Max E260 Water Changes

[Gary Ellis]

I have the E260 with the upgraded sump. How do I keep the water from filling up the upgraded sump when I shut down all the pumps when doing a water change?

 

[Bossman]

I have the same problem Gary. Probably why the sumps are so deep in the E Max series! I think the "fix" would be removing the 2 circulation pumps and plugging the 2 exit holes in the rear sump. After that, install a couple standard power heads. The water syphons back those return pump holes when you power down and the DT drains to that level. I emailed Red Sea and asked if they had plugs and the reply was "no". My only concern with this is, will it create some dead spots in the rear sump without those pumps?

What I've been doing for water changes is let the water drain down into the sump, then do your water change with the water in the sump only. I make a mark where the water level is when I start syphoning out, then just fill to that level again. Of course you can't syphon the substrate in the DT that way. I turn off the skimmer 10-15 minutes before I start my water change and agitate the gravel to put detritus in the water column. Also brush the rock with a toothbrush if I want to remove any algae. A good share of this is then filtered into the filter sock before I do my water change.

Not ideal. I no longer turn my return pump off during feeding either. The fish seem to be fine that way, but I was powering down during feeding and spot coral feeding before I upgraded to the in cabinet sump.