I will first off say that I am new to the hobby, so any help is appreciated.
I recently started a Red Sea Reefer XL 200, everything has been going well except I’m having a hard time with the consistency of flow in the return pump and overflow.
I have my pump running at a constant rate, and everything is flowing fine all day long (water level sits consistently about 1-2cm above the silencer). Im using fish food to help in the cycling process.
As soon as I add a pinch or two of fish food, it throws the water levels in the return and sump all out of order. Within a minute, the water in the overflow rises and starts going down the overflow pipe. The water level in the return pump are of the sump drops, and ATO water dumps in. I wait a little bit, but ultimately have to open up the return flow then turn it back to where it was to get it to normalize again.
I can’t imagine that it is that sensitive to get thrown off by a pinch of food, so not sure what is happening. One theory that I have is that the food pellets (small pellets, and tend to float on the surface) are going through the surface skimmer combs and restricting flow around the silencer pipe? Anyone else have a similar issue when setting up their tank?
I recently started a Red Sea Reefer XL 200, everything has been going well except I’m having a hard time with the consistency of flow in the return pump and overflow.
I have my pump running at a constant rate, and everything is flowing fine all day long (water level sits consistently about 1-2cm above the silencer). Im using fish food to help in the cycling process.
As soon as I add a pinch or two of fish food, it throws the water levels in the return and sump all out of order. Within a minute, the water in the overflow rises and starts going down the overflow pipe. The water level in the return pump are of the sump drops, and ATO water dumps in. I wait a little bit, but ultimately have to open up the return flow then turn it back to where it was to get it to normalize again.
I can’t imagine that it is that sensitive to get thrown off by a pinch of food, so not sure what is happening. One theory that I have is that the food pellets (small pellets, and tend to float on the surface) are going through the surface skimmer combs and restricting flow around the silencer pipe? Anyone else have a similar issue when setting up their tank?