sump baffles

[IronMan72]

Mine are 1" apart (OUO) in a 29G center return configuration. The flow rate is about 400GPH. The drop after the last over varies between 2" to 5". I used to get quite a few bubbles in the return but placed a 45 degree elbow at the bottom of the drain line and directed it away from the baffles. This has mostly eliminated the bubbles in the return as they have a chance to rise to the top before being drawn through the bubble trap. I would consider 4 baffles (OUOU) spaced at 1" or three (OUO) spaced further if I had a higher flow rate.

 

[magdelan]

Fwiw: my 40g long sump drained into a filter bag, then went through a series of four baffels... OUOU. They were spaced one inch apart. I don't know how to determine how many gph were moving through there, but I used a 1200gph return pump that had about 4' of head pressure then drained through two 1 1/2 inch drains. I still had micro bubbles in my display. I think it was too much flow though the sump. There wasn't enough time for those bubbles to work there way through. Gl.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Can you clarify? Is 1" good? Or are you advocating larger gaps between the baffles? Thanks!

Larger gaps are better. With 1" gaps, the very small bubbles aren't buoyant enough. They get sucked down and under the baffle.

Zactly.

It really depends on how fast the water is moving and how wide the sump is. I had a eheim 1262 for a return pump with 1" space between baffles in my 29g sump and I consistently had micro bubbles.

Now I use a blueline 55 from my 75g basement sump and I have....

literally just had to get up and go look at it...

I go under-over, wide open space, over-under-over. 2" between my first under-over, about 16" of open space in between for air to escape, then 4" between the next over-under, and 2" between the last under-over.

Here's a pic.

Here's what my microbubble machine looked like. Looks like I had less than an inch between.