently purchased and received the Fluval Fx6 filter but I have been holding off to set it up because I will be moving in about a month and will take that time to drain the tank completely and clean everything really well as well as change some of the setup.

The current filter is an Aqueon 06117. I have only ever used this style of filter and I am completely unfamiliar with the canister style. I was hoping that someone would be able to help me figure out:
+What type(s) of media to load it with
+What configuration to load it in
+Where I can acquire said media from

Thanks! Here are some pictures of my current tank setup (with my cat Cody in the way) and a picture of the tank stand that I built to move it to.

Go with the FX 6 media layout: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30145#p288910

Media can be found all over the place, I usually wait until there is a sale someplace. (Drs Foster Smith, Big Als, etc).

And don't forget ebay!

Amazon has some decent deals on non-fluval brand sponges/filterpads/ceramic rings. You pay a premium for Fluval's name on the box. From my experience, don't buy cheap bags of carbon because they're messy, but the cheap sponges and pads are just as good as the more expensive ones.

You can also bag your own carbon, but make sure the bags are super fine mesh or they'll make a mess.

I bag my own carbon and probably buy the cheapest when it's on sale. Acurel economy carbon. Do get 2 bags to put it in. I find it doesn't really matter what carbon you buy. It only works for about 2 weeks no matter how good or expensive it is. I have to agree with the reasoning never buy stuff as fluval brand. Your paying for the name. I would also like to mention that I set my fx6 media up the way they tell you to in the manual. It just makes more sense to me. And it works.

All great advice, thank you!

The Fx6 that I bought was a package deal so it was the same price as the base Fx6 but it came with extra sponges and pads so I will be set on those for a little while at least.

For initial setup I will probably just order off of Amazon.com and then look around the area (and ebay) for when I need replacements. Getting everything else ready to move right now leaves me little time to look for better deals at the moment.

For the bio media I'm looking at the Seachem Matrix

Then I notice under the sponge it has listed carbon or Purigen. What is Purigen and how does it compare to carbon?


I'm also looking to interconnect the filtration system to a 20gal tank that I have so that I can plant it and keep snails in it. I had some black mystery snails in with Squirt and they did very well for the better part of a year and then he just decided to eat them all about a month ago. But I grew attached to the little guys! =( so I want to get some more.

Would it be better to have the Fx6 hooked up to the 55gal and just have two pumps run back and forth or have the Fx6 draw from the 20gal with one additional pump between then two tanks?
I may not do this for the initial setup but would like to know how to do it that way I don't make things more complicated for myself later on.

I have read good and bad things about Matrix. I just use ceramic rings. Good porous ones. If your going to use a pump to transfer water from one tank to another my fear would be if it stops working you would have flooding or an empty tank or both. I use carbon and purigen in my fx6.

http://www.seachem.com/purigen.php

I had the same problem with snails. I really liked those guys in my tank, but the turtle decided they were tasty... and slow.

I don't think a pump will work- too tricky to get the flow rates right, and one tank is going to overflow. The only way I can think of is a water bridge - filter intake on one, outflow on the other and an overflow siphon between them, but you'd need to carefully monitor water level or have an ATO (auto top off) to keep the siphon from breaking.

Here's a somewhat relevant video in case my description was unclear

I have see both matrix and ceramic rings. If I had to guess, matrix has more surface area per cubic volume. The complaint I've heard is that it can gum up and restrict waterflow. I've not had an issue with that.

Purigen is a synthetic substance that does the same thing as carbon, but it can be recharged. Supposedly, that saves money in the long run.

I have a FX6 and a 55 gallon for growing plants and shrimp. I have the fx6 on the main tank completely independent. The 55 gallon refugium is fed by an overflow with a return pump. That way, I don't have to worry about balancing two pumps against each other.

I'm pretty sure purigen does not remove chlorine. So it's different in that way. It's good at keeping water crystal clear. Carbon also helps do this, that's why I use both. You can get it in bags . That's what most of us use. Amazon has good prices on bags.

Kansasslider is right. Purigen won't remove chlorine or chloramines. I stand corrected.

I've not used it myself, though I've heard good things about it.

Okay so those of you that use both carbon and purigen do you guys have carbon in one bag and then purigen in a another bag side by side in the top basket under the sponge pad?

The water bridge is a really cool idea and I will keep that in mind, though I would have to use some kind of screen to keep the snails from migrating into the larger tank to get eaten and I'm not sure if I have the room for it depending on how large it would have to be to keep up with the GPH flow rate.



I am very curious about the overflow and return pump setup that ljapa mentioned. Do the tanks have to be on level with each other? Do you have any pictures of it?

Would it be an overflow similar to this style?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... aQodxhMF1A

I use both, my layout is similar to this (XP3):


Bottom two baskets have filter pads, the top basket has bio media, carbon and Purigen.

These are the overflow brand I use:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=23781

There's a small pump ensuring that you don't get a siphon break. Since it's tied to the same outlet that the return pump is on, I feel comfortable it will survive a power outage without flooding my floor.

Somewhere I posted pictures, but I can't find it. The refugium is on the floor. Effectively, it's like a canister filter, but the difference is the return pump is the driver. So long as your return pump can't add more water than your overflow can remove, you are good. The first return pump I used was too powerful. It didn't overload my overflow, but it just caused too high of a flow through the refugium.

I downsized a bit, and all was good. I remember when I was discussing this, some cautioned against an overflow. The danger is that the siphon on the overflow breaks, and the return water starts flowing over the edge of the tank. I'm a bit over four years in, and a few power outages, without issue.

There's no question in my mind that the combination of biomedia and plants really helps the filtration. Of course, the tank on the floor next to the air tank isn't necessarily pretty, but mine's in my basement where function is more important than form.

I put my carbon and purigen in the bottom basket. But it's up to you where you want to put it. Purigen comes in bags or you can buy it in raw form but you would have to buy a bag actually called "The bag" to put it in. Purigen is really fine so a bag you put carbon in won't work for it.