Baffles

[rnmahler]

Any good ideas,

I am plumbing two tanks together, one on top of the other and i want the top tank to flow into the bottom tank. The problem i have encountered in the past is the massive amount of micro bubbles that I have in the second tank. i have several failed engineering attempts.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Roger...

 

[latazyo]

when you design your system keep in mind that bubbles can only be removed from the water when its moving down, so consider adding an extra under baffle in your sump

 

[latazyo]

also, the closer the baffles are together, the faster the water moves, so when it goes from an over to an under, make that distance a little wider than when the water's going over

 

[Joshsmit56001]

It is kind of like a river, the narrower the river gets the faster the water moves, the wider it is, the slower it moves.

 

[latazyo]

right on Josh

 

[rnmahler]

Cool, In the process of building and have had some interesting, if not frustrating results when building this component.

anything better than building baffles to eliminate this problem. both tanks are display tanks (top and bottom)

 

[latazyo]

oh I thought you had a sump and a display, I didnt realize you were plumbing two displays together

thats a tough one

 

[rnmahler]

yep, that is where my struggle begins...

roger...

 

[GROSSR]

Should the first baffle be forcing the water down to the bottom or should it be like a wall forcing it up and then down?

rich

 

[latazyo]

rich,

it really doesn't matter, if you're trying to keep sand, etc in a certain compartment, i.e. a fuge section of your sump, its usually easier to have an over baffle first, so that sand, etc doesn't flow into the baffle system

but if youre just separating your skimmer section or your drain section then I would do an under OVER under set of 3 baffles....most people do over under over, why they do it that way, I dont know

 

[CoolUsername]

I agree. Under Over Under seems better to me. I haven't done any tests, but the theory makes more sense. Like Latazyo says. Bubbles are removed (filtered by their boyancy) in downflows. Making these bigger makes them more effective. Making the first baffle an under baffle makes your drain section the first and largest, AND SLOWEST downflow in your baffe system. This will make it the most effective. Going over under over removes some of this effect.

Do you have any pictures or diagrams? One thought is if you have space behind the tanks you could build something like hahnmeister put together right before the drain line into each display.

Good luck. I'll watch this one. Very curious.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=889167

 

[vdubfiend]

i added an under baffle in the first section of my fuge when i got it (it came as an over and under only) and works a bit better ime