FX6 issues?

K

krislhull

Member
Has anyone on here that uses a Fluval FX5 or FX6 had any issues with them leaking? On Saturday afternoon, I came downstairs to find that about 5-10 gallons drained out of my 210g and was flowing onto the carpet. Upon opening up the stand, I was greeted to water on the wood floor of the stand, and after shutting off my FX and pulling it out, I did a thorough inspection of the tank and found that it was not leaking, so that left the filter as the culprit. I disassembled it, cleaned it thoroughly, then filled the filter with water and let it sit for 20 minutes roughly to static lack check it. With no leaks, i reassembled the filter and hooked it back up. Luckily, I had the thought to place the FX6 inside a rubbermaid tub as a precaution, and when I checked it about an hour later, I had about a gallon of water in the tub.

I have no clue where the filter can be leaking from, as all mating surfaces and fittings seem to be dry. I am currently running the filter outside my tank for a bit to see if it leaks again. But I can honestly say, I do not trust this particular filter at the moment! Hopefully in an hour or so more I will be able to see where it is coming from!
 
K

krislhull

Member
no, the plug was verified closed. Its the oddest thing. I am running it now, and have been for roughly an hour, and it seems to be fine. no leaks to be seen. I need to test it longer to see exactly what is going on
 
K

krislhull

Member
well, I have no clue what's going on now... I ran the filter for approx 3 hours in a temp configuration on the outside of the 210g, and I could not find any leaks. I have no clue where all of that water came from the other day. This is really starting to baffle me! I'll run it in the same configuration all day tomorrow just to be sure.IMG_3710.JPG
 
DMD123

DMD123

Administrator
Staff member
Contributing Member Level III
Ive ran both the FX5 & 6 and have had no serious issues. I had. Leak once but it was my fault. I somehow missed tightening one of the screw down clamps after servicing. Even then it took a couple weeks to leak. I also use silicone lube from the hardware store on all the gaskets too.

Might look very carefully at the case to see if there are any fine hairline cracks. Also check the hose clamps. I had a super small leak when I first set up an FX5 because I had tightened it too much. It pulled the rubber apart a bit and leaked a little. The stock hose clamps have these sharp ridges and can catch the rubber connections pretty easily. I actually stopped using the stock fluval ones and just use the ones from home depot or lowes. They are smooth on the inside and let you tighten without catching/snagging the connector.
 
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K

krislhull

Member
Ive been running the filter since about 7am this morning, and so far no leaks. I have been scratching my head trying to figure out what caused the leak, as before the leak, it had been roughly a month since I broke down the filter last. Ill keep an eye on it carefully for the next few days and see what happens, I guess
 
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