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I don't know how many people have the combination of an acrylic tank and an FX5 - but I do. The problem I have is finding a good way to install the inlet and outlet of the filter. The clips that come with the FX5 "can" work with the acrylic top, but quite honestly that is a horrible solution. Especially because the ribbed tube is inflexible so it is always lifting the the clip thing, so it does not stay put very long. And it does not seem like a good idea to use a foot of tube just to go over the edge of the tank.
Right now, I have the tube going through the slots in the back of the tank that are the cutouts for HOB filters instead of through the larger whole that starts a quarter of the way across the top of the tank. I feel this is not an elegant solution for the outlet. The intake works ok because it has the suction cups mounting.
The problem is that the tubing pushes the intake and outlet to the top of the tank instead of keeping them on the back wall. I think a picture is needed for this to make sense but I don't have one. Maybe I can take one later. To fix the outlet problem I tied it to the mounting plate that I had leftover from a Rio pump. This actually works pretty well. Ideally I would like to remove the ribbed tubing and use regular vinyl tubing. However, the problem with vinyl tubing is that it squishes easily - so I would prefer to use a rigid tube to go over the side of the tank. I think this is the approach other cannister filters take. However, I am not sure how to buy that type of tubing. The FX5 comes with tubing for the inlet - and that would be ideal.
Finally the question is what are other people doing? And does anyone know how I could get some plastic tubing that would work for this application?
Right now, I have the tube going through the slots in the back of the tank that are the cutouts for HOB filters instead of through the larger whole that starts a quarter of the way across the top of the tank. I feel this is not an elegant solution for the outlet. The intake works ok because it has the suction cups mounting.
The problem is that the tubing pushes the intake and outlet to the top of the tank instead of keeping them on the back wall. I think a picture is needed for this to make sense but I don't have one. Maybe I can take one later. To fix the outlet problem I tied it to the mounting plate that I had leftover from a Rio pump. This actually works pretty well. Ideally I would like to remove the ribbed tubing and use regular vinyl tubing. However, the problem with vinyl tubing is that it squishes easily - so I would prefer to use a rigid tube to go over the side of the tank. I think this is the approach other cannister filters take. However, I am not sure how to buy that type of tubing. The FX5 comes with tubing for the inlet - and that would be ideal.
Finally the question is what are other people doing? And does anyone know how I could get some plastic tubing that would work for this application?