Swiftech MCP655-B and Apogee XT Problem - Please help

[guku01]

Good morning,
I've put together a few water cooling systems for friends but I am in no way an expert. Now that that is out of the way...
I recently purchased the following parts:
MCP655-B pump
Apogee XT (with AM2 bracket kit)
MCR220 Radiator
Heatkiller GPU-X for 5870
Tygon R-3603 tubing
XSPC single 5.25 bay Reservoir

Maybe I purchased something that doesn't go well with each other but after several weeks of research, this is what i settled on.

Here is my setup:
Pump out - CPU block In, CPU block out to GPU block in, GPU block out to radiator, radiator to reservoir, reservoir out to pump in.

I primed the pump and filled as much of the system as possible (with Fesser one cooling fluid, more on that later) but my problem was the pump couldn't push enough liquid to fill up 1/2 of the tubes. There was a complete loop but the pressure was so low that in some areas of the tube the water was but a trickle.

I took apart the system started to troubleshoot. I first went from the pump straight to the reservoir and back to the pump and it seemed to be pumping ok. Not nearly as strong as I assumed considering it was only a small loop and 2 feet of tubing but the water was flowing rather well. I then added the CPU block to the loop and found my problem. The CPU block seems to provide too much resistance. I took apart the CPU block and found just a little bit of gunk inside the fins of the Apogee XT. It was blue and I assume it’s from the fesser one. Now I know this isn’t helping things but its only on about 5 of the pins (out the what looks like 100+ microfins) but can’t figure it is causing this much resistance. I cleaned out the pump reservoir and lines with distilled water and ran the loop with just those same things. The flow is just a bit better but still not nearly as strong as I assumed. I think I’m going to run just distilled water with PT nuke instead.
My questions are:
Is this flow issue normal?
Is there something wrong with the pump or the Apogee XT?
Should I stop using the fesser one and switch to distilled water and PT nuke?
Is it ok to have sections of the tubing where there is air with just the water trickling by? I assumed the entire thing would need to be completely filled for best cooling performance. I let the system run for 3 hours while watching TV and the water level in the reservoir didn’t decrease.
What is the maximum amount of tubing I should be using with the MCP655? I bought (what I thought) to be a powerful pump and can’t imagine having too much tubing or stops in the loop. I have a Antec 1200 case. I mounted the pump in the front bottom of the case on a shelf the case came with. I put the reservoir in one of the 5.25 drive bays about ¾ of the way up the case. I was planning on mounting the radiator onto the back of the case (on the outside) with gutted 120mm fans as a fan shroud. I figure total tubing needed would be about 10 feet. Is that too much?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide
Sean

[gabe]