Fluval Evo help

[ChickReef]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out if I’m doing something wrong. I have the Evo 13.5 tank and my chamber water levels are strange.
Chamber 3 which I house my pump and heater are low.
chamber 2 I have rubble rock
Chamber 1 I have the intank which has filter floss + fine filter floss, purigen, phosguard and chemipure blue

I’ll attach some pictures. any help or pointers?

 

[Lavey29]

Not sure what's causing your fluctuations but running purigen with chemipure blue is redundant because the blue already has purigen in it from what has been disseminated on various forums.

I suspect chamber one has restricted flow from the floss being dirty possibly or one of the other bags is partially blocked due to detritus or something which then makes the third chamber low.

 

[ElementReefer]

Dumb question but…do you top off and how often?

 

[RobbieMaynard]

When water evaporates, I would see a drop in chamber 3 first.

 

[ChickReef]

I tested my water and my nitrates were 40.
Should I remove the fine floss? Is it slowing the flow too much?

 

[ChickReef]

Dumb question but…do you top off and how often?

I have topped off once in a blue moon. I still have the stock hood on but I never know if it’s evaporated or not. Don’t really know when it’s top off time.

 

[Lavey29]

I tested my water and my nitrates were 40.
Should I remove the fine floss? Is it slowing the flow too much?

It needs to be changed out every few days. Couple of water changes will bring nitrates down.

 

[ElementReefer]

Well in my AIO (Waterbox) with evaporation the pump chamber goes down first, then the middle chamber, that’s how I know it’s time to top off with RODI. In an AIO because of the pump running, the display water is the last thing to go down.

 

[ChickReef]

Okay, so I try to do weekly water changes but when my chamber 3 goes down just throw in some RODI water? If my chamber 1 starts to overflow is that normal or should I remove the fine floss? This is one that I use.

 

[Lavey29]

Okay, so I try to do weekly water changes but when my chamber 3 goes down just throw in some RODI water? If my chamber 1 starts to overflow is that normal or should I remove the fine floss? This is one that I use.

That seems like a good approach

 

[ChickReef]

Thank you! I’ll give it a go

 

[rmorris_14]

It’s hard to tell in the photo. Is chamber 1 and 2 water level the same?

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you! I’ll give it a go

The overflow in chamber one is letting you know its time to change floss.

 

[ElementReefer]

It’s kind of hard to explain haha. Best way is to turn off your main pump, and watch the water equalize in the whole aquarium, including the sump chambers. Then turn the pump back on, and you will see the water level in the pump chamber go down, then in the middle chamber go down, and the main display go up.

It doesn’t really matter what the water levels are as long as your system is running and your salinity is on target. If salinity is high, pour in RODI until salinity is on target.

 

[ElementReefer]

The overflow in chamber one is letting you know it’s time to change floss.

The floss looks pretty clean IMO. I let my floss get way dirtier than that and it does not impact flow rate very much.

 

[ChickReef]

It’s hard to tell in the photo. Is chamber 1 and 2 water level the same?

Chamber 1 is like 4 inches higher than chamber 2.

Chamber 2 is higher than chamber 3 by half an inch.

this sounds like a riddle lol

 

[ChickReef]

The floss looks pretty clean IMO. I let my floss get way dirtier than that and it does not impact flow rate very much.

Yeah, maybe the fine floss is too fine

 

[ScottJ]

When you do a water change, fill the display up till it just starts to flow into chamber 1. Then pour some water into chamber 2 till your heater is covered. This will give you enough water to to start the pump. As you turn on the pump, watch the water level in the chambers. The 3rd chamber will drop. Add water to the 2nd chamber till the heater is at least covered. (You don't want to have the heater dry, so you need at least that much water in #3.) The 1st chamber will find it's own level, you control the level in #3 by adding water to #1 or #2.

If you ever get an ATO system (great investment, BTW) the sensor would go into #3, at water level, and the supply would be in #1 or #2.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah, maybe the fine floss is too fine

It's possible, I use 200 micron filter socks so not sure if floss goes by the same measurements.

 

[Lavey29]

The floss looks pretty clean IMO. I let my floss get way dirtier than that and it does not impact flow rate very much.

It does look clean I just wonder how fine it is? I use 200 micron filter socks but I've had bags of chemipure blue get dirty and back up water in my sump chamber too