Micro bubbles and my ugly tank

[Saadatski]

I am seriously about to explode because of these bubbles. I installed a bubble diffuser into the sump, but i still get alot of bubbles form the overflow into the sump. I dont know what it is, but it is very annoying.

I ordered a filter sock on BRS and it did absolutely nothing. Its also not my skimmer cause when i shut it off, same amount of bubbles...

Suggestions?

[jgsteven]

Your tagline says 'in the process'. If its a new tank, let it settle in for a while. I've had tanks that had a ton of microbubbles in the beginning settle down to none in 3-4 week (of course, this is with a new protein skimmer, so your mileage may vary)

[Saadatski]

well my tank has been up for about 3 weeks now, and the skimmer was broken in for a long time because it was on the old tank.

[mal7887]

I had a similar bubble issue and a gushing noise that drove me completely crazy. So my fix was relatively simple. I took a small rubber hose (that happened to come from a snorkel) and attached it to a short PVC pipe that has many holes drilled through it. The pipe is long enough so that the end is submerged completely in water. May sound silly but it does the trick! This resolved both issues I was having no more gushin’ and no more bubbles. I can take a picture to show you what I did if you like.

[salty joe]

Yes, please post a picture.

[mal7887]

Before...



After...






It does the trick for me.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by mal7843

Before...



After...






It does the trick for me.

Be sure and clean that thing OFTEN...looks like a flood waiting to happen. You should never restrict your drain

[mal7887]

I've had it like that for about a year and a half no issues yet. I'll keep an eye on it.

[Saadatski]

i thought that the holes would make more bubbles in the tank??? i guess im wrong. Well i can really do that because my drain is cemented in and its not an option to cut it and take it apart. Any other ideas?

[NanoReefWanabe]

you have not told us anything about your setup, so help will be hard to come by..

reduce your flow...i assume you are using a durso drain pipe or similar style pipe mixing air and water together...at too much flow this will make it seem like the water is boiling in the sump with bubbles, these large bubbles get sucked into the return pump and turned into a million micro bubbles...only way to fix it is laminar flow which is achieved by reducing the flow...depending on the size of your drain pipe you may have to reduce flow to 100 or so GPH to eliminate the bubbles..my old tank had a single 1.5" drain and the most flow i could get was about 300gph before the flow was too much and it started to bubble in the sump...

could also be you have a leak in your return line causing mirco bubbles in the display...a small enough leak will draw in air but not leak water...

anyway this is all just guessing until you tell us more about your drain and return setup..

[Psirex]

is it possible to put a sponge or something where the overflow/water comes in to 'break its fall'?

[Saadatski]

well i have a 1" drain, and yes, it does look like water is boiling in my sump. I do reduce the flow because of my poor sump, and if i lower the flow even more it will be ridiculously slow and will give me about 10 turnovers an hour...

[NanoReefWanabe]

Originally Posted by Saadatski

well i have a 1" drain, and yes, it does look like water is boiling in my sump. I do reduce the flow because of my poor sump, and if i lower the flow even more it will be ridiculously slow and will give me about 10 turnovers an hour...

well there is your answer...turn your flow to your sump down...obviously way down...1" drain will flow laminar at about 150gph...any more then that and the air will mix with the water and you get bubbles and boiling...

it sucks to turn the flow down so much but there is the rub, durso drain systems suck too...the ONLY way to fix your drain is to implement a bean or herbie system OR to turn the flow WAY down..otherwise you have to live with the bubbles...

[Saadatski]

humm, but my drain is rated for 750gph, and i am barely using 500gph. i dont think you are supposed to turn down the flow to 150, i mean that is ridiculously slow.

Those herbie overflows, do they also stop draining when i shut off the pump like durso?

[NanoReefWanabe]

Originally Posted by Saadatski

humm, but my drain is rated for 750gph, and i am barely using 500gph. i dont think you are supposed to turn down the flow to 150, i mean that is ridiculously slow.

Those herbie overflows, do they also stop draining when i shut off the pump like durso?

yes herbie and bean both stop draining when the pumps are shut off...they stop draining when the water level hits the top of the siphon line...how much water drains down is dependent on how big your overflow box is and how low your siphon line is in the box...

your above statement makes me think you are using a HOB "U" tube style overflow box, which unfortunately cannot implement the bean or herbie drain systems...you need to have a drilled tank with an overflow box..

the rating on your overflow is a little misleading...though the 1" drain will likely be able to drain 750gph...it will certainly not do it quietly...unless you make it so the drain line is in full siphon...at which point it will empty the overflow box too quickly, and kinda trigger a power out situation where the box will have to refill and restart the siphon, at some point the siphon will fail to restart and you will end up with a flood...

and yes 150gph is ridiculously slow...but it is what it is...you cant cheat physics, anymore flow then that and the water is no longer laminar (traveling only along the walls of the pipes) and it will mix with the air in the pipe...this creates turbulence and noise and the end result is bubbles...all the cockamamie contraptions out there said to make air water drain pipes on our tanks silent are nothing but snake oil...there is only two ways to make it silent...dont allow the air to mix with the water (laminar flow), or dont allow any air at all (full siphon).

[md ca]

I have horrible micro bubbles. The sump I was using had removable baffles -- they were installed in reverse. The short one with the space below it was first and the taller one was second. I reversed them, put a sponge between them and all my bubble problems were solved.

The tank also had a 1" drain.

[Uncle Salty 05]

If the fitting on your bulkhead to your return is not tight it will suck air and blast it into your tank.
Try taking some silicone and seal that connection.

[lilalove]

I had a huge microbubble problem as well. Even placing a sponge pre-filter on the pump intake didn't help. My sump is set up this way: fuge>return

[lilalove]

Let's try again. For some reason it's not taking my full post.

I had a huge microbubble problem as well. Even placing a sponge pre-filter on the pump intake didn't help. My sump is set up this way: fuge>return

[lilalove]

Nope, still not working.

Anyway, as I was trying to say, the majority of the flow is through the skimmer section, so I basically turned the pump intake the other way to face the 'fuge, and voila! No more micro bubbles.

[Saadatski]

Originally Posted by NanoReefWanabe

yes herbie and bean both stop draining when the pumps are shut off...they stop draining when the water level hits the top of the siphon line...how much water drains down is dependent on how big your overflow box is and how low your siphon line is in the box...

your above statement makes me think you are using a HOB "U" tube style overflow box, which unfortunately cannot implement the bean or herbie drain systems...you need to have a drilled tank with an overflow box..

the rating on your overflow is a little misleading...though the 1" drain will likely be able to drain 750gph...it will certainly not do it quietly...unless you make it so the drain line is in full siphon...at which point it will empty the overflow box too quickly, and kinda trigger a power out situation where the box will have to refill and restart the siphon, at some point the siphon will fail to restart and you will end up with a flood...

and yes 150gph is ridiculously slow...but it is what it is...you cant cheat physics, anymore flow then that and the water is no longer laminar (traveling only along the walls of the pipes) and it will mix with the air in the pipe...this creates turbulence and noise and the end result is bubbles...all the cockamamie contraptions out there said to make air water drain pipes on our tanks silent are nothing but snake oil...there is only two ways to make it silent...dont allow the air to mix with the water (laminar flow), or dont allow any air at all (full siphon).

Sorry i wasnt clear on what i have. I have a 75g Marineland RR system drilled with a cornerflo overflow.

I wan more information on this Herbie style setup, and please give me a link to where i can read it. But do me a favor and not give me a very long thread with too much info that i cant read it all.

[Palting]

Originally Posted by NanoReefWanabe

well there is your answer...turn your flow to your sump down...obviously way down...1" drain will flow laminar at about 150gph...any more then that and the air will mix with the water and you get bubbles and boiling...

it sucks to turn the flow down so much but there is the rub, durso drain systems suck too...the ONLY way to fix your drain is to implement a bean or herbie system OR to turn the flow WAY down..otherwise you have to live with the bubbles...

Originally Posted by Saadatski

well i have a 1" drain, and yes, it does look like water is boiling in my sump. I do reduce the flow because of my poor sump, and if i lower the flow even more it will be ridiculously slow and will give me about 10 turnovers an hour...

Originally Posted by Saadatski

Sorry i wasnt clear on what i have. I have a 75g Marineland RR system drilled with a cornerflo overflow.

I wan more information on this Herbie style setup, and please give me a link to where i can read it. But do me a favor and not give me a very long thread with too much info that i cant read it all.

A herbie or beanimal drain should both quiet and decrease micro-bubble production, but it can be a major DIY with your set-up and requires some reading to understand. OTOH, I've read through your whole thread, and I have to tell you there is probably something wrong with your sump set-up, and that your durso drains are just fine and are not the problem. I had a 110 with a single corner overflow running at 700 gph with NO microbubbles in the return I currently have a 150 gal with twin corner overflows with a return pump going at about 1100 gph and also NO bubbles in the return. Now, the water does bubble and boil when it first hits the drain area in the sump, but all the bubbles are gone by the time the water reaches the return area of the sump.

So, what that tells me is there is something wrong with your sump set-up, NOT your drains.

Now, show us a pic of how your sump is set-up, and what this "bubble diffuser" is that you placed. We can probably figure out what's wrong with your sump if you show a pic. Or, you can go ahead and start on a herbie/beanimal system.