BC14 - What am I doing wrong? (Flow Issues)
 

I have a BC14 and I have been doing quite a bit of research on it. from what I have read it seems as if upgrading the pump to a maxi-jet 900 is very doable. I ran the 900 with out widening the overflow from chamber 1 and I was getting a ton of micro bubbles.

last night I widened the overflow and things cleared up right away. woke up this morning and the 900 was practically running dry. the display tank was a blur of micro bubbles.

I unplugged the 900 and the sump filled up and the tank level dropped... once it settled I plugged the 900 back in and watched it suck the 3rd chamber almost dry... could I really have had that much evaporation over night? the display tank is all the way to the top. I think if there was anymore water in there it would just flow over the back and fill all 3 chambers at once. there is no surface skimming going on at the moment as the water level is over the "teeth" on the back wall.

Can anyone give me a clue as to what is going on here?

BioCube 14
Pump Upgraded to Maxi-Jet 900
Overflow widened
filter floss in chamber 1 with heater
stock sponge still in chamber 3.
Loc-Line Y on return in display.

other than saltwater and the list above the tank is empty.

Thanks,

Paul

First of all how do you have the filter floss in chamber 1?
You need to have flow thru the it and not so much filter floss in there. Have you modded the factory filter pad yet? Try that and see if it works better.
Another thing some may not want to read is the pumps are the culprits. I have a mj 600 in my display and maybe once or twice an hour it shoots micros into the tank. Maybe its the propellars or something but thats what I have observed. I have the original pump, the pump on the skimmer and the mj600 in the tank, all are putting micros in.
You can also try putting something in Ch. 2 to break the fall of the water coming from Ch.1 Some more floss or maybe some LR higher up in that chamber.

I agree with slumpysix...something is impeding your flow. If you have plenty of LR, you can safely remove the sponge from chamber 3; it tends to clog up and become a nitrate factory anyway.

If removing the sponge from chamber 3 doesn't improve your flow, try removing your filter floss and then the stock filter to see if things get better. How wide did you open up the overflow between chambers 1 and 2? I recommend opening it up 2/3 to 3/4 of the way.

Once you have your flow issues ironed out, you can top up the water in chamber 3 to eliminate splashing sounds and the attendant microbubbles.

Good luck! Let us know how you're doing.