Fx5 Modification :)

[jgray152]

Well I had to do some redesigning so I could get the purging to work. So here is what I had to do.

This is my idea. basically, im wanting to keep the intake submerged in water when the filter shuts off. I think I should have made the pocket a little deaper than it is.

I had to lower the top tray to keep an inch of gap at the top surface so water can flow. Otherwise the top cover will seal against the spunge. Now the filter holds about 11.9 liters of bio media. I could cut the 2" spunge in half and get back up to 13.7 liters but I think it will work just fine.

As large as the Fx5 looks, the inside doesn't have much space to work with.

TEST RUN #1

I hooked the filter up and did a test run.

It seemed to have worked pretty good. The system had purged a lot of the air out through the output on its own. Flow seems to be the same as before.

One thing I have to look into. The canister will not purge 100%. Air is still trapped inside all the time for some reason. Even if I shake the filter and tilt it about 50 degrees to the side no air comes out.

I removed the lid and started looking at the filter foam. I noticed there was a bunch of small air bubbles forced into the coarse foam right where the jet of water comes from the small air purge tube.

So I thought that maybe the air was getting trapped in the media. I started lifting up the coarse foam and noticed no air trapped under it. I than lifted up the fine filter pad and noticed a few small bubbles surfaced. I also then lifted the very fine pad and one good sized air bubble surfaced.

I removed the fine filter pads and kept the coarse pad in and im still having a problem with air.

Im going to try without any foam to see what happends.

I havn't checked but possibly the tube is getting clogged......

Im really going to look into this as far as my knowledge will let me.

CONTINUED OBSERVATIONS for TEST RUN #1

Within an hour all the air has been expelled. Most likely worked out by the impeller. There is no longer air in the canister. This is only with the coarse spunge and I would imagine that with the fine spunges the air would not be able to get worked out as easily.

Flow is right up there. I think its a bit more than before but this could heavily be due to the dirty filter fiber reducing the flow in the Fx5 I was running before.

Its been running overnight without any issues so far and is as quiet as it was before.

Overall im very please with how this turned out. There is just a small bug I have to squish in the new design.

I think it might be really neat to cut the center portion of the cover out and silicone or hot glue or PVC glue some clear plexy glass/lexan over the top so I can see what is happening

My Bio Bale has come in so im going to be putting that in later on today since im at work right now.

While switching out filters and allowing the modded filter purge it loosend up a lot of junk in the hose which was thrown everywhere in the tank. The filter picked it all up and held it in either in or on the coarse spunge. Before I removed the fine spunges they too seemed to pick up a lot as well.

So far the general function of the filter seem to be exactly what I wanted.

I may try to increase the inner diameter of the air purge tube but I would rather not have to do this since that would decrease the output further. It may not be anything I would be able ot measure though so I may be alright. Increasing the ID of the tube I would think may help with purging the rest of the air. Thats as long as the air is reaching the tube.

I know installing a bulkhead at the top of the canister will solve this issue but that seems like a quick hack instead of a fixing a design flaw with the moded filter. So with that said, the tube should do its job.

 

[jgray152]

Second Test Run
Differences;
- Bio Bale
- Fine Filtration Pad
- Very Fine Filtration Pad

So I did some experimenting after installing the bio bale. Tryig to figure out why it takes time for the air to be worked out. I thought that maybe it was due to the removal of the baskets but after recently running my spare Fx5 without baskets and noticing it purging the air without issues, I now wonder about the length of tubing that is used on the intake side.

There does seem to be more flow than before but I will wait to see how much more after I purchase flow meters.

So far the flow has not been reduced even after adding the bio bale and fine filtration pads.

 

[T1KARMANN]

looks like you just like playing around with things

surely it would be easyer to buy the pro3 from the start

 

[jgray152]

I do like playing around with things. Gets me

Especially after it works out good I start to

I think I would rather stick it out with the Fx5 with the higher flow and the possible 14liters of bio media. Ehiem Pro 3(e) would be a down grade for me hehehe.

 

[T1KARMANN]

i would rather buy a filter that is designed to work the way i buy it

you cant be happy with the fx5 or why do you need to mod it

 

[jgray152]

Im never happy with anything. Even if I bought an Ehiem I would need to do something to it. What kinda pushed me in the modding direction was seeing the Ehiem 2080 after I purchased the Fx5.... All its media storage just dwarfed the Fx5. I had to do something....

Btw, I decided to cut up the output nozzel on the fx5 as well on my band saw. Holy crap is there more water flow now. The output is about 5" from the surface and its creating whirl pools at the surface even though the water flow is flowing at a 30* angle downward... The surface of the water is getting thrown around as well even though the water flow is not flowing up from the nozzel

 

[jgray152]

There seems to be some confusion as to how the water flows in the Fx5 after its modified so for those of you who are not so sure I did a quick sketch and here it is.

I recently today opened up the filter to see how it was working and it appears to be working great! No bypass, everything is being filtered as planned. YAH!

The canister purges about 98% but there is always and forever will be some air trapped inside at the top which does not effect the filtration it seems. The air does not get tossed around either so through the multiple starts and stops and multiple purging times the filter always ends up quiet within 30 minutes to an hour.

The great thing about this setup is that I will never need to remove the bio bale for any reason. All the mechanical filtration is right on top.

Filter break down process I use;

1) keep filter running
2) close intake and pull intake off slowly to allow the filter to start sucking in air.
3) allow filter to pump out some of the water into the tank with the intake valve removed. (Watch your aquarium water level!!)
4) close output valve and unplug the pump
5) remove output valve and remove filter.

Not a drop of water should be spilt while removing the valves using this procedure. Hagen obveously didn't think of using this procedure since they say to use a rag to catch the little spill of water that you will get when removing the valves.

 

[jgray152]

So I have done some more testing and thinking and I may have figured out why its not purging 100%.

I do not believe it to be the intake tube length at all. I could not make this jive with the issue at hand and I tested the empty Fx5 once more and came up with the same results as I am having with the modded Fx5. Its not purging 100%. No matter how many purging attempts you give it, not all of the air will escape. Some may, but not all. I just happen to get lucky the very first time I tested the empty basin. I had to give it about 5 or 6 purging attemps to get the air out the first time. This time I couldn't get all the air out.

So after looking at the baskets for a while and looking at the cover I believe the succesfull purging is due to the reduced area in the center of the baskets causing a large air bubble to form in a more condensed area to allow more of the air to be expelled at one time.

There are many areas under the cover that can trap air easily. The area has not be enlarged to a much greater area than what is available with the center of the baskets..

My idea is to reduce the total area and allow only a 3" - 4" diameter area for all the air to drop into. The area on the outside of this 3-4" circle will be angled upward to force the air into the center. This is how the top cover is designed naturally but with all the areas for air to get trapped in now its not working to its original design.

More will come

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Quick question, why didnt you just buy a 5 gallon bucket, some fittings, and a pond pump for like 70 bucks instead of spending 300 bucks to modify it so much that it pretty much is a sealed bucket with a pump on it? You have some nice thoughts and skill doing that, but wouldnt it have been a lot easier and cheaper if you just went with the bucket that has a larger capacity? For my pond, i just have like 3 of those big 5 gallon soysauce containers with a whole bunch of foam with a big pump attached to it. The only thing is that it doesnt look very nice, but you can just make a wood covering for it if you worry about looks.

 

[jgray152]

^ That will come next.

I didn't want the need to buy an external pump and fittings just yet. The Fx5 is about 55 watts to run where as an external pump is usually over 100watts to run. Thats one of the main reasons I stuck it out with the Fx5. Also im testing this on a 55 gal tank where there is not much room for external pumps. My 180 Gal will have the room but that has no water in it right now. I need to buff the glass on that first.

I just wanted to make the Fx5 handle more media and try to have it modified in a way where other owners could do it as well if they wanted to.

My next filter will hopyfully be with a clear PVC pipe about 16-18" high , 12" diameter. It to will have a lot of thought go into it with the desgin and function.

I also looked for 5 gallon buckets and I found some real nice ones on USPlastics.com that would work out great.

 

[jgray152]

IT WORKS!!!

The filter now purges 100%!!

YES! My cover modification worked!!!

Here is a pic of it.

What you see is plexi glass that was heat molded so that is concaved, high on the outside and low on the inside where the 3" PVC fitting is. Then silicone all over the place which I may have to redo since I forgot to take off the protective plastic covering on one piece of the plexi and its on the underside of the plexi so the silicone may seporate. If so I will just fix it.

FILTER WORKS GREAT!

 

[Dorkhedeos]

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=9849 this pump is even more efficient than the fx 5 pump and you can run it inline or submerge it. You can probably attach it to the outside and plumb it in, or just leave it on the inside of the bucket and plumb a pipe out

 

[jgray152]

I forgot about those quet one pumps. Those seem to be nice ones too. Do you have bulk head fittings on your buckets? I would like to have the filter system sealed.


Though it took a lot of thinking, theory and testing to make it work, overall this project was very easy and anyone with some light mechanical skill can do it with ease. Its completly reversable to its original state as well.

Nothing at all was hard, you just need the right tools as you do with any project. I have a small Ryobi Band Saw that worked out well for me but you can use anything that would work to cut the egg crate or meterial you choose.

The Plexi was very easy to mold to shape. I put one piece in the oven at a time on a baking sheet at 260*F for about 1-2 minutes under continuous observation untill it was able to be bent without drooping all over the place.

My first attempt at heating up plexi did not come out so good .

If people are interested I can do a little write up but most of the information you need is within this thread or the thread linked below.
[URL="http/www.fishforums.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/19756-fluval-fx5-modification.html"]http/www.fishforums.com/forum/diy-do-you...dification.html[/URL]

 

[jgray152]

Quick question, why didnt you just buy a 5 gallon bucket, some fittings, and a pond pump for like 70 bucks instead of spending 300 bucks to modify it so much that it pretty much is a sealed bucket with a pump on it?

I bought the Fx5 for $170 brand new on ebay. I had no intention of modifying it at first untill recently. So for about a total of $270. I got a filter that flows more and holds more media than the Ehiem 2080 which cost $500 US