Locline causing microbubbles?

[serpentman]

I am stumped. I put in a new system in February. Since then, I have waged all out war on microbubbles. I am sad to say that I am loosing miserably. I have plumbed, replumbed and rereplumbed. I have used teflo tape on all my threaded fittings, I have silicone greased o-rings on all my unions. I have slowed the flow in my sump to a crawl and still I battle a steady stream of microbubbles. They are not the worst case, however, they are enough to drive me crazy and give my tank that semi-dusty/cloudy look.

Because I have replumbed every inch of the return line from my basement sump and the water in the return section when backlit is crystal clear, I am left scratching my head.

The only thing left I haven't explored is the lockline returns that came with the tank. Because 1/2 of the locline (about 3 knuckles) is exposed, I am wondering if they are sucking in air. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[sjames]

microbubbles from a plumbing leak would normally come from the suction side of the pump, not the return side.

 

[serpentman]

Unfortunately, I replumbed that when I did my return lines.

Staring like an idiot at my returns in the tank I noticed there is a pattern as well. A few bubbles here and there and then every 45sec there is a tiny burst of bubbles from both returns which leads me to believe its not the locline.

I wonder if its the pump (sequence wahoo) itself?

 

[sjames]

is the supply line to the pump of adequate size? any 90 deg elbows that could be causing the pump to cavitate?

 

[serpentman]

I believe so. The pump feed is 1-1/2". I haven't noticed any cavitation.