Purpose of a bubble plate?

[dainironfoot]

Hi guys, I just got an Octopus NW110 for my 46 gallon tank and was wondering if I should make a bubble plate for it. I'm pretty good with Acrylic and was wondering if it's purpose was to just diffuse the microbubbles more or what. Also what size are the holes in the plate....3/16" or so? Thanx a lot,

-Tony

 

[Entropy]

I think it is supposed to lessen the turbulence and make it easier for the proteins to stick to the bubbles as they head upward. I am not sure if I buy the idea personally, because IME any obstruction to the bubble path tends to reduce the amount of bubbles. The only actual model I have seen is the Octopus Extreme 200 Protein Skimmer and the holes look about 1/4" so you might be correct. You could probably try a few different designs since I think you could use very thin acrlyic sheet stock to build from.