micro bubbles killin me

[jmjax14]

I have 65g w/ 20g sump. 9.5 return no fuge. a aqua clear 310 power head. There is a filter sock on my drain and i use a sea clone skimmer and i can not get rid of the BUBBLES. its killin me
my live stock is 4 turbo snails 10 hermits 3 green cromis and 1 lavander tang. tank has been up about 6 weeks skimmer in sump about a week. please HELP!

 

[six.line]

Do you have a bubble trap in the sump?

 

[jmjax14]

no how could i make one ??
i have my skimmer dumping into the filter sock to see if that would help still nothing. i know that shounds weird but i just tried.

 

[jmjax14]

can to much flow over my rocks cause them or even stir up particles??? should i position powerheads different???

 

[Avi]

If you can, place a strip of foam between the section of your sump where the skimmer's output goes and your return-pump.

 

[jmjax14]

ive done that i have foam filters in my baffels just before my return. this is killin me yall my fish are happy but im going nutz.

 

[six.line]

I could probably help a bit more if I could see your sump design. Can you take a picture, or at least could you draw up the basic design in MS Paint and post it? If you did that you could include some arrows and text and point where exactly the bubbles are being formed. If we can identify the source we can identify the solution.

 

[sjm817]

Why such a big return pump? Microbubbles are one of several problems they cause.

 

[Randall_James]

9.5 return? rather large IMO, I run a 7 on a 90G W/30G fuge. You may just be moving way to much water thru the sump and skimmer not leaving enough time for the bubbles to rise. Without a refuge I can see this being a big issue, try cutting back the return flow by 50% and see if that helps for starters

 

[Randall_James]

oops sorry SJM did not mean to restate what you had said (I was away for a few and was slow to post)

 

[deadmanh]

you can throttle down youre return pump.... use "herbie's" method of submerged overflow, make baffles in the sump, ( also remember new water has higher surface tension [from the deltec website] thus causing more bubbles than old sw.... um make sure you suck less air into your pumps... just throwing out some ideas you can look into.

 

[sttroyiii]

Are you using the foam cover that comes with the mag for the pump intake? That could help some. What kind of skimmer do you have? Have you checked to make sure its not producing bubbles? My coralife was the source for a while, then I figured how to tweak it until they were gone. Try giving us a side view of your sump in ms paint like they said, that can help a lot. It doesnt have to have dimension as long as everything is in proportion. Oh yeah, it can as long as a week for a skimmer to get broken in good. It sounds like you need to make a T off of your return to cut back how much flow is going into the main display.

 

[Riptide10]

If a simple hang on the back skimmer is the cause of this sort of situation - how do you fix it? Just try turning the flow rate down?

 

[Randall_James]

His skimmer is in sump, with so much flow through the sump however, there just is not enough dwell time for the bubbles to rise out of the water column.
Baffles, foam blocks, reef rubble can all help to correct this but they are only remedies to a different problem.
There is also an issue with the water that is reaching the skimmer being too diluted.
As proteins tend to float to the surface, a skimmer box is designed to scavenge this "top water" that is rich in dissolved organics. If there is to much flow, this water can just be remixed with good tank water and the skimmer does not get the concentrated top water that is easier to clean.

HOB should already be engineered to eliminate the bubbles out of the box. (provided it is setup to manufacture specs)

 

[Riptide10]

Well Randall I've never seen a hang on the back that didn't produce copious micro bubbles - at least until it was run in for a few weeks.

I've got a 50g with lots of micro bubbles and the only thing that could be producing them is the skimmer. I only have two powerheads and a fluval.

 

[Randall_James]

To keep thread on topic

quoted by jimjax14
skimmer in sump

his skimmer is not an HOB and I do not think this is the thread to debate the pros/cons to such devices anyway..

 

[exacta123]

yo jack whats up dog how was the golf? its all about the yellow distinctive markings. I would try cuttting down your flow the bubbles got to be comming from your sump. give me a call we will figure it out

 

[jmjax14]

thanks guys i think its the flow but even if i cut it WAY back i still get them ill post pick of sump a lill later.
Sup Dan golf was ok good front nine. back started good par on 11,12,13 14 then the beer kicked in and it went down hill thanks again yall