Hello all, I'm new to R2R, but have a little experience with saltwater. i ran a bio-cube for 3 years and a couple nano tanks for about a half a year.
I Recently bought an Aqua Top recife 24g AIO Tank Setup. I’ve Been running it for about a week now, with just the Water, sand and dry/live rock. I do have a few concerns though, all mostly dealing with the stock overflow setup. I’m wondering if I am doing something wrong, or if I really need to modify the way its functioning.
- My first issue’s are with the return setup. The hole where the 90° angle pipe leaves this chamber to output back into the tank is loose, so much that there is a slow leak seeping back into this segment of the overflow. It’s not a huge trickle, but I would rather have this tidey’d up. I bought it at a local pet store and I couldn’t find a parts list for it, so I’m not sure if I didn’t get a “Gasket” or if it just doesn’t have one. I’m wondering if someone could recommend something to use as a gasket in a marine environment. I don’t want to use silicone, as I’d like to be able to remove it for maintenance. Secondly, the return tube from the pump seems a bit short, its floating ¾ from the bottom of the chamber, only being supported by the tube and the 90° connector into the back wall. Should I get a longer pipe, or is this okay?
- My second issues have to deal with the intake chamber, or the overflow portion of the setup. The water level in the first chamber of the overflow is level with the water on the outside, tank space area. It’s not creating any kind of “suction” or pull affect. I’ve owned 2 tanks now with built in overflows, and they all seem to have a “waterfall’ effect, where water and anything floating on the surface is drawn in and fall into this chamber. Since this thing comes with a huge 8” tall sponge, I thought that was impeding the waters flow to go into the next chamber, but I pulled it out, and it still the same level. Is this normal?? I tried adding and removing water, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m considering adding a very small water pump at the bottom of this chamber, where its intake is facing up, drawing water down, and the outtake facing into the next chamber, to encourage a stronger flow. If I do this, I think I might need to upgrade the pump in the return chamber 4 to push more water. I Don’t know if I really need to do this; but I’ve noticed stuff pooling at the top of chamber 1, just floating at the top. There is a small pull, I can see very small/fine particles floating downward, but not with any real speed or force.
- My last concern is chamber 3. Chamber 2 houses the integrated protein skimmer on top, and flows into chamber 3, but it’s just a small trickle. It seems to be bypassing the media trays altogether and going into chamber 4. I’m circumventing this right now by taking an old plastic ID card, pressing it against the barrier that separates 2 and 3, causing the water to run across the card and spill evening across the media tray at the top. (although the id card isn’t long enough to cover this whole area, so only 2/3’s of the media is actually coming into water contact at the first level. (this level has 3 media cartons, stock are the little ceramic tubes, I took one tray out and replaced it with balls, and removed the completely at the bottom and left it empty.) if I put a second small water pump in as mentioned above, I wonder if this flow will increase, eliminating the need for this id card or a way to make the water pass through all the media.
Thanks for reading, any/all feedback and input is appreciated! I know this is long winded, but I really want this tank to work out in the long term. I want to make sure the overflow is operating efficiently before I add fish/coral. I have a few pictures i will upload once i get service where i am at, and i can take pictures/videos by request tonight when i get home.
I Recently bought an Aqua Top recife 24g AIO Tank Setup. I’ve Been running it for about a week now, with just the Water, sand and dry/live rock. I do have a few concerns though, all mostly dealing with the stock overflow setup. I’m wondering if I am doing something wrong, or if I really need to modify the way its functioning.
- My first issue’s are with the return setup. The hole where the 90° angle pipe leaves this chamber to output back into the tank is loose, so much that there is a slow leak seeping back into this segment of the overflow. It’s not a huge trickle, but I would rather have this tidey’d up. I bought it at a local pet store and I couldn’t find a parts list for it, so I’m not sure if I didn’t get a “Gasket” or if it just doesn’t have one. I’m wondering if someone could recommend something to use as a gasket in a marine environment. I don’t want to use silicone, as I’d like to be able to remove it for maintenance. Secondly, the return tube from the pump seems a bit short, its floating ¾ from the bottom of the chamber, only being supported by the tube and the 90° connector into the back wall. Should I get a longer pipe, or is this okay?
- My second issues have to deal with the intake chamber, or the overflow portion of the setup. The water level in the first chamber of the overflow is level with the water on the outside, tank space area. It’s not creating any kind of “suction” or pull affect. I’ve owned 2 tanks now with built in overflows, and they all seem to have a “waterfall’ effect, where water and anything floating on the surface is drawn in and fall into this chamber. Since this thing comes with a huge 8” tall sponge, I thought that was impeding the waters flow to go into the next chamber, but I pulled it out, and it still the same level. Is this normal?? I tried adding and removing water, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m considering adding a very small water pump at the bottom of this chamber, where its intake is facing up, drawing water down, and the outtake facing into the next chamber, to encourage a stronger flow. If I do this, I think I might need to upgrade the pump in the return chamber 4 to push more water. I Don’t know if I really need to do this; but I’ve noticed stuff pooling at the top of chamber 1, just floating at the top. There is a small pull, I can see very small/fine particles floating downward, but not with any real speed or force.
- My last concern is chamber 3. Chamber 2 houses the integrated protein skimmer on top, and flows into chamber 3, but it’s just a small trickle. It seems to be bypassing the media trays altogether and going into chamber 4. I’m circumventing this right now by taking an old plastic ID card, pressing it against the barrier that separates 2 and 3, causing the water to run across the card and spill evening across the media tray at the top. (although the id card isn’t long enough to cover this whole area, so only 2/3’s of the media is actually coming into water contact at the first level. (this level has 3 media cartons, stock are the little ceramic tubes, I took one tray out and replaced it with balls, and removed the completely at the bottom and left it empty.) if I put a second small water pump in as mentioned above, I wonder if this flow will increase, eliminating the need for this id card or a way to make the water pass through all the media.
Thanks for reading, any/all feedback and input is appreciated! I know this is long winded, but I really want this tank to work out in the long term. I want to make sure the overflow is operating efficiently before I add fish/coral. I have a few pictures i will upload once i get service where i am at, and i can take pictures/videos by request tonight when i get home.
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