Aquatop Recife 40 AIO water level

[roryreef]

I just set up an Aquatop 40 and I’m having a hard time with the water level in the display and the chambers in back. I replaced the stock pump with a sicce 1.5 and I’m wondering if it is pushing too much water and is not able to flow through the back chambers fast enough. The level in the display is too high but in the return section it seems too low. I added top off water to the return section and I was going to overflow the display. Where would be the best place to put an ato? Also how do you adjust the stock skimmer? I didn’t get and instructions with the tank. Thank you

 

[blaxsun]

If the water is too high in the display portion and low in the sump, it's a combination of the pump pushing too much water or there's too much filtration media to properly drain into the sump. Once you get this stabilized, the best (and only) place for the ATO is in the sump.

 

[ADAMTAVARES]

Push the black sponge below the gates. That should fix it, whenever mine does this, usualy means the sponge is dirty and i forgot to.clean it, worst part of the tank in my opinion.

 

[X-37B]

I have a 18" Aquatop nano cube.
I do not use the black sponge. I use a small filter basket with floss.
My Tunze nano ato is in the last chamber. Here are a couple pics.
I also changed the pump to a Sicci and run it without the gaurd wide open.

 

[MCF]

I just set up an Aquatop 40 and I’m having a hard time with the water level in the display and the chambers in back. I replaced the stock pump with a sicce 1.5 and I’m wondering if it is pushing too much water and is not able to flow through the back chambers fast enough. The level in the display is too high but in the return section it seems too low. I added top off water to the return section and I was going to overflow the display. Where would be the best place to put an ato? Also how do you adjust the stock skimmer? I didn’t get and instructions with the tank. Thank you

1) Remove that little plastic thing that hangs in front of the water inlet.
2) How many gallon/hr is the water pump? (it should not make any difference anyways, as long as the water inlet is open (as a larger pump would not fit in the space designed for the pump.
3) You can remove the black sponge....it would not make much difference on the water flow anyway.
4) Nothing to do with the skimmer.....unless you want to replace it (the one that comes with the unit is a toy, anyway, as is the pump that comes with it), just monitor the amount "protein" that collects in it, if too much just raise it a little, or lower it if nothing collects in it
5) If you are planning to have corals....replace the light (be very careful, the one that comes with it is NOT WATER PROOF/RESISTANT), as the very bad design of the lid/lights makes the light prone to water/moisture.

I have a 18" Aquatop nano cube.
I do not use the black sponge. I use a small filter basket with floss.
My Tunze nano ato is in the last chamber. Here are a couple pics.
I also changed the pump to a Sicci and run it without the gaurd wide open.

 

[X-37B]

1) Remove that little plastic thing that hangs in front of the water inlet.
2) How many gallon/hr is the water pump? (it should not make any difference anyways, as long as the water inlet is open (as a larger pump would not fit in the space designed for the pump.
3) You can remove the black sponge....it would not make much difference on the water flow anyway.
4) Nothing to do with the skimmer.....unless you want to replace it (the one that comes with the unit is a toy, anyway, as is the pump that comes with it), just monitor the amount "protein" that collects in it, if too much just raise it a little, or lower it if nothing collects in it
5) If you are planning to have corals....replace the light (be very careful, the one that comes with it is NOT WATER PROOF/RESISTANT), as the very bad design of the lid/lights makes the light prone to water/moisture.

If the, remove the plasic thing, is a reference to my system its where I put filter floss. Their is just no floss in it when I took the pic.
My nano cube.

 

[roryreef]

I think MCF is talking about the little plastic thing that comes with the tank. I haven’t had it in and the picture I posted is deceiving. The black sponge is below the grate. I ended up pulling everything out of the back and there was a bunch of air trapped in the media baskets. I’m pretty sure that was the problem because now the levels are all good. Now my issue is with the skimmer putting bubbles in the water. I’ve had it running for almost a week and it’s still doing no matter what level I put it at. I don’t have any fish or anything for it to skim so maybe that is it? Thank you for the replies!

 

[Alexwlwsn]

I think MCF is talking about the little plastic thing that comes with the tank. I haven’t had it in and the picture I posted is deceiving. The black sponge is below the grate. I ended up pulling everything out of the back and there was a bunch of air trapped in the media baskets. I’m pretty sure that was the problem because now the levels are all good. Now my issue is with the skimmer putting bubbles in the water. I’ve had it running for almost a week and it’s still doing no matter what level I put it at. I don’t have any fish or anything for it to skim so maybe that is it? Thank you for the replies!

I had this same issue with my Aquatop 24 using the stock protein skimmer. Over the span of a couple days, the boxes filled with air and essentially clogged up the filtration. I ended up replacing the media boxes with a mesh bag that did the trick! I also replaced the skimmer with an Icecap K1 Neo skimmer which I've been liking much much better than the stock unit. It was a little tricky to dial in but I'm happy with it now after ~2 weeks.

 

[jchl2000]

I have the same tank and it took about 10 days for the skimmer to work properly but once its done adjusting it works just fine and you wont see anything un the canister until you have good amount of live stock, took me a little over a month to see it actually working

 

[omenemo]

I just set up an Aquatop 40 and I’m having a hard time with the water level in the display and the chambers in back. I replaced the stock pump with a sicce 1.5 and I’m wondering if it is pushing too much water and is not able to flow through the back chambers fast enough. The level in the display is too high but in the return section it seems too low. I added top off water to the return section and I was going to overflow the display. Where would be the best place to put an ato? Also how do you adjust the stock skimmer? I didn’t get and instructions with the tank. Thank you

I have the same set up, but all stock. I noticed you don’t have the clear acrylic skimmer thing where the water flows into the filter chamber. That will slow the flow and keep the intake chamber lower on water. When I removed the acrylic piece, the water flowed faster and the intake chamber fills up and the water level lowers in my tank. My problem was that the level in my intake was too low and I was getting too much noise with the water splashing against the pump. So I cut a few of the lines on the acrylic skimmer attachment and made them longer so just a bit more water flowed in and I had less noise because the intake chamber has just a bit more water, enough to fully cover the pump. I really don’t care for the stock pump though.

 

[omenemo]

I realize this post is a bit older but how are you coming along with the new pump? I’m ready to change mine.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

I have a 40 AIO Aquatop. Remove those stupid media baskets. That's your problem. Your last chamber, your return pump chamber, should be a little more than half full.

 

[omenemo]

I have a 40 AIO Aquatop. Remove those stupid media baskets. That's your problem. Your last chamber, your return pump chamber, should be a little more than half full.

I’m finding there are a few poor design issues with this system. Thank you for the info.. I appreciate all the feedback offered.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

I’m finding there are a few poor design issues with this system. Thank you for the info.. I appreciate all the feedback offered.

Yes, I didn't want to bring you down, but that's why I took mine down. An AIO is 20 times harder to keep up and actually control parameters.

A sump is so much easier and there are many more places to put things, not mentioning the added amount of water.

I had to make so many customizations with my 40 Aquatop that is became a chore. I love cubes, but they are dang hard to perfect flow in, almost impossible. If you're doing fish only or some Softies, you'll be fine.

LPS blow everywhere with any kind of good powerhead. There are areas of the tank that are virtual dead spots and that's not good for SPS.

So yeah, it's definitely not ideal.

 

[omenemo]

This site is so helpful to me. As I move along in the hobby, there’s so much help and guidance. Thanks! I haven’t had much trouble as of yet and have only soft corals. I haven’t graduated as I’m not ready for all that quite yet.. and I think mostly because I know my tanks not ideal for that, as you’ve stated. So I’m on the right track with my short experience so far.

 

[euphylinit?]

I just set up an Aquatop 40 and I’m having a hard time with the water level in the display and the chambers in back. I replaced the stock pump with a sicce 1.5 and I’m wondering if it is pushing too much water and is not able to flow through the back chambers fast enough. The level in the display is too high but in the return section it seems too low. I added top off water to the return section and I was going to overflow the display. Where would be the best place to put an ato? Also how do you adjust the stock skimmer? I didn’t get and instructions with the tank. Thank you

What size tubing and fittings did you use for the sicce 1.5? I have the same tank