AIO Rear Chamber Frustration

punkieg0 · Oct 4, 2020

Hi All
I have a Waterbox 20 cube, which I have loved until recently. For some reason I am really struggling with everything in the rear chambers right now. I do not have ATO yet, but I haven't had an issue with staying on top of evaporation for the return. Over the last few days, I have noticed that the far right chamber, where the overflow is, seems to be fuller or not pushing as much water through. I have always had an in-tank basket with floss right there and it worked without issue. In the center chamber I have chemipure and extra rocks and the heater with the final chamber just being the pump.
(I have tried and become frustrated with using skimmers in the past so I have given up on them)
Anyway..the far right is very full, middle seems to be much lower than normal and the return chamber is much lower. When I add more water to the center it drains right into the pump chamber as expected but doesn't seem to normalize out in the 1st chamber ever. It really seems like it will overflow on me. I even got to the point I took the floss out just to see if it would lower and it has not.

This tank has been running since Oct/Nov of last year so it's not like this is how it has always been. Now that I have taken the floss out from time to time I have so much schmutz to clean out in there and I can't figure out how to clean that out. Anyone have a suggestions or advice? I know water levels are always a challenge in AIO but this is different from how it has been so I am not sure what I should do.

smacbride · Oct 4, 2020

I’ve been running my AIO for 11 years now. I only ever add water to the main display area, it self levels the rest. If a chamber isn’t flowing into the next, you have a blockage of some type. For me usually it’s a charcoal bag that is clogged up or a dirty filter cloth.

mann1139 · Oct 4, 2020

Or pump intake.

punkieg0 · Oct 5, 2020

smacbride said:
I’ve been running my AIO for 11 years now. I only ever add water to the main display area, it self levels the rest. If a chamber isn’t flowing into the next, you have a blockage of some type. For me usually it’s a charcoal bag that is clogged up or a dirty filter cloth.

Interesting. Thank you- perhaps I have been going about this wrong. How do you clean the chambers?

punkieg0 · Oct 5, 2020

mann1139 said:
Or pump intake.

I was wondering this as well. And honestly I purchased a new pump but can’t seem to find the right combination of hose and connectors. I was swapping the pump for a sicce.5

Nick Steele · Oct 5, 2020

To clean the chambers I would do it during a water change and take all media and equipment out of the chambers wipe them down and then siphon all the water out. Can be useful to use a small pump to do it if you have big hands.

I will be doing this later today when I do my water change on my nuvo20. I try and do it twice a year. You’d be amazed at the things that can grow in those chambers. I have Cyano/sponges and tons of different types of worms.

Cell · Oct 5, 2020

For my WB10, on every water change I just pull out the filter sock or media basket and siphon from the bottom if the chamber until I get all the debris. Repeat for each chamber. Gotta stay on top of cleaning with AIO's.

Pntbll687 · Oct 5, 2020

Clean out the back chambers. There is probably detritus blocking water from flowing, or the pump intake is partially clogged with debris.

Use a small hose and siphon into a bucket. You can even put the end going into the bucket into a filter sock, then pour the water back in and keep cleaning as needed.

smacbride · Oct 5, 2020

punkieg0 said:
Interesting. Thank you- perhaps I have been going about this wrong. How do you clean the chambers?

I clean my back chambers out a few times a year, just use a small siphon vacuum and suck out all the dirty water, then wipe it out with paper towels.

punkieg0 · Oct 5, 2020

Nick Steele said:
To clean the chambers I would do it during a water change and take all media and equipment out of the chambers wipe them down and then siphon all the water out. Can be useful to use a small pump to do it if you have big hands.

I will be doing this later today when I do my water change on my nuvo20. I try and do it twice a year. You’d be amazed at the things that can grow in those chambers. I have Cyano/sponges and tons of different types of worms.

I will do this tonight. Thank you. Any other tips for AIO that you have learned you want to share? I love the tank - at least until this moment. Just need to figure out what else I might need to do/know.

Mhart032 · Oct 5, 2020

punkieg0 said:
I was wondering this as well. And honestly I purchased a new pump but can’t seem to find the right combination of hose and connectors. I was swapping the pump for a sicce.5

I have this same tank, Dry now, but used to get back into the hobby. I didnt have this issue, but i did remove all the filter pads from the middle chamber there are 2 one under the carbon bag at the bottom by the bottom opening into the pump chamber anf one at the top by the top opening/ overflow section. I removed all that. i used a tunze 9001 skimmer in the second chamber and quickly upgraded the pump to the tunze 1073.020 to use the return as part of the flow for the tank. I used the tunze nano ato with this setup. only issue i had the prefilter clogging up all the time.

Nick Steele · Oct 5, 2020

punkieg0 said:
I will do this tonight. Thank you. Any other tips for AIO that you have learned you want to share? I love the tank - at least until this moment. Just need to figure out what else I might need to do/know.

Not much else but the usual just keep pumps/wavemakers clean. Keep a good maintenance schedule and all should be good.

Mhart032 · Oct 5, 2020

smacbride said:
I clean my back chambers out a few times a year, just use a small siphon vacuum and suck out all the dirty water, then wipe it out with paper towels.

I did the same. Especially in the first chamber.

Mhart032 · Oct 5, 2020

The only issue I had with this tank was I love sps and I kept killing it due to alk swings. I even put an alkatronic on it and dosed 2 parts and still had issues with alk swings. other than that I loved the tank. It's actually drillable in the back too to plumb in a sump.

92Miata · Oct 5, 2020

If you've got pads, or socks, or floss, or anything else that catches particulate - it needs to be cleaned multiple times a week.

If you're not cleaning that often - its both a flood hazard (especially with an ATO) and its going to cause nutrient problems as crud just sits and breaks down.

punkieg0 · Oct 5, 2020

This would be for any of you, if I suspect that it is something clogged or the pump itself- as long as I have powerheads /flow inside the tank is it fine to turn the pump off until I figure out what is going on? So likely for 12-14 hours since I won't get my BRS delivery until tomorrow.