Flow Problems in back Chamber - Fluval Evo

[Deep sea reefer-240]

Hi Everyone,

I am running a fluval evo with both D-Flow media baskets in chamber 1 + 2

In chamber 1 I have filter floss on the top, purigen and chemi pure in the middle with biofilter media gems at the bottom

In chamber 2 I have some chaeto algae in the basket with some biolfilter media gems in a media bag at the bottom

I am really struggling to get flow through all chambers, My chaeto is almost always out of water and can constantly hear a dripping noise as the water is going into chamber 2

I have a DCS-1200 pump on 1 bar of power to avoid completely emptying my third chamber

I have a plug for chamber 2 but seem to have absolutely no luck getting it plugged in, would this really sort that much of the issue? My next idea is to get a bioball rack to sit under my first chamber media basket and then have the purigen and chemi-pure split into the diffrent sections.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[blaxsun]

How often are you changing your filter floss out? This should typically be discarded every 3-5 days (a week tops). It sounds like something is clogged or otherwise restricting flow in the first basket. When was the last time you removed the first basket to examine it?

I don't think the plug for the second chamber would help at this point because it sounds like that chamber isn't getting enough flow as is. Do you need your refugium?

 

[Deep sea reefer-240]

How often are you changing your filter floss out? This should typically be discarded every 3-5 days (a week tops). It sounds like something is clogged or otherwise restricting flow in the first basket. When was the last time you removed the first basket to examine it?

I don't think the plug for the second chamber would help at this point because it sounds like that chamber isn't getting enough flow as is. Do you need your refugium?

Im Changing my filter floss at least once every 3 days, I have took it out multiple times the past few weeks and not seen anything that would contribute that heavily but my only thought is the amount of media in the baskets and if its packed too much and struggling to get through, I dont need my refugium but had issues with green hair algae and saw lots of people saying that outcompeted and starved the algae and always seems to produce positive results, but happy to get rid if it means improving the overall setup

 

[blaxsun]

You don't need both Purigen and Chemi-Pure Blue, and I suspect one or both is probably the culprit in terms of flow. If this were me, this is how I'd run it.

First Media Caddy
• A layer of filter floss, cut to fit in the first chamber.
• Chemi-Pure Blue nano packet (this should be changed out every 2-4 months, or as needed) in the second.
• A handful of bio gems (assuming these are SeaChem, MarinePure, etc.) in the third (not bagged).

Second Media Caddy
• A handful of bio gems in the top chanber (not bagged).
• Chaeto in the second chamber.
• A handful of bio gems in the third chamber (not bagged).

 

[Uncle99]

You have 3 things in chamber 1 and 2 in chamber 2, that’s 5 media passes.
That’s going to slow your flow.

 

[Deep sea reefer-240]

thank you, is it worthwile putting the media ball holders at the bottom of chamber 1, or again too much?

 

[blaxsun]

thank you, is it worthwile putting the media ball holders at the bottom of chamber 1, or again too much?

You mean the nylon mesh bags? I find they always ended up getting clogged up with detritus and slowing my flow when I had them in my pair of nano tanks. What you can do is get some larger bio media so they're not as likely to fall out when removing the caddys. Something like the 1.5" MarinePure spheres.

 

[Deep sea reefer-240]

You mean the nylon mesh bags? I find they always ended up getting clogged up with detritus and slowing my flow when I had them in my pair of nano tanks. What you can do is get some larger bio media so they're not as likely to fall out when removing the caddys. Something like the 1.5" MarinePure spheres.

I meant something like this in the bottom right as I believe that doesn’t affect the main flow at the bottom in the first chamber

 

[blaxsun]

Sure, you can do something like that.

 

[Deep sea reefer-240]

Thanks so much for your help

 

[blaxsun]

Thanks so much for your help

Np. I don't know what kind of media tray that is, but if you can find the bio media with the holes to fit on those poles that should ensure the best flow.