Closed Loop Bubbles! Help!

[chocolateblnt]

I installed this closed loop after seeing melev's 29 gallon closed-loop ... and the magical part of it was that I was supposed to be able to prime the pump by pouring water where the cap unscrews .... I tried that and it didn't work ... it sounds like my pump still has trapped air in it?! What can I do ...

http://www.melevsreef.com/closedloop.html <- Melev's CL

My CL...

 

[reefinnewb]

If there is air stuck in there, give the pump a couple taps and see if it willl break the bubble loose. Also make sure you dont have a leak somewhere, air could be getting into your line.

 

[James11]

what pump are you running for your closed loop?

 

[redvipe2010]

Did you let the pump run for a little while? When I started mine up the first time it took about 10 minutes for all the air to get out, then it was fine.

 

[AIMFish]

The fitting in this picture seems odd to me, it looks like the pipe is just sitting on that grey adapter. If that's the one that came with the Quiet One it's not made for attaching PVC and this is probably where your bubbles are coming from. I would come off the pump with a threaded to slip PVC fitting, then use a union fitting, and then go back to the pipe. Oh, glue it all together well.

Oh and if you are using the other adapter on the input, change that too!

 

[oddiseus]

whats the black thing just before the end cap in the first picture?

 

[chocolateblnt]

Well there were multiple things wrong ... that got figured out on multiple forums

1.) Intake in overflow wasn't long enough and was sucking up bubbles which the pump chopped into thousands of microbubbles; I plan on still trying to keep my intake in the overflow but bring the pipe as far down where bubbles don't seem to exist.

2.) The pump never properly primed itself and was always making airy churning noises

The pump is a Q1 3000 ... which I shipped back to Drs. F & S and got a Mag 7 which is supposed to come tomm. I let the pump run over night and the bubbles were still present because of the problems I listed above.

Aimfish: The PVC was sealed with PVC cement to those grey adapters which weren't threaded and only barbed at the end. I spent a liberal amount of cement and time making sure it was a very tight fit and actually had to sand down the inside of the PVC to get it on super tight. The new Mag 7 will require 1/2" to 3/4" bushings according to Melev.

http://www.melevsreef.com/closedloop.html

Oddiseus: That is the nipple adapter which is threaded on both sides so you can screw the priming cap on.

Thanks for all your help I will post tomm. as to how the new CL w/ Mag 7 works out!