So I was wondering if your wick is actually completely damming the juice ports on the tank., That would explain what you were saying about the air transfer. And your pic of the cotton being squashed kind of supports what im thinking. So after packing under the mesh and getting the space under the deck, you need to give that baby a haircut, there is not much room in there for all that cotton. now obviously you need enough to stop the juice just pissing straight through the tank but it shouldnt come out all mangled like that when you remove the deck.