RedSea Max Issues

[Lenny718]

Ok I recently purchased a Red Sea Max. Tank looks great but I'm having a problem with the pumps. If both are turned on I get ton's of bubbles in the tank and if only one pump is on the system works great (no bubbles), so why its it acting up when both pups are running? Water level is fine in the tank and I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out what's going on lol. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NYreefNoob]

red sea

i would suggest checking the second pump

 

[Lenny718]

Its funny you say that, If I turn one off the other is fine. I also checked for clogging in both pumps and nothing. I'm going nuts with this tank lol. Thank you for the suggestion though.

 

[crox99]

I am not familiar with your tank but why do you have 2 return pumps?

 

[Lenny718]

The tank comes with 2 pumps but at the moment I'm only running one and the skimmer. Thanks

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I think in the chamber where the pumps are the flow is too little when you have both running but when you only have 1 running the water level is ok for the GPHso either one of the other chambers has something that is slowing the flow down too much or your pumps may be too big.

 

[Lenny718]

Thanks for the help, One of the many reasons I love this site

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I had the same issue with my 12 aquapod, the water level in the pump chamber dropped too low because a bag of chemi pure was blocking the hole from the filter chamber to the return chamber, I re set the chemi pure and flow was better than ever.

 

[EmilyT]

hey lenny, i have the same tank, and hence the same problem. i find when i top it off or just add more water it goes away. just keep that water level pretty high and it will be fine. oh and when it starts blowing bubbles i always turn one pump off so i dont damage any equipment

happy reefing!
-E

 

[Lenny718]

Thanks E

 

[AriMiko43]

I am having the same issue on my newly set up 130. I found the problem to be that the water is not flowing through the media quickly enough for the pumps to stay in the water. Ex: Water flowing down clogged media, filter pads etc. start to slow down while the water in the pump chamber is pumped out quicker then water is taken in therefor the pumps start sucking in air. My fix was to clean the media and play with the overflow slider and adjust it till the water flows in good enough to keep up with the pumps. Hope that helps you out or at least gives you an idea on how to correct it.

 

[PON]

I had a similar problem on my 250 this week, I found that the carbon media was floating and slowing down the flow ing of water through the media cause the level to drop in the chamber. New carbon bags sometimes float for up to a week. Check it and push it down. Worked for me... But I'm in the hobby only a week or 2


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[masterswimmer]

I had the same issue with my 12 aquapod, the water level in the pump chamber dropped too low because a bag of chemi pure was blocking the hole from the filter chamber to the return chamber, I re set the chemi pure and flow was better than ever.

This would have been my first guess.....and you nailed it through experience. Amazing thing, experience is. And when those who are less experienced actually listen to those with experience the amount of savings in time, frustration, and money is the newfound experience for the lucky grasshopper. :lol_large

Russ

 

[ZANYMASTER]

I just used the one pump and added the Vortech.No worries about drop offs anymore.They made them too strong imo.

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

The problem is as water evaporates - the water level drops in the pump chamber.

Obviously running two pumps moves the water out of that chamber twice as fast. Running one - you'll notice the water level will rise cause the water moves slower and has more time to seep into that chamber. Its really just a matter of monitoring the pump chambers water level.

If your blowing bubbles its 90% of the time one of two causes.

A.) Pump chamber level is to low
*Resolution - Top off water or

B.) the plastic piece of the pump popped off and is sucking in air. What i've seen people (And what ive done myself) is you can use plastic pipe and make the suction tube longer so it sucks water from lower in the chamber. This allows for more fluctuation in that chamber

The other option is the Return pump mod which i am currently working on.

If you have further questions feel free to contact me

 

[Fragmented]

In the overflow is a black sponge that is about 8" long. Cut the sponge in half, and use only 1/2 of the sponge in the overflow. That allows more water in the overflow. That fixed my problm

 

[Sandyp1]

I have a Max 250 and run both pumps and a Vortech. I resolved the bubble issue by removing all of the foam in the first chamber and use 2 bags of Chemipure Elite and a bag of Phosban. I change the filterpad about every 3 days and have no problem with micro bubbles at all. I keep the overflow slider pretty high and the water level ot the topmost marker.It is true that strictly carbon will float and somewhat block the chamber, but I find the Chemipure not only works better, but is heavier and wont float. My issue with the tank was the skimmer. Ive gone through 2 pumps and got completely fed up. I replaced it with a Euroreef skimmer and it works great ! Initially that was letting out micro bubbles, but once it broke in, it was fine. Hope this helps.

 

[Master Shake]

we had this same problem with the one we have in the store i work at, it was a problem with the skimmer sending bubbles over to the pump side