Is an FX6 enough?

[EmperorRain]

Hi all, I recently got an 180USG tank and wanted to know if an FX6 would be enough for it.

 

[Wills]

I'd personally have 2 running on a tank that size. I had a 135g for years and I had 2 of them, one either side.

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What fish do you want to keep?
If you want fish that come from slow moving water, then it's fine. If you want fish from fast moving water, then add a power head or another power filter.

 

[Linkandnavi]

Hi all, I recently got an 180USG tank and wanted to know if an FX6 would be enough for it.

I have an FX6 as the sole filter on a 193 US gallon tank and have precisely zero issues. Tank size is 171cm length.

It will depend on your proposed stocking to a degree but remember it is doing two things:

Filtration

An FX6 is easily capable of filtering a reasonably stocked tank. My 193 has about 60 tiger barbs, 12 cherry barbs, a rainbow shark and a bristlenose pleco. Easily managed in terms of filtration and could easily add more.

Flow

The flow through my 193 is fine although as I have the output near the top of the tank, there's less water movement near the bottom. So I have an additional powerhead for more even distribution. That's a fraction of the cost of a second filter. As Colin says though, whether you need that or not will depend on the fish you're keeping.

 

[EmperorRain]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What fish do you want to keep?
If you want fish that come from slow moving water, then it's fine. If you want fish from fast moving water, then add a power head or another power filter.

5'x2'x2'6"
I know I want some electric blue acaras, and a red tailed shark. I want a catfish that won't get larger than 10". I was thinking some opaline gouramis maybe, and rosy barbs? I'm not 100% sure and I've changed my mind a couple time on what catfish to get and what shoaling fish to get that isn't too large but large enough to not get eaten. And then I wanted some algae eaters, I was think a bristlenose plec or Siamese algae eaters or both.

 

[EmperorRain]

I have an FX6 as the sole filter on a 193 US gallon tank and have precisely zero issues. Tank size is 171cm length.

It will depend on your proposed stocking to a degree but remember it is doing two things:

Filtration

An FX6 is easily capable of filtering a reasonably stocked tank. My 193 has about 60 tiger barbs, 12 cherry barbs, a rainbow shark and a bristlenose pleco. Easily managed in terms of filtration and could easily add more.

Flow

The flow through my 193 is fine although as I have the output near the top of the tank, there's less water movement near the bottom. So I have an additional powerhead for more even distribution. That's a fraction of the cost of a second filter. As Colin says though, whether you need that or not will depend on the fish you're keeping.

There are some secondhand FX6 and a couple fx4 going in my areas that I'm itching to get. If a fx6 is enough then great, otherwise I'd get two fx4.

 

[EmperorRain]

I'd personally have 2 running on a tank that size. I had a 135g for years and I had 2 of them, one either side.

Wills

I was thinking maybe 2 fx4?

 

[Wills]

2 FX4s would give you around 6x turn over 2 FX6s would give you 8 - which really shows how big your tank is haha!

I'd go for the 6s - have a look on facebook market place there are quite a lot of second hand ones up for sale for around £100 at the moment. There are some FX4s but not as many as they have not been around as long.

Wills

 

[FranciscoB]

This is the way I see it.
I have 2 6 foot tanks (125g and ~115g), both fairly well planted, and each has 1 FX6 + 1 Aquaclear 110 + 1 Penguin 350. Both tanks are well stocked but not particularly heavily, and both get a ~70% water change weekly. All filters have prefilters attached (my own type), and all prefilters and HOBs get their media squeezed in tank water weekly, and prefilters cleaned. FX6's get their media cleaned at 3-4 month intervals. No filter uses disposable cartridges or any other throw away things (so never a loss of bacteria).
Filter capacity, turnover, or flow are not the only reasons to have more than one filter. With multiple filters, if one crocks, you don't have an issue. With a single filter it is more complicated.
Also, I will not put canisters as the only filtration, regardless of how many. Canisters invariably get cleaned less often, because it is a bit of a pain to do so. HOB's are much more amenable to weekly cleaning. If I had a 180g I would use similar filtration as above, certainly no less. I realize this is just me and that one can do less.
Good luck!

 

[Wills]

This is the way I see it.
I have 2 6 foot tanks (125g and ~115g), both fairly well planted, and each has 1 FX6 + 1 Aquaclear 110 + 1 Penguin 350. Both tanks are well stocked but not particularly heavily, and both get a ~70% water change weekly. All filters have prefilters attached (my own type), and all prefilters and HOBs get their media squeezed in tank water weekly, and prefilters cleaned. FX6's get their media cleaned at 3-4 month intervals. No filter uses disposable cartridges or any other throw away things (so never a loss of bacteria).
Filter capacity, turnover, or flow are not the only reasons to have more than one filter. With multiple filters, if one crocks, you don't have an issue. With a single filter it is more complicated.
Also, I will not put canisters as the only filtration, regardless of how many. Canisters invariably get cleaned less often, because it is a bit of a pain to do so. HOB's are much more amenable to weekly cleaning. If I had a 180g I would use similar filtration as above, certainly no less. I realize this is just me and that one can do less.
Good luck!
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Holy moley!!! these tanks and fish are awesome! Love your big Crypts are they Balanese?

 

[FranciscoB]

Thank you! The big Crypts are C. usteriana. They do quite well, but need to be kept on check as they try to overtake everything, and by bending over at top, shade out other plants. But they do reward with good growth with minimal effort.