FX5 with HYDOR inline heater?

[four_by_ken]

I gotcha.  :-)

But 13/16 is quite different than 5/8.

A reduction of almost half of the output is more than I would want for my filter.

Everyone can do what they want though.  I just usually want more flow in my tanks than less.

[Steve]

It's really not that much Ken. The 5/8" is the ID of the heater opening not the OD so we're talking 3/16 difference at most so that's not half the output. Think of it this way...I'm sure you or others here use prefilters on your intakes right? Doing that restricts flow as well, I've noticed a slight difference on my bio-wheel 350 output when I put a prefilter over the intake so it wouldn't suck up fry. Basically the same thing your just losing a very slight amount of flow, not enough to worry about by any means though. With two fx5's on my 265 I think I'll have more than enough flow for anything short of chinook salmon lol

[four_by_ken]

I don't know what to say other than I'm going off real world experience that happens every day in my life.

[Steve]

Okay I'm just gonna say we disagree, because I too am going off real world as I have this on both my 55's and no noticeable loss in flow because again, we are not talking a large change in ID size, but I digress.

Agree to disagree on this one, no worries.

[four_by_ken]

Sorry I have to ... 
 

How are you measuring this lack of difference, by eye? 

I have seen a measured difference . 

[greg y]

I'm no expert but when I look at my eheim 5/8" green hose that I use on my hydor 300w heater and look at some fx5 1" ribbed tubing I have left over from a past deal I can say yes this green tube can fit inside this black tube but there is no way it's almost twice as big

[four_by_ken]

I said almost.  Now, since you are getting nitpicky...

A one inconsistent at 10 psi can flowers about 15 gallons per minute.  A 5/8 hose is about 5 gallons per minute.

That's going off memory, so... give me a break.

[four_by_ken]

That's not a minor difference in just mind.

[Steve]

All I'll say is this Ken..

On my two tanks I have running, yes that is my opinion that by eye there is no "noticeable" difference. And since this is fish keeping and not building rockets then if I can't see a "noticeable" difference then to me that is perfectly fine. I am not saying there is not a measurable difference because I'm sure if you wanted to hook up some sort of flow gauge then sure you might see a slight difference, but so what? if it's not "noticeable" then it's not gonna make any real world difference IMO. Not to mention, when did "flow" because the most important thing in a cichlid tank? you still have the same amount of mechanical, same amount of bio, and if you feel you need to move more water than stick a powerhead in there and problem solved. But from my experience with doing this as well as the  many others that do it, the difference is not enough to even show up physically so it's not a concern.

Also you can't base flow as a consistent across the board for everyone because we all have difference foam pads, different media, rings, matrix media or what have you in our filters. So person X may have more flow than person Y with the same filter because they have different media that the water has to run through. So who's to say which is best. I think this whole thing is getting WAY blown out of proportion IMO

[greg y]

ok Ken, I just took a pic and I have to admit it is a lot larger, I don't know about if it makes a difference or not just saying, I'll load the pic in a minute, so what parts would I need to do this double split Y thing? I will need a lot more hardware to do that

[four_by_ken]

Steve, you are arguing physics here.     Just because you don't SEE the difference means nothing.  I can prove,  with science, there is a big difference in flow.

And yes, amount of Bio and flow are ALL that matters in filtration... not just cichlids.  It's even more important with cichlids because people tend yo load up the tanks and they eat a lot, which produces a lot of waste.

With out a lot of flow... the Bio is useless"

that's the benefit of an fx5... tons of Bio and flow rate that beats anything on the market.

[four_by_ken]

Home depot it Lowes can get you all the fittings you need.

The hard part will be connecting to the corrugated hose.

[Steve]

Ken this is why I keep saying you are missing the point to what I am saying.
.
.

With out a lot of flow... the Bio is useless"

If you go back and look at what I said, I said it does not make a difference that matters. With the FX5 (or two in my case) there is more than enough flow already, even with 5/8 inline in place there is STILL a lot of flow and more than is needed in most cases. That is my entire point. I am not saying it doesn't lower the flow a bit, I'm simply saying there is still more than enough.

[greg y]

well I would use 1" id bev tube from homedepo, and I will need 2 (Y) fittings that are 1" reduced down to 5/8" id, those might be hard to find right?

[four_by_ken]

And you're missing my point, why purposely choke down the best filter on the market ?

why I purposely lessen your filtration on your fish tank ?  More us better.  Don't take away the safety factor for no reason at all.