Turning off flow to feed?

[Princess Hockey]

Alright, dumb question time! I keep trying to turn off flow to feed, and I'm struggling getting the right things turned off, so I'm hoping someone can help me figure out exactly what I need to turn off. (My fish are all small, they can't catch the food when its going around so fast.)


I have the Red Sea Max S-400, there's a decent chance that my pumps aren't labelled correctly so bear with me.

There are 2 circulation pumps on the left, in the display. There's the big pump on the right side that can't be tilted (this is where the water returns to the display from the sump, right?).

Every time I start trying to turn the pumps off, something makes a crazy sucking noise as the water level shifts around and I assume I've shut off the wrong thing. How many switches SHOULD I be turning off? 3? In the power center plug area, there are 5 things plugged in on the left side out of the 7 possible spots. I'm getting confused because there's only 5 labels on the front: return pump, #1, #2, #3, and #4. I don't have that many pumps, the S-400 only has 2 circulation pumps whereas the bigger Max S systems have more.

When I water change, I turn everything off and a bunch of water goes down into the sump and the levels get super high there. Is that the same amount of pumps that I should be turning off when I feed? I've noticed that after water changes, sometimes I have to mess with the flow valve in the back to get the water levelled out again.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

 

[DaveK]

The only thing you need to turn off is the pumps running the filtration system. That should be easy enough to find. If you have a hang on tank skimmer or reactor that gets water from the tank and not the sump, turn them off also. Circulation pumps can be left on.

 

[SPR]

I have the S 650 and you don’t need to turn any of the pumps off when you feed. You can if you want, but I never have. The fish get the food before most goes over the overflow.

The power centre is probably the same on all models so you have 2 rear circulation pumps, I have 4 and then the main return valve. The one on the right can be tilted/pointed by the way unless its got coralline algae stuck to it.

The gurgling noise occurs when you turn the main pump off as water flows into the sump via suction from the right hand nozzle above.

You just need to identify what each switch does, 3 pumps, skimmer, heater ?

When doing a water change you just need to turn the main return pump and skimmer off and heater depending on its location if unsubmerged during change. That’s it, Leave the circulation pumps on.

The down flow valve may need adjusting from time to time, but generally once it’s set just leave it alone, but to stop it ceasing up rotate it fully every month or so. I count the number of turns each way to get it back to roughly the starting position

I hope this makes sense otherwise just ask away

 

[Nobbygas]

I turn nothing off when feeding.