CPR Bak-Pak Protein Skimmer Micro bubbles Problem!!

[MyReefMonkey]

I have a bad micro bubble problem with my CPR Bak-Pak Protein skimmer. I have a Rio 800 pump on it for my 29 gallon reef. The micro bubbles are driving me crazy. I had a maxi-jet 1200 but hated that so i got the Rio 800. The Rio has been on my skimmer for about 2 weeks and still no sign of decreasing micro bubbles. I can't afford to buy a whole new better skimmer. So any suggestions would be great! Please help, Thanks -Chris

 

[Ludecrasher]

I'm in the same boat with my Tunze 9004. Tons of micro bubbles and its been 2 weeks! Or close to it. I didn't get any responses so will tag along to see if anyone helps u out.

 

[MyReefMonkey]

I'm in the same boat with my Tunze 9004. Tons of micro bubbles and its been 2 weeks! Or close to it. I didn't get any responses so will tag along to see if anyone helps u out.

Alright thanks

 

[cobra9]

It will seem counterintuative, but I added better air draw to reduce the micro bubbles I got from my back pack. What I found was that if the air draw was not enough there was too much water flow. To test this try sticking a air line in the hole that the pump sucks water from. After I did this and it worked I made a small home made venturi with 1/2 PVC and some air line.

 

[MyReefMonkey]

It will seem counterintuative, but I added better air draw to reduce the micro bubbles I got from my back pack. What I found was that if the air draw was not enough there was too much water flow. To test this try sticking a air line in the hole that the pump sucks water from. After I did this and it worked I made a small home made venturi with 1/2 PVC and some air line.

So because there is too much flow i am getting micro bubbles in the display? Should i just adjust it so that i get enough flow and bubbles? Even though its really hard to get to that point on a CPR bak pak.. Or maybe a sponge may work.

 

[howaboutme]

How long have you had it? Has it been out of water recently and for how long?

I have a bak pak2 on a 29G. The microbubbles come and go. They are there when the skimmer is breaking in. This includes if you buy it used as anytime it's out of water for extended periods of time, it will go through another breaking in process. This went away for me in approx 2 weeks. Now, the only time microbubbles are there is right after I turn it back on from a water change. It gets back to normal pretty fast after that.

I have the Accela pump and modded the air vent w/ a muffler to have it opened entirely w/o getting too loud.

Other thoughts is to angle the outlet pipe slightly so that half of the pipe is above the water line. This is suggested by CPR on their youtube tips page. I didn't do this because I didn't want to extra noise of the water splashing. My outlet is submerged.

Hope this helps.

 

[MyReefMonkey]

How long have you had it? Has it been out of water recently and for how long?

I have a bak pak2 on a 29G. The microbubbles come and go. They are there when the skimmer is breaking in. This includes if you buy it used as anytime it's out of water for extended periods of time, it will go through another breaking in process. This went away for me in approx 2 weeks. Now, the only time microbubbles are there is right after I turn it back on from a water change. It gets back to normal pretty fast after that.

I have the Accela pump and modded the air vent w/ a muffler to have it opened entirely w/o getting too loud.

Other thoughts is to angle the outlet pipe slightly so that half of the pipe is above the water line. This is suggested by CPR on their youtube tips page. I didn't do this because I didn't want to extra noise of the water splashing. My outlet is submerged.

Hope this helps.

I have had the skimmer with the Rio 800 on it for about 2 or 3 weeks. I got it used. No it hasn't been out of water for a long time besides before i bought it. Can you show some pics of your pump and the air intake area? That would be really helpful. Also, i have heard about positioning the outlet pipe but i don't want more noise as the tank is in my room. Also the water would splash all over my light. I'll try opening the air intake tube all the way with a silencer. Thanks

 

[howaboutme]

Here's a pic of the mod:



Take a pill bottle (I got it free from CVS, just ask) and drill 1 hole on the bottom and 1 hole in the cap. (I'd get a few because it's easy to crack the bottle while drilling.) Then I took new black (it's better against algae) tubing that is much longer than what it came with and attached it to the pump and to the bottom of the pill bottle. The longer the tube, the quieter it should be, at least that's what I've read and it kind of makes sense to me. Then take a shorter tube and insert it on the cap side. Pull both tubes all the way into the pill bottle. Lastly, as an option, you can put some cotton balls in the bottle to help dampen the noise.

With this mod, you don't need the air adjustment anymore. For skimmers, especially HOBs, you want to open the air ways all the way to get the most out of your skimmer.

 

[TY31088]

It will seem counterintuative, but I added better air draw to reduce the micro bubbles I got from my back pack. What I found was that if the air draw was not enough there was too much water flow.

I noticed this with mine too. Too much water flow carries the bubbles along.

To adjust mine I shine a flash up through the bottom of the chamber that holds the collection cup (I'll call this chamber #1). Start with the air flow at minimum, this will flush all the bubbles out. Increase the air flow and watch the bubbles at the bottom of chamber #1, as you increase the air flow the water flow will decrease. Find a balance where the bubbles come almost to the bottom of chamber #1 but then flow back up instead of being swept into chamber #2. Sometimes I have to start with the air flow at max and work down. But the key for me is watching the bubbles to make sure they don't get in the second chamber.

I haven't made any mods to mine.

 

[TY31088]

Here's a pic of the mod:



Take a pill bottle (I got it free from CVS, just ask) and drill 1 hole on the bottom and 1 hole in the cap. (I'd get a few because it's easy to crack the bottle while drilling.) Then I took new black (it's better against algae) tubing that is much longer than what it came with and attached it to the pump and to the bottom of the pill bottle. The longer the tube, the quieter it should be, at least that's what I've read and it kind of makes sense to me. Then take a shorter tube and insert it on the cap side. Pull both tubes all the way into the pill bottle. Lastly, as an option, you can put some cotton balls in the bottle to help dampen the noise.

With this mod, you don't need the air adjustment anymore. For skimmers, especially HOBs, you want to open the air ways all the way to get the most out of your skimmer.

Interesting. So you more/less run it wide open all the time? No tweaking?

 

[howaboutme]

Interesting. So you more/less run it wide open all the time? No tweaking?

Yep. You want as much air as possible for best efficiency. But if you don't mod it, it's super loud. With this mod, the main noise will be the pump and the vibrations. Not much you can do about that though.

 

[MyReefMonkey]

Here's a pic of the mod:



Take a pill bottle (I got it free from CVS, just ask) and drill 1 hole on the bottom and 1 hole in the cap. (I'd get a few because it's easy to crack the bottle while drilling.) Then I took new black (it's better against algae) tubing that is much longer than what it came with and attached it to the pump and to the bottom of the pill bottle. The longer the tube, the quieter it should be, at least that's what I've read and it kind of makes sense to me. Then take a shorter tube and insert it on the cap side. Pull both tubes all the way into the pill bottle. Lastly, as an option, you can put some cotton balls in the bottle to help dampen the noise.

With this mod, you don't need the air adjustment anymore. For skimmers, especially HOBs, you want to open the air ways all the way to get the most out of your skimmer.

Thanks so much for your help and thank you to everyone else too! I did not mod mine but i used an air line tubing that came with the Rio 800 that already had on a little silencer, so no more tweaking for me finally! Also the micro bubbles reduced drastically and i have very little at all. Thanks again for all your help! -Chris