AIO Cube Return pump keeps running dry

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
So I took a look at the stock pump in my Waterbox 20. It is a Hidom AP-1500, rated at 1000lph which translates to 264gph. Noisy thing that it is. I may look into a DC return swap out or maybe a Sicce.

Awesome!!! Thank you very much for telling me!

I couldn't find it anywhere online. I will be trying out more things tonight to see if I can get it working. I am thinking something keeps clogging in the slits in the back chambers. If nothing works I think I will get a pump rated at a lesser flow.

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
So I took a look at the stock pump in my Waterbox 20. It is a Hidom AP-1500, rated at 1000lph which translates to 264gph. Noisy thing that it is. I may look into a DC return swap out or maybe a Sicce.

Do you have the pump placed on the bottom of the 3rd chamber or on the back wall? Do you have it high up at all in the chamber?

SliceGolfer · Mar 17, 2020

I have the pump positioned on the bottom of chamber three, using the suction cups that come with the pump. Everything is stock as far as the pump, hose, and return nozzle are concerned. For the chambers, I run an InTank media basked in chamber one. The InTank basket has a piece of PinkyFilter pad at the top for mechanical filtration, and Marinepure 1.5" spheres in chambers 2 and 3 of the InTank basket. I have an IceCap K1 Nano protein skimmer and titanium heater in chamber two of the Waterbox. There is nothing relating to filter pads, sponges, balls, baskets in chamber two of the Waterbox. Chamber three holds the return pump and the ATO sensor. I keep the water level roughly 2.5" from the top to avoid water noise.

I run the pump at full flow, no problems with water level, flow, or noise. The only time I run into an issue is when the PinkyFilter gets clogged up, causing the water level in the tank to rise as the ATO is compensating for the water that isn't making it's way into the "sump" area.

Potatohead · Mar 17, 2020

I would agree a pump in the low to mid 200 gph range would ideal. I'd probably use a Sicce 1.0, Tunze 1073.008 or Eheim CompactOn 1000

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
I have the pump positioned on the bottom of chamber three, using the suction cups that come with the pump. Everything is stock as far as the pump, hose, and return nozzle are concerned. For the chambers, I run an InTank media basked in chamber one. The InTank basket has a piece of PinkyFilter pad at the top for mechanical filtration, and Marinepure 1.5" spheres in chambers 2 and 3 of the InTank basket. I have an IceCap K1 Nano protein skimmer and titanium heater in chamber two of the Waterbox. There is nothing relating to filter pads, sponges, balls, baskets in chamber two of the Waterbox. Chamber three holds the return pump and the ATO sensor. I keep the water level roughly 2.5" from the top to avoid water noise.

I run the pump at full flow, no problems with water level, flow, or noise. The only time I run into an issue is when the PinkyFilter gets clogged up, causing the water level in the tank to rise as the ATO is compensating for the water that isn't making it's way into the "sump" area.

i have a pretty strict budget on this build.nwould you recommend the intank media basket for the first chamber or the intank filter floss holder for 15$? If I change the floss often

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
So I took a look at the stock pump in my Waterbox 20. It is a Hidom AP-1500, rated at 1000lph which translates to 264gph. Noisy thing that it is. I may look into a DC return swap out or maybe a Sicce.

I just checked and that's the same one I have in now. So it is the stock. Must be a problem with clogged media? Or wrong setup?

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

Potatohead said:
I would agree a pump in the low to mid 200 gph range would ideal. I'd probably use a Sicce 1.0, Tunze 1073.008 or Eheim CompactOn 1000

It checked and was able to grab a model number. It's the stock pump for the cube. It's pretty quiet so I guess that's not the problem? Clogged media or wrong setup?

SliceGolfer · Mar 17, 2020

My suggestion would be to test. Remove every bit of media and place in a bucket of saltwater. Check to see if you have the same flow restriction. Then, add items back one by one and see what causes the restriction. My guess is you have something blocking the water path itself, or the media/sponge/sock/filter pad is clogged up. The factory sock is notorious for restricting flow once it gets dirty.

If you're still running the factory sock then I would suggest the InTank floss holder. If you want a media basket to hold the floss, media, etc then get the full basket. I bought the media basked for chamber one because I wanted the capability for filter floss, and to contain the Marinepure spheres. I only remove the floss, the media basket stays in place all the time.

Potatohead · Mar 17, 2020

I thought you had tested this without any media in the chambers. Just run the thing without anything at all back there other than the pump and heater and see what happens.

SliceGolfer · Mar 17, 2020

Dunno if this helps you much. Here is my WB 20 sump area.

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

Potatohead said:
I thought you had tested this without any media in the chambers. Just run the thing without anything at all back there other than the pump and heater and see what happens.

I did run it no media. I believe once I did that, the water level wasn't high enough. I did replenish water after but i guess it wasn't enough.
This is my first AIO tank. Sorry if I'm a bit of a newbie haha

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
Dunno if this helps you much. Here is my WB 20 sump area.

Looks nice! I'm just deciding now if I want to do a refugium in the middle or a skimmer sometime down the road

psphillies · Mar 17, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
My suggestion would be to test. Remove every bit of media and place in a bucket of saltwater. Check to see if you have the same flow restriction. Then, add items back one by one and see what causes the restriction. My guess is you have something blocking the water path itself, or the media/sponge/sock/filter pad is clogged up. The factory sock is notorious for restricting flow once it gets dirty.

If you're still running the factory sock then I would suggest the InTank floss holder. If you want a media basket to hold the floss, media, etc then get the full basket. I bought the media basked for chamber one because I wanted the capability for filter floss, and to contain the Marinepure spheres. I only remove the floss, the media basket stays in place all the time.

I think it was just the amount of bio media along with a couple sponges. I think something may have also been lodged in the slits. I cleaned everything with a pipe cleaner and we will see how it does overnight!

psphillies · Mar 18, 2020

psphillies said:
Looks nice! I'm just deciding now if I want to do a refugium in the middle or a skimmer sometime down the road

Seems like it didn't fix the issue. It is weird that it seems to run dry only at night. There are no other timers attached either.

psphillies · Mar 18, 2020

SliceGolfer said:
Dunno if this helps you much. Here is my WB 20 sump area.

Seems like it didn't fix the issue. It is weird that it seems to run dry only at night. There are no other timers attached either.

psphillies · Mar 18, 2020

Bryknicks said:
Are you running any floss/socks? I have a similar issue with the WB 10 cube. After anywhere from 1-3 days my filter floss severely slows the overflow causing my ATO to run over filling the tank. It gets to the point that the display fills up to the brim and the rear chambers all fill to the top. I'm considering removing mechanical filtration to resolve this issue. I'm hesitant because then the rear chambers/media will fill up with detritus.

Seems like it didn't fix the issue. It is weird that it seems to run dry only at night. There are no other timers attached either.

psphillies · Mar 18, 2020

Bryknicks said:
I would remove the sponges. I only have one in the middle chamber to hold my skimmer up higher but it does not restrict my flow. I have the mighty jet dc pump and can crank it up with no problems so your issue definitely isn't the pump being too strong. In my first chamber I used the intank media rack with filter floss on the top, carbon in the middle, and bio rings on the bottom. The middle chamber is my skimmer. The last chamber is return pump and ATO.

Seems like it didn't fix the issue. It is weird that it seems to run dry only at night. There are no other timers attached either.

SliceGolfer · Mar 18, 2020

Are you certain your ATO is working properly? This sounds like an evaporation issue if everything else is functioning properly.

Bryknicks · Mar 18, 2020

Agree with above. It doesn't make sense that you are experiencing an issue with all media and sponges removed from the system. Make sure that when the return pump is running, you have enough water in the third chamber prior to turning on the ATO. Once you have the right water level then turn the ATO on and it should maintain the level where your sensor is. That's all there is to it. If that still doesn't correct any issues then I have no clue what else it could be other than the weir getting clogged. But that should be very noticeable and if bad enough would make the tank overflow.