Here's my issee.. I have a waterbox 10 cube with ATO sensor in the back filtration area. My problem is , the water level will randomly go down, turning on the ATO and obviously messing things up. It has happened several times, in the middle of the night I heard it on and saw a snail on the area where water goes into the filter sock. Would this cause levels to get messed up? how do i fix this? Any suggestions would be great. Everytime I think things are going great it happens again!
Waterbox 10 ATO issues
- Thread starter tysas
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DC Reefer
Well-Known Member
Welcome to R2R. I wouldn’t think a single snail around the overflow slats would significantly reduce the flow. I have a 10 gallon cube AIO with a lot of snails and they are all over the slats. are you sure the level variation isn’t due to evaporation? If not evaporation I would let it go as long as nothing is overflowing. If it adds slightly more water than needed it will evaporate off prior to adding more if the ATO is functioning properly. You can also test salinity when it is running “correctly” to get a baseline and then test again after 1 of the episodes where it is topping off and see if it is impacting your salinity. This will confirm if it is a problem or not.
DC Reefer
Well-Known Member
That is more than I would like. For you sump area to get low the display must be getting higher. Is the only thing that could be blocking the snails? Is it a large snail(s). You could try removing them and see if it still does it. The only other thing I could think of would be your return pump putting out a lot more volume every once in a while, but I would think that would move the needle much.
I would put a piece of tape on the outside of the tank where the normal water level is for the display and then when this happens again see if the water is rising in the display. If that is the case then see what is obstructing the overflow. Sometimes over time they can get algae that will raise the water level over time, but it will usually stay that way until it is cleaned off. My AIO is a Fiji, I just looked at the cube you have and it seem a very similar design.
Final thought is could be clogged filter sock which is slowing flow down to rest of sump and rising in the filter sock chamber. I don't think this would change the volume a huge amount as the sock chamber is pretty small. Also it would continue until the sock is cleaned/changed.
Posting a picture of the tank and the overflow area could be helpful.
patrick886
Community Member
+1 on the clogged filter sock, happened to me on my cube 20. Are you using the filter sock that come with the cube?
I would suggest washing the sock more often, or change to other types of mechanical filters.
I would suggest washing the sock more often, or change to other types of mechanical filters.
I think I have solved the problem! The middle compartment of my sump, I had a bag of chemipure blue and it was really wedged in the corner where it flows to the next chamber causing level to rise in that chamber and lower in my pump Chamber. Appreciate all the help and tips!
Brewski262
Active Member
You should also move your ato sensor to the return pump chamber.. or it may be there already, wasn't very clear where that was.
fade2black
Is this thing on?
Like you have found out, this is typically a flow problem and it could happen anywhere in your sump area, not just the first chamber. Anything in the path could potentially slow down the flow and cause the level in the return chamber to drop. This is because the return pump is constant and (relatively) unchanging, so it needs to be fed a constant, steady supply of water for everything to remain stable.
