Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles

[Gettin'Tanked]

Needless to say, I am new to this and I have bubbles. I am in the process of setting up a 75g aga (drilled), 20g (L) sump/fuge.custome acylic skimmer, mag 9.5 return, 4 X maxi-jet 900 ph. I am using ro/di water and there are freakin bubbles everywhere. Everything is shut down except the return pump at this time and there are micro bubbles everywhere. Any suggestions? The tank has been running for two days with sg of 1.022, temp average around 78.5.

 

[benf]

when the water drains into your sump, is there a filter sock there? If not, a 25micron filter bag will help keep the bubbles from being put back into the main tank.

 

[mflamb]

Is it a wet or dry return pump?

 

[Don Lino]

mag 9.5's are submersible only and known for causing issues...Do u have that sponge filter in the front of your pump??

 

[Gettin'Tanked]

It is a submersible pump. I do believe they are coming from the drain pipe. I tried it with and without the sock filter and it is still the same. I read somewhere that the bubbles are because the equipment is new and the bubbles will dissipate after the equipment has built up some slime on it?

 

[Gettin'Tanked]

Yes I do have the sponge filter on the return pump.
I am thinking of going with a bigger pump anyway. I just don't have the flow I want with this one. I was going to wait until I had the rock and sand in it to see if it improves but if it is the pump causing the problem I will use it for water changes, mixing salt or something and get another one for the return.

 

[GreyHawk1968]

If you have a baffle just before the pump and water is spilling over it ,it will cause bubbles in the pump area. The pump picks those up and shreds them and sends them directly into the tank.
A sponge might help some but you will have to clean it several times a week to keep it from building up crud.

 

[WillWorkForFish]

check your plumbing from the pump to the tank, it could be sucking in air somewhere along the line.. causing bubbles to shoot out..

 

[Gettin'Tanked]

First off, thank you all for your help. Maybe I can buy you all a beer sometime.

GreyHawk1968,
There is a short baffle, maybe 4" tall right before the pump, but there is eggcrate above that, so I have good flow there, with no waterfall effect. As for a sponge, all I have is what came with the pump which is the black wirey block. I will try and get some picture posted tomorrow.

Pez,
If it were btwn the pump and the tank wouldn't it be leaking (pushing) water out instead of sucking air in?

 

[WillWorkForFish]

not necessarily it could be your loc-line (or whatever sort of plumbing you have up there) above your water level pulling in a little bit of air, or it could be your plumbing, down below..

Get a flashlight and turn everything off for 15 minutes or so, and let all the bubbles rise, and then turn just the return back on, and get down and hold the flashlight up to your pump intake..
See if there is little bubbles being sucked into your pump..

If theres not.. It's most likely sucking air in your return line somewhere..
I could be wrong.. but try it out..

 

[benf]

are there any pvc unions in your system? Early on with mine i had some bubbles and it turned out there was some air drawn in from the union cause the it wasnt tight enough.

 

[ReefArtist]

I had the same problem when I first hooked up my new sump for my 65g tank. I still have the problem but I now manage it. I had to do the same thing PEZBEAN has explained. I found out that it was coming from my refuge area. All kinds of micro bubbles coming from the plumbing. I can only turn the ballvalve on so that VERY little water comes in. It completely defeats the purpose for having it the way I do - but I hate micro bubbles!

 

[shibumi]

I got micro bubbles when I installed the skimmer.
They went away in a couple of days.

Can micro bubbles hurt fish?

 

[mflamb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9656440#post9656440 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shibumi
I got micro bubbles when I installed the skimmer.
They went away in a couple of days.

Can micro bubbles hurt fish?

No, bubbles typically cause excessive salt creep. Other than that, they just look bad.

 

[Gettin'Tanked]

Thank you all for your assistance. I went to my LFS today and suggested a ball valve on the return line to adjust the flow. They even GAVE me a ball valve. Of course that was after I purchased 80 lbs of Tonga liverock and 90 lbs of sand.. I will install it tomorrow and post an update, but they are certain it is due to to much flow in the sump. I am only running a 9.5 mag I guess I need bigger ph's in the display tank. I currently have four mj 900's. It hardly seems enough. I am looking into the Tunze ph's for the near future, but that will be another topic.

 

[WillWorkForFish]

the number of powerheads in your tank doesn't effect the flow going through your sump..
Only your main pump will..
Make sure when you're doing your plumbing, to use teflon tape on everything with threads, and lots of pvc glue, (purple or blue) and be sure to clean the excess glue off of the inside..

 

[mflamb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9652669#post9652669 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefArtist
I had the same problem when I first hooked up my new sump for my 65g tank. I still have the problem but I now manage it. I had to do the same thing PEZBEAN has explained. I found out that it was coming from my refuge area. All kinds of micro bubbles coming from the plumbing. I can only turn the ballvalve on so that VERY little water comes in. It completely defeats the purpose for having it the way I do - but I hate micro bubbles!

Carol, can you post a pic of your plumbing going into the refugium?

 

[ReefArtist]

Sure can Mike. The problem is within the refuge area. The bubbles come up to the surface, travel along the top of the water and then between the slots, down the side and into the pump. I have an elbow on the end of the input pipe and macro algae packed between the elbow and the water surface - the bubbles still gets through. Where I have my protein skimmer I also get bubble into the return area but have fixed it by putting my bubble reducer into a 100micron sock and then I still had to add filter stuff between the baffles (This gets checked daily - it's a must). I know that is not a smart thing to do but it was the only way to get rid of the bubbles on that side.

As always - thank you for your help .

This is a drawing looking down on the sump/refuge

This is a side view.

 

[laserjim]

I had bubble issues with a Mag 7 so I went to a Mag 3 to slow down flow, I was still having problems,After trying everything,including Traps ,socks,foam blocks,ect...I bought a Ocean runner pump.BINGO bubbles gone.Im convinced that the Mags were the cause.Every 30 seconds or so they would spit out a bunch of bubbles.

 

[Gettin'Tanked]

Today I installed a ball valve, cut back on the return flow to the display tank, and there are hardly any bubbles.

PEZBEAN,
I understand the ph's have no effect on the sump. I am looking to upgrade the ph's to compensate for the flow I lost from reducing the return flow. I hate not having the flow in the sump and will probably ditch the mag 9.5 and try another pump...
As always, everyone's help is greatly appreciated.... thanks dave