microbubbles!!

[parkpark]

these microbubbles wont go away, I've been waiting for my plumbing to "age" but its been about a month since I started the sump, it seems like the water coming down from the drain pipe just explodes into the sump, the way its set up the drain (spa-flex) is almost vertical coming into the sump, should i make a few holes in the spa-flex after its in the sump to make the water just flow in calmer?

[Spideybry]

I have been having some problems similiar to this. I will be looking forward to answers. Park Park, have you tried moving your pump so the water isn't falling near it?

[ludnix]

I set my drains up in the same way in had problems too. We solved this by using a filter sock on the drains. Now there's no microbubbles to be seen.

[Tswifty]

A picture of your sump would help out a lot.

[FishDad2]

Filter socks can really help...just be sure to get a few extra socks, as you'll need to clean them relatively frequently.

But to offer real guidance, as Tswifty8 says, a picture would really help.

[parkpark]

trying to get a picture, I cant put it on here, I've loaded it into my gallery though

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by parkpark
trying to get a picture, I cant put it on here, I've loaded it into my gallery though

much easier and better if you join www.photobucket.com
upload your pictures there----its free
under each uploaded pic are 4 codes
copy and post the 4th code the "img" code into your posts on RC
when you submit the post the code changes to the pic

[laud]

Check out my thread. See if this adds any light to your problem.

my bubble trouble

[parkpark]

thanks for the advice, is it just me or is it rediculously hard to get pics on here, whats wrong with jpg?

[nmbeg]

filter socks worked for me.

the other problem for me was too much flow in the sump... consider that too.

[Tswifty]

Here's your sump pic

[Tswifty]

That's a pretty good sump layout... couple of questions though:

No skimmer?

I would add macro algae, such as cheato in the middle section and a simple clip on light... the cheato will also help trap micro bubbles that could be traveling across the middle section.

I'm guessing from the pic, this is a picture of your sump once the power has been cut? How high is the water level in the various compartments during normal operation?

[Tswifty]

and a simple fix may be running a filter sock on your intake.

[parkpark]

wow, thanks for the pic

this picture was taken right after setup, the fuge in the middle is full of chaeto now and does trap some bubbles, I have since put an elbow on the end of the spaflex to point the flow down into the live rock, I made the sump myself (put in baffles) and was rather poorly designed if I say so myself in that the baffles are all too short, (I wasnt sure how much would flow into the tank when the power was off so better safe than sorry) the water level you see is the pump turned off, this is the most amount of water you can have in it to have the sump working efficiently (meaning a small overflow from the last baffle to return chamber) even if i fill it up a lot more there are still tons of bubbles, no skimmer yet, I usually have my 'homemade' filter on (plastic netting a rubberband and some filter floss, maybe some carbon), this does nothing for the bubbles

[parkpark]

ha ha, nice chaeto, yeah im going to try the filter sock

[Playa-1]

How much flow do you have going through the sump ?

[parkpark]

im not sure, the pump came with my tank I thought she said it was 900gph, but it kind of feels like more..........

[parkpark]

though I'd let you know my mandarin just had a wild ride as I found him in the fuge! fortunately there wasn't a filter on the end, it was just open, he looks pretty traumatized but still swimming around a little, hopefully ok

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by parkpark
though I'd let you know my mandarin just had a wild ride as I found him in the fuge! fortunately there wasn't a filter on the end, it was just open, he looks pretty traumatized but still swimming around a little, hopefully ok

I would let the mandarine stay in there until you can establish your fuge enough to supply it with the necessary copopods it needs to live on. In the fuge it will definetly get some.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Playa-1
How much flow do you have going through the sump ?

that looks like a 2 inch gravity fed drain line so it should be 600-900 gph
I would t it off and run one line to the sump and one line to the fuge with separate ball valves to control the flow

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by parkpark
thanks for the advice, is it just me or is it rediculously hard to get pics on here, whats wrong with jpg?

have you tried the www.photobucket.com yet. Extremely low learning curve with it, you shouldn't have a problem. but try it and we will coach you through it if you need the help

[Tswifty]

As capn said, photobucket is much easier to use. Upload your pics then just copy and paste the circled line of code into your posts.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Tswifty8
As capn said, photobucket is much easier to use. Upload your pics then just copy and paste the circled line of code into your posts.

you are getting quite adept at the prints screen function and editing features of Power Point
You should look into teaching

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by parkpark
wow, thanks for the pic

this picture was taken right after setup, the fuge in the middle is full of chaeto now and does trap some bubbles, I have since put an elbow on the end of the spaflex to point the flow down into the live rock, I made the sump myself (put in baffles) and was rather poorly designed if I say so myself in that the baffles are all too short, (I wasnt sure how much would flow into the tank when the power was off so better safe than sorry) the water level you see is the pump turned off, this is the most amount of water you can have in it to have the sump working efficiently (meaning a small overflow from the last baffle to return chamber) even if i fill it up a lot more there are still tons of bubbles, no skimmer yet, I usually have my 'homemade' filter on (plastic netting a rubberband and some filter floss, maybe some carbon), this does nothing for the bubbles

another fix would be to take an afternoon and redo all the baffles in the sump, now that you know how much extra room you have.

Also, since you don't have a protein skimmer section, I would suggest a layout like this. You can create a simple bubble tower and fillit with live rock which will prevent bubbles from entering the sump. Also this will allow you to utilize a much larger refugium area.

Here was the before:



Here was the after:

[Tswifty]

Here's a link to the bubble tower I built:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1374231

I removed the bubble trap (3 baffles) in the second picture, because the bubble tower was so effective I no longer needed them. I only needed a baffle to keep the cheato out of the return pump section.