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in the Filter Media Thread it said to put the blue pad in the top basket. yet the manual said bottom basket. my question is witch one? are the pics in the media thead upside down? or is the fx5 manual wrong?

I believe the fx5 manual has recommendations for the "typical" setup.

RES tanks aren't typical.

The recommendations here come from people working with turtle tanks. I don't know the water flow throw an fx5, but my guess is that if you followed the manual advice, the pad would clog too quickly. I'm sure more experienced users will weigh in with informed opinions.

thanks and im thinking the same thing. i just wanted to make sure before i set it up.

The fx5 flow starts at the bottom around the outside of the filter baskets, flows up through the coarse sponges to the top of the stack then down through the center of the stack until it reaches the impeller which pushes the water out of the filter. So the way VeipaCray has the media organized is Coarse sponge -> medium sponge (blue filter pad) -> chemical (carbon/purigen) -> biomedia. This keeps your chemical and biomedia as free of debris as possible which reduces their effectiveness. If you were to put the pad at the bottom, it would quickly clog with sticky colonies of live bacteria.

I think pridge meant to say "increases their effectiveness".

The first few paragraphs on that media thread explain that the media setups on this forum will probably differ from the manufacturer in most cases.

Pridge's explanation is very good and you definitely want the blue pad in the top of the top basket.

Actually I was referring to debris reducing the effectiveness of chemical and biological media, but perhaps I could have stated it better.

thanks guys. i thought that i just wanted to make sure.