The first thing I do when having a tension problem like that is to rethread the machine, and be sure I'm threading it correctly.
I went through a lot of needles trying to FMQ. People around me were recommending size 12 needles and I did much better (fewer needles broken) with 14 or 16 size needles. Others on this board have pointed to a web site that matches the thread size to the needle size needed.