Filtered my grande, now this.

[Joe Bruno]

So I filtered my grande and I was about a cup low afterwards, so I added some distilled water. What happened? Do I need to add some surfactant ? I can't think of what else might be off. 

[Metallica Man Trevor]

You’ll probably have to add salt, or something. Adding the water threw the lamp off. That’s my guess... others that tinker with lamps more might know more. 

[Dan Curb]

I am not a master tinkerer, but wouldn’t add surfactant until you get a decent rise out of the lamp. I’d slowly mix in some epsom salt saturated DISTILLED water, very slowly. If you get some rise out of the center of the lamp, you’re on the right track. I have played with over adding surfactant for fun. It is much harder to get surfactant out than if you accidentally overshoot the specific gravity. That sucks too, since you have to guess how much to take out and put back in. Once you add too much surfactant it compromises the integrity of the wax. Never a good thing. Again, I am not as pro as a lot of people on here and these are just my personal experiences. I am also researching PG usage since I read an article that said it reduces the melting point of wax. I have not confirmed this, but it sounded promising enough to investigate. I also tried balancing a lamp with just PG and zero epsom water. I accomplished motion, but not before the huge amount of PG closed the water. Good experiment. Good data. Bad result. 

[Nick Stefanisko]

I've only experimented once. But yes you need epsom salt water. It may only need a few drops, The balance is very sensitive. But you do have to dissolve about 100 grams of epsom salt into 1 cup of distilled water at room temperature, completely dissolved, no crystals. You are going to make way more saltwater than you actually need, but you need volume to dissolve the salt properly. Use a straw to transfer a couple of drops at a time. Wait about half an hour between adjustments.

I've also found that on an 11in lamp 4 drops of clear dish liquid worked for me. I would expect a grande would need more, but that may not be true.

Ultimately I was able to replace the liquid in a fully clouded, practically opaque, lamp and it worked. But then I botched the cap replacement and broke the vase. It took a few hours of salinating/desalinating to get the mix right. Just be real careful with the cap.

[Joe Bruno]

 flowing far better today. Perhaps I just need a bit of patience and a couple cycles after being disturbed

[Dan Curb]

Hell ya Joe! Stoked for you. I often find that running stubborn lamps “hot” helps a lot

[Joe Bruno]

I'll check back in in a few more days and let everyone know how it's going. 

[Mr MaGoo]

Very nice bro,grats on all the hard work!