bubbles from gravity fed refugium...Help!!

[jammoye2]

I just installed a 20 gallon fuge with live rock rubble and chaeto on a stand 5" higher than my display tank. The idea is to gravity feed the display tank from the fuge with plankton, pods, etc. The fuge is being fed by a mag 7 from my sump and the outflow to the display tank from the fuge is via 1" flexible tubing. The flow is good but the problem is that I have too many bubbles produced in the display tank. I am not a whiz with plumbing so I am posting here. Does anyone have a solution?

[Blown 346]

How many inches below the main tanks water level is the return line from the fuge?
The outlet might be too big, If it is easy to swap to 3/4 of an inch plumbing for the return I would, unless you have alot of flow going thru it.

Also, is the drain under the waterlevel in the fuge? If so use a 90 degree piece of PVC and have it face upwards so the water from te fuge will drain or skim over that and into the drain.

[jammoye2]

Thanks,
I was thinking about trying a smaller diameter since the water flow does not fill up the diameter of the 1" tube. I do already have the PVC pipe installed as you suggested.

[LFS_worker]

at my work we tried everything to get this to stop including sponges on the outlet!

we finally had to slow the pump down into the fuge and add a powerhead for flow. then where the drain enters the tank make it into a "J" so the flow was gentile into the tank.

good luck Ill be watching this post to see if anyone has a better idea. smaller diameter tubing did not work for us.

Brian

[moumda]

A friend of mine did this and he also had problems with micro bubbles. After the system had run for a couple of weeks the bubbles disappeared. He used 1" flexible pvc tubing for the return. Hope this happens for you.

[jammoye2]

thanks for your well wishes. for the moment i just redirected the return back into the sump which sort of defeats my objective: feed the tank directly with plankton, pods etc from the fuge. It did eliminate the bubble issue though. I wonder if the mag 7 is too powerful to deliver the water into the fuge. I also have a weaker Catilina 1800 that may be a better solution.

[Abysswater]

make a bubble box where your water is being dumped.
and put some LR rubble in there to control bubble flow.

See pic

[graveyardworm]

I've been dealing with the same problem and havent quite got it licked yet, I've been able to eliminate all but the smallest bubbles, here are some pics.





Next I'm going to extend the pipe in the tank down to the sand bed with a 90 and possibly the restrictive cap if needed.

Abyss, the bubble trap is in the left back corner?

[stugray]

The Mag 7 seems a bit excessive for the Fuge.

Also, try to get the inlet side ( in the fuge ) as close to the bottom as you can without sucking any substrate. that way you will suck more critters. Just be careful to have a siphon break near the surface in case the PH stops pumping up to the fuge.

I have built two above tank fuges ( pics of plumbing for my mangrove sump -35 Gal hex is in my gallery ).

Whenever I build an above tank fuge, I have one siphon driven return ( small diameter low in the fuge ), and one overflow ( large Diameter at the surface ) just in case the siphon gets clogged.

If you do it perfect, you can get most of the outflow to go out the siphon, and a small amount to go out through the overflow. This keeps the surface from getting slimy.

Stu

[jammoye2]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I am going to try the Catalina instead of the Mag 7 next to see if that helps. I am also thinking about putting in a union valve to restrict the gravity fed flow back into the tank.

[graveyardworm]

Originally posted by jammoye2
I am also thinking about putting in a union valve to restrict the gravity fed flow back into the tank.

I wouldnt restrict the flow out of the tank kinda like playing with fire except you'll be getting wet instead of burned. Restrict the water in instead.