Complex plumbing help needed

[JMorris271]

Hi guys.
i was sitting in the man cave looking at this tank and all of a sudden, I hear a whissssshhh sound and see this very concentrated gush of what turned out to be micro bubbles.


Very shortly after the tank had been saturated with the bubbles it began to completely clear up


I don't get it. Please understand The pump IS 2 inches under water in the sump, there is no leaking in the pipe runs. The only thing I can think of is for some reason there is airlock developing in the piping where it goes over the back and comes back down to the lock line. But if that was the case, its seems to me it would be a slow constant glug glug glug action instead of a periodic swishing.
Any help out there with this? The fish are freaked a bit but have gotten use to it. There is nothing going in the tank but the bubbles and it is great aireation.

 

[gone fishin]

From your description and the amount of bubbles, I would speculate the return pump inlet was exposed and pulled in some air.

 

[JMorris271]

From your description and the amount of bubbles, I would speculate the return pump inlet was exposed and pulled in some air.

The happens every 3 hrs or so. The pump is well under water My ATO is doing its' job.There is enough air in those micro bubbles to displace the mass of several entire pumps. It has to be air lock. That's the only thing it could be.
If this was easy, I wouldn't be asking this in the premier reef forum in the world..

 

[garethwood]

thats a strange one? youd'e imagine if you had a leak above water level in the return plumbing that the pressure would cause a leak over sucking in air? ive only ever seen bubbles like that when the return chamber runs dry, and youve ruled that out so?....
wheres the outlet for the return in regards to tank level? i no my duckbill return can cause mini cyclones from the surface blasting air into the DT.

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[ericarenee]

I have had this happen with a pump and a busted impeller / impeller shaft.

 

[Betaktical]

You have too many bends in your plumbing. If u have 3-4 90s in a short section as the water runs through it causes it to swirl in many different directions and create turbulence inside the pvc. If you can use flex tubing for your sump or try the straightest route possible


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[JMorris271]

thats a strange one? youd'e imagine if you had a leak above water level in the return plumbing that the pressure would cause a leak over sucking in air? ive only ever seen bubbles like that when the return chamber runs dry, and youve ruled that out so?....
wheres the outlet for the return in regards to tank level? i no my duckbill return can cause mini cyclones from the surface blasting air into the DT.

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I also have that duckbill that is about an inch below level. I know that the 90 going up and over the rim may not be glued according tothe plumber. ( my wife). OK. Now to check that. It is a heck of a lot of bubble velocity for it to be that and if it was, seems like I'd be seeing constant bubble discharging