# Fluval FX5 - How to keep shrimp safe?



## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

Is there anyone with Large shrimp tanks? 

I have a 120 gallon that I've just recently setup. I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to keep my shrimps from not getting sucked up by my Fluval FX5 strainer.

If it was a house tank, I would put a panty hose over the strainer pipe but this tank is setup at my shop. It's going to be a enjoyment tank in the waiting room so having a panty hose over the strainger outlet would look weird..

One time I opened up my FX5 to clean the canister inside and found 14 Black Angel fish dime size in it,they were alive still chilling at the bottom of the trays! So if the strainer is enough to suck in Angel fish, can't imagine what it'll do with a few hundred Crystal Red Shrimps. 

Help!


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Can you use the eheim prefilter and hide it under a thin layer of gravel? or behind a rock? http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=_Z-8TrnjMOeZiQL4lPHTBw&ved=0CGwQ8wIwAQ


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I have just been taking some of my sponge filters and hooking them up to my filter intakes. Just made a Hydra Jumbo sponge filter fit on to the end of my Rena intake with a piece of Eheim hose. Had a small fluval sponge on the intake but it gets clogged too fast all the time. Also made a Sepora sponge filter fit on my Aquaclear intake with a piece of Fluval hosing. Air driven sponge filters aren't as powerful as the intake of my Rena, why run a air sponge and the Rena that gets clogs and instead just the jumbo Hydro filter as the entire intake sponge as well. I'm sure with some different size PVC, tubing, whatever, you could make a big sponge filter fit the intake.


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

You could make a pvc intake and spraypaint it black, then drill a bunch of holes and cover it with a prefilter sponge like this one from Jehmco (PFS110).










Example via MS-Paint.


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## RandomMan (May 31, 2011)

You can also just go out and buy some fiberglass window screen from your local home improvement store. Cut to size, and either use superglue to glue it on, or zip ties.


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## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

Super glue in the tanks are fine? I always wondered about this.

but I like Capsaicin_MFK idea, I might actually do that to my big filter.


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

The eheim prefilter hose connection is a bit small. The Fluval FX5 hose is slightly a little over 1 inch. 

The fiberglass window screen idea might still be a little big in the holes grid. I've tried those in the pass with smaller tank, didn't like it at all.

The sponge filter idea was what I came up with as well, but having a sponge filter that huge in size would look awfully bad since it clogs up pretty quick. 

I also like Capsaicin_MFK idea, I will give that a try this weekend when I have time to go to Homedepot and see what they got.

Thanks for the ideas folk!


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Yep, a sponge would clog pretty fast and with a strong filter like the FX5, the results could be pretty drastic. Back when I had XP3's and didn't clean them out too regularly, I would find clogged foam pads that usually were about an inch thickness reduced to about 1/4in. 

If you are familiar with the AquaClear prefilters, they contain two strainers: one larger black one with relatively big holes, and a smaller clear one that's like a sieve with horizontal slits. I think you could use those to effectively cut down on the great shrimp journey.

Keep in mind though while it is somewhat weird to find all sorts of animals in your filter, they seem to do well in there. So if you take the time to remove the filter media slowly and then drain the rest of the filter through a strainer to collect shrimp, angel fish and crud.


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## chiefroastbeef (Feb 14, 2011)

Since I use a surface skimmer, shrimp gets sucked into the filter anyway, I just clean my filter once a month and free the cherries. They seem happy in there anyway.


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