Fluval Fx5 Vs Rena Filstar Xp4

[Bastables]

<a href="http/www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20622105" target="_blank">http/www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20622105</a>

eheim 2260 $299 USD, 500 GPH. 18 litres Media cap

Eheim 2262 $430 USD 900 GPH 18 litres media cap <a href="http/www.nextag.com/eheim-2262/search-html" target="_blank">http/www.nextag.com/eheim-2262/search-html</a>


eheim 2080 369 USD <a href="http/www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20620167" target="_blank">http/www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20620167</a>

Fluval fx5 is 299.99 over the net at similar US shops. Considering the OP spent 400 USD on two filters there is no need to get a loan to buy a top of the line eheim.

Also food for thought :
Once both filters are cycled the Eheim can support bacteria that will handle approximately 3 times the bio load of the FX5 without showing ammonia.
It takes 3 FX5's to handle the biological capacity of 1 Eheim 2080 in a real world cycled tank situation with a pump thats rated at less then half the Fluvals flowrate. The FX5 is unable to handle ammonia generated at anything more then 37ppm per 24 hours while the Eheim continues to process ammonia at up to 123ppm per 24 hours.
The Ehiem is rated for a 1200 litre tank ...the Fluval for a 1500 litre tank. (taken from <a href="http/www.####.com/forums/s...8458&page=4" target="_blank">http/www.####.com/forums/s...8458&page=4</a> ). (odd but the ling shpuld replace the #### with monsterfishkeeping to work).

It wasn't planned to by both filters and I really didn't have the money. I bought the Fx5 for $180 so I got a great deal on it. The Fx5 its self is over kill for my tank so buying a more expensive filter is out of the question.

Thanks for the info though.

Nah Mate you are the one that should be thanked, I don't think anyone has undertaken to do a comparative review over time like this. very good stuff.

 

[T1KARMANN]

if you have a 55g tank and you want to upgrade in a few years the eheim will still be going strong
i think you will be lucky to get 5yrs out of a fx5

i have a eheim 2252 thats has been running non stop now for 12yrs i wonder how long a fluwho internal lasts

when i buy a filter i wont it to last for years fluwho have got a bad rep im not sure i would put the lifes of my fish with fluwho

i read all over the net people with problems with their fx5 ive yet to see many with problems with their pro3 2080

maybe its just me but i have had eheim for my whole 20yr fishkeeping life and they have never let me down so i wont be changeing anytime soon

 

[jgray152]

if you have a 55g tank and you want to upgrade in a few years the eheim will still be going strong
i think you will be lucky to get 5yrs out of a fx5

i have a eheim 2252 thats has been running non stop now for 12yrs i wonder how long a fluwho internal lasts

when i buy a filter i wont it to last for years fluwho have got a bad rep im not sure i would put the lifes of my fish with fluwho

i read all over the net people with problems with their fx5 ive yet to see many with problems with their pro3 2080

maybe its just me but i have had eheim for my whole 20yr fishkeeping life and they have never let me down so i wont be changeing anytime soon

I have seen some of the issue with the fluvals as well. I have only used ONE fluval for any lenth of time which was the 304 for 7+ years without issues. The Fx5 im going to see how long it lasts. Personally, I don't see it breaking. It is built very well from studing it. The reason I went with the Fx5 is so I could upgrade to a 120+ gallon tank at some point and not have to buy another filter.

I really appriciate everyone talking about the Ehiems because it lets people know that if they have the money they can buy the best performing filter. I am a little discouraged about the layout inside the Fx5 since the space was not utilized as much as it could have been. If Hagen wanted surface area for a spung, man , they could have just had a large round one that would be MORE than enough.

Well, time will tell for the Fx5. I can say all I want about the fx5 but time is the only real factual review you can give. The Xp4 I have yet to hook up. I relisted it on ebay for a lower price with free shipping. If it doesn't go this time then I guess I will run the Xp4 as well on my 30 gallon just to give a performance and reliability review.

For the record, I would appriciate it if this thread was not filled with Ehiem information, as much as I like what I hear, this thread is a comparison between the Hagen Fluval Fx5 and the Rena Filstar Xp4.

 

[jgray152]

BTW Adam, did you receive the video link I PMed you with the water flow from the Fx5?

 

[jgray152]

Filstar XP4 Impeller Review.

Well it seems rena has done a little home work on the impeller. I heard of one case where the magnet assembly and impeller would no longer spin with each other because the "tabs" on the the magnet shaft and inside the impeller housing its self would ware down and would no longer catch each other.

Well I don't know if this was the design the owner of that particular xp4 had incorperated but Rena seems to have took that problem into consideration.

This review first started because of that very issue. So I thought that maybe you could swap in a different impeller from a different filter of a better design and have it work.

The only impellers I was able to compair right away was the one from my Aqua Clear 110 HOB filter, my fluval 304 filter and the Xp4. The Aqua Clear 110 impeller was tiny compaired to the rena and 304 which is no surprise since its not dealing with nearly as much over head pressure. Amazingly enough though, the most important aspects of the 304 and xp4 impellers were exactly the same. These asepcts where the diameter of the magnet and the impeller shaft hole. These were exactly the same according to my eyes and feel. The Xp4 impeller shaft would fit perfectly in the 304 impeller shaft hole.

Im not even going to attemp trying to use the Fx5 impeller.

Getting back to the Rena Xp4 impeller design, it seems rena has noticed a problem that may have been occuring with there past Xp4 impeller setups or while in there in shop beta testing. Rena actully uses an o-ring on the magnet shaft's tab to obsorb some of the impact between the two tabs colliding at high speed and torque. The Fluval 304 impeller does not incorperate this oring into its design. I don't know if there 05 series does or not though which would be interesting to know.

Picture of the Xp4 magnet shaft tab with o-ring.

Picture of the 304 filter magnet shaft tab. No oring incorperated. Tab its self is very duable.

304 inside impeller housing. The "tab" is on the left, kinda hard to see but its fairly thick and is thicker then the xp4 design.

Xp4 inside impeller housing. The "tab" is on the left and is thick at the beginning and gets thinner as it extends toward the center unlike the 304. I am thinking, due to the tapper design of the tab and the extra torque this motor has, that is the reason for the o-ring. If the tab on the inside of the impeller was thicker, they may not have needed the o-ring. Although an o-ring as a shock obsorber is always good.

Here is a picture of the XP4 assembly on the left and the 304 assembly on the right.

You can see how close the two impeller magnet shafts are in dimentions in this picture. The Xp4 is a little longer. With some epoxy, the 304 could be just as long

Here is the complete impeller assemblys side by side.

I feel like modifing the right sized impeller, because its so close to happening....
The 304 impeller does rub on the xp4s blue portion of the top lid.

Both impeller designs have LOTS of twist to them before they "catch". Not a problem on the low flow 304 but a big problem on the high output pumps such as the xp4. Which is why the standard o-ring has been used. Personally, the Fx5 impeller design is the best I have seen. I have not seen the Eheims design though.

 

[Bastables]

Filstar XP4 Impeller Review.

Well it seems rena has done a little home work on the impeller. I heard of one case where the magnet assembly and impeller would no longer spin with each other because the "tabs" on the the magnet shaft and inside the impeller housing its self would ware down and would no longer catch each other.

Well I don't know if this was the design the owner of that particular xp4 had incorperated but Rena seems to have took that problem into consideration.

This review first started because of that very issue. So I thought that maybe you could swap in a different impeller from a different filter of a better design and have it work.

The only impellers I was able to compair right away was the one from my Aqua Clear 110 HOB filter, my fluval 304 filter and the Xp4. The Aqua Clear 110 impeller was tiny compaired to the rena and 304 which is no surprise since its not dealing with nearly as much over head pressure. Amazingly enough though, the most important aspects of the 304 and xp4 impellers were exactly the same. These asepcts where the diameter of the magnet and the impeller shaft hole. These were exactly the same according to my eyes and feel. The Xp4 impeller shaft would fit perfectly in the 304 impeller shaft hole.

Im not even going to attemp trying to use the Fx5 impeller.

Getting back to the Rena Xp4 impeller design, it seems rena has noticed a problem that may have been occuring with there past Xp4 impeller setups or while in there in shop beta testing. Rena actully uses an o-ring on the magnet shaft's tab to obsorb some of the impact between the two tabs colliding at high speed and torque. The Fluval 304 impeller does not incorperate this oring into its design. I don't know if there 05 series does or not though which would be interesting to know.

Picture of the Xp4 magnet shaft tab with o-ring.

Picture of the 304 filter magnet shaft tab. No oring incorperated. Tab its self is very duable.

304 inside impeller housing. The "tab" is on the left, kinda hard to see but its fairly thick and is thicker then the xp4 design.

Xp4 inside impeller housing. The "tab" is on the left and is thick at the beginning and gets thinner as it extends toward the center unlike the 304. I am thinking, due to the tapper design of the tab and the extra torque this motor has, that is the reason for the o-ring. If the tab on the inside of the impeller was thicker, they may not have needed the o-ring. Although an o-ring as a shock obsorber is always good.

Here is a picture of the XP4 assembly on the left and the 304 assembly on the right.

You can see how close the two impeller magnet shafts are in dimentions in this picture. The Xp4 is a little longer. With some epoxy, the 304 could be just as long

Here is the complete impeller assemblys side by side.

I feel like modifing the right sized impeller, because its so close to happening....
The 304 impeller does rub on the xp4s blue portion of the top lid.

Both impeller designs have LOTS of twist to them before they "catch". Not a problem on the low flow 304 but a big problem on the high output pumps such as the xp4. Which is why the standard o-ring has been used. Personally, the Fx5 impeller design is the best I have seen. I have not seen the Eheims design though.

Are you still running both filters? I am intrested in if the o-ring on the impeller was a mod for fixing the issue of the thing breaking understress.

 

[jgray152]

Are you still running both filters? I am intrested in if the o-ring on the impeller was a mod for fixing the issue of the thing breaking understress.

I'm waiting till the ebay auction is over and then Im hooking up the Rena to my 30 gallon. WAYY over kill but we will see how it goes.

 

[jgray152]

Well I bit the bullet and broke open the packaging to the Rena Xp4 and hooked it up to my 30 gallon. Way over kill but we will see how it does.

It does have a hmm to it that is louder than the Fx5 but not loud enough to think about it when trying to sleep. Infact I notice the hm's volume goes down if I lift it off the wood shelf I have it on.

Putting the piece together was a PITA in my opinion. To many plastic peices that look like could come apart and spring a leak. Although the leak would be inside the tank and not out side.

I havn't noticed any whisle from the spray bar as others have mentioned so I will keep any eye on this. Right now the spray bar is under the water shooting up at a 45* angle. I will have it out of the water to see how it does.

Comes with more than enough hose just like the Fx5, although if you have a really long tank and have the intake and output seperation distance large enough, you may need to buy aditional hose for either filter.

As for the impeller engaging, It doesn't sound like a harsh engagment. We will see though.

 

[Bastables]

Well I bit the bullet and broke open the packaging to the Rena Xp4 and hooked it up to my 30 gallon. Way over kill but we will see how it does.

It does have a hmm to it that is louder than the Fx5 but not loud enough to think about it when trying to sleep. Infact I notice the hm's volume goes down if I lift it off the wood shelf I have it on.

Putting the piece together was a PITA in my opinion. To many plastic peices that look like could come apart and spring a leak. Although the leak would be inside the tank and not out side.

I havn't noticed any whisle from the spray bar as others have mentioned so I will keep any eye on this. Right now the spray bar is under the water shooting up at a 45* angle. I will have it out of the water to see how it does.

Comes with more than enough hose just like the Fx5, although if you have a really long tank and have the intake and output seperation distance large enough, you may need to buy aditional hose for either filter.

As for the impeller engaging, It doesn't sound like a harsh engagment. We will see though.

I'm really intrested in if it holds up, the old xp3 was first shipped back when fluval 04 canisters were a new design. The Xp4 seems to be a upscaled Xp3 without any redesign going into it. If that rubber o-ring is a fast mod to lessen wear and tear on the impeller and it works, then Rena have decided to do a patch job as opposed to a serious look at their impeller.

Good luck. Oh if it breaks does the warrenty/store allow money back? Then you can be reimbursed for reviewing two large filters

 

[jgray152]

I'm really intrested in if it holds up, the old xp3 was first shipped back when fluval 04 canisters were a new design. The Xp4 seems to be a upscaled Xp3 without any redesign going into it. If that rubber o-ring is a fast mod to lessen wear and tear on the impeller and it works, then Rena have decided to do a patch job as opposed to a serious look at their impeller.

Good luck. Oh if it breaks does the warrenty/store allow money back? Then you can be reimbursed for reviewing two large filters

Ya a one piece design would hold up a lot better like the Fx5 but if rena patch does hold up than I don't see any issue or reason to come up with the excuss as to why not to use it you know?

I get store credit only. I have to register the xp4 to receive a part under warrenty. I wish I new if this was a new or old design.

I have been unplugging it and plugging it back in about 3-5 times now and then just to see if it does break

 

[Bastables]

I'm really intrested in if it holds up, the old xp3 was first shipped back when fluval 04 canisters were a new design. The Xp4 seems to be a upscaled Xp3 without any redesign going into it. If that rubber o-ring is a fast mod to lessen wear and tear on the impeller and it works, then Rena have decided to do a patch job as opposed to a serious look at their impeller.

Good luck. Oh if it breaks does the warrenty/store allow money back? Then you can be reimbursed for reviewing two large filters

Ya a one piece design would hold up a lot better like the Fx5 but if rena patch does hold up than I don't see any issue or reason to come up with the excuss as to why not to use it you know?

I get store credit only. I have to register the xp4 to receive a part under warrenty. I wish I new if this was a new or old design.

I have been unplugging it and plugging it back in about 3-5 times now and then just to see if it does break

Bah store credit

The issue of if the oring on the impller is the crux of it though. Did RENA know that the design would be overstressed and intiall shipped it with what amounts to a patch job. Or is it a fix implemented after the reports started comming back on impeller failuers. If your XP4 does not flyapart I'm guessing it's the second story.

The geek/trainspotter in me is very intrested, which is redundent since you can't buy rena's in NZ. The filters they have here are tetra's,Eheim,FLuval, aquaone and Jebo's. But always intrested in bits of aquarium kit. I do wish there were more indepth reviews of fish keeping stuff in the same way you get indepth computer equipment such as andatech or tomshardwhare. An andatech style webpage would be excellet as they cover stories in thedesign and manufacturing phase and indicate why such choices were made.

Cheers and kind regards for your time and effort.

 

[jgray152]

YA store credit is not my thing. I tried returning it to get my money back and making up an excuss as to why I couldn't use it but it was a special order and they only give store credit which is why I was trying to sell it on Ebay. Even at 170.00 with free shipping it still didn't go.

Im hoping RENA redesigned the impeller and just didn't throw a bandaid on. I do agree with what you said.

I guess the only way to know for sure is if someone else with a Rena Xp4 would take thier impeller apart to see what it looks like and to tell us when they bought it.

 

[Bastables]

Does any one else have a Rena xp4 with a different impeller con fig than the one jgray has? Or even just a similar one and the date you brought it?

 

[jgray152]

When unplugging the xp4 and plugging it back in. It does have a hard engagment but I think this is due to the magnet bouncing around untill its pu to speed. This is only for a very very split second. I don't think this is the engagment of the magnet to the impeller its self.

The spray bar is a nice option though, I can have the filter at full blast, atleast as full as it will go with the spray bar, and not have the water in the tank be a wurlpool. I point the spray bar straight up about 4" down from the surface. Works perfect.

 

[jgray152]

I requested more information on the "Smart pump technology" for the Fx5. The manual says it monitors the impeller speed so im wondering if this circuit will actually increase the impeller speed if its needed. I'll see what I find out.