And the nozzles even have different modes of output so you can change them based on the needs of your fish. Ensuring that a high-efficiency vacuum is always maintained, every 12 hours, the pump evacuates any trapped air in the system. Fluval designed theirs perfectly and we think a handful of other manufacturers could learn a thing or two from the subtleties of their design. One important thing to note is that while it does says it can filter aquariums up to 400 gallons in size it’s really going to depend. If you’re an aquarist who needs the absolute best water quality for your corals, sensitive fish, or messy reptiles, high capacity canister filters like the Fluval FX6 are the obvious choice.

Only the cleanest water should reach your bio-media as to not clog up the surface area with detritus slowing down the growth of beneficial bacteria. If you’re looking for something that can handle a huge tank and a lot of fish, I don’t know of another canister that’s in the same league as this one. Before we begin, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, which is the FX5 High Performance Aquarium Canister Filter. There’s a set of filter media that’s customizable and can be changed depending on how you want your water to be.While the pump outputs 925 gallons per hour (GPH) the filter turns over 523 gallons of aquarium water per hour. It’s this initial setup process that seems to be the scariest for new owners of all experience levels. If the device is pumping out a lot of micro air bubbles instead, then it is most likely not working efficiently.

And none of the other canisters I looked at had the super cool drain thingy that lets you pump the water out of the body of the canister when you’re doing maintenance. the Fluval FX6 External Filter is supplied with all necessary media and pipe work so should be up and running in no time. Since there are 3 media trays inside of the canister, that makes it quite simple to place our mechanical, biological and chemical filtration. Furthermore, we suggest that you avoid using big bio balls as these may cause a lot of bubbles to appear in the canister.Hosing can also be attached to output for an easy water change and eliminates the need to use water buckets. To prevent micro bubbles, you may want to consider pre-soaking the filter media to get it water-logged.