water clarity

[jjaroska]

i have a problem in my tank. i have a mag 9.5 for return, a maxi-jet 801 and 2 maxi-jet 301's.

i have a sleeper head goby that sifts sand and the sand is so lite that i floats up into the tank. here is my guess. the return and powerheads are creating so much flow that the sifted sand never has a chance to return to the sand bed.

help.. what can i do to correct this? if the goby and sifted sand is not he problem, then what could it be?

thanks
jjj

 

[Kreeger1]

There could be tiny holes in your plumbing glue joints you need to look for. Salt creep of any kind never a glue joint is a tell tail sign that air is being sucked in which cause tiny bubbles that could be mistaken for sand.
It's not the easiest find but if you look hard enough you'll find one or 2 that could be the issue.
Erik

 

[serpentman]

Given the pumps and your tank size, I doubt its enough flow to keep sand in the water column. It sounds like microbubbles.

I just went through that headache myself. Turned out to be a threaded fitting. As Erik mentioned, if you look hard enough, it'll turn up.

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

If you can't find the micro bubbles try taking the Goby out of your main tank for a day and see if your tank stays clear. If you can catch him, you can put the Goby in a plastic food container punched with holes and float the fish in your main tank. Punch or drill the holes from the inside towards the outside so you won't injure your fish while it's in the container.

Dave

 

[CleveYank]

isolate items in system until you find the issue

isolate items in system until you find the issue

shut off the main pump and see if it clears?
shut off the powerheads one by one and see if it clears?

leaking threads, input stream from overflow getting too close to the mag 9.5 return.
Venturi being created by the return pump (although you would hear an occasional slurp sound or sucking noise with that)

Protein skimmer, if you have one, it's output is getting pulled by the return and causing the problem.

I'm running much higher total powerhead output on a 90 gal with a DSB and I'm not having problems. So accute sand stirring without seeing it most likely is not your problem.

So Jeff and Erik are on the right direction.

Just like troubleshooting for example a GFCI trip. Isolate the problem.
You plug and unplug each item in the system that you suspect until you divide and conquer.

 

[jjaroska]

this all makes sense. i just fabricated a new return pvc structure. i did shut down the powerheads and that did not do it. i think it is a leak.

so if i just wanted to take the approach of not looking for it and sealing every joint on the new return stucture, how would i go about sealing the joints?

 

[serpentman]

Thats a good question. Sealing pin leaks in PVC can be an PITA. I have used plumbing epoxy as well as "GOOP" with some success.

Still probably easier to find the right one. If you can trap water in the lines when you shut the pump down, you should get a drip from the suspect area.

 

[CleveYank]

Can you use a piece of PVC with a valve on it attached via a hose clamp and create a little (don't turn flow completely off) backpressure and see if the pinhole that's leaking air into the system will spray a little water due to the backstream and actually locate the leak?


As far as patch work.
The headache of redoing the PVC completely over is nothing compared to a failure while you are not at home. It only takes 5 to 15 minutes for a leak that leads to a failure to put your entire tank if not just your pumps in jeopardy. You may not have gotten glue over an entire joint or cleaned it properly and the joint is weak.

PVC is not cheap, but it's not so expensive when you consider the option of livestock/pump losses.

You can do a temp fix with the plumber's epoxy that is also kneaded and used for underwater use. But seriouosly. If you cannot isolate the leak. A do over is strongly suggested.

 

[serpentman]

I agree. That is why I like to incorporate union joints at key locations. Although they might impede flow a little, it makes changes or replumbing down the road much easier because you only have to redo a section and not the whole thing.

 

[ChickenCannoneer]

If the PVC joints are glued, couldn't a layer of the blue cement be spread over all the joints to seal it or is the joint actually compromised?

 

[jjaroska]

breaking news. its not microbubbles. i shut off all powerheads and the return. when the water movement in the tank is zero, there are particulates in the water that dont move and don't rise to the surface. they just hang.

so what is it and how do i rid my tank of it?

 

[Kreeger1]

it will take a few hours for the air bubbles to go away. how long did you wait?

 

[jjaroska]

about 15 minutes the flow was zero. don't bubbles rise to the surface?

i even took the magnafying glass and looked at a few close to the glass. they are white and different sizes and not round.

still think it's bubbles?


also, i was talking to a friend of mine and we were talking about the sump and from right to left the water falls into the refugium section of the sump which has sand in it. when the water level goes down, the water falls into that section constantly stirring that sand on the right side and shoving into the water flow to the return. could this be it?

i think to fix it, all i need to do is raise the baffle between the refugium and the return sections to the level between the refugium and the input. sound right?

 

[Dtip]

If that's really the source of the problem then... do you use a prefilter on your return pump intake? If so, does taking it off make things worse in the DT? If not, does adding one make it better?

 

[jjaroska]

i did not have anything on there and i fastened on blue and white floss with rubber bands and it did not seem to make a difference.

 

[EYESEEU]

Im sure the mag 9.5 is vortexing in your sump thus sucking your air

 

[Dtip]

Easy way to tell that: fill the sump higher than normal next water change so that the pump is too submerged to pull enough air.

 

[jjaroska]

i don't think the mag is vortexing. i know what that looks and sounds like and the water has to be close to the input for that. when i first top off the water line is at least 5 or 6 inches above the pump inlet. however, my line that tells me when to fill is only about 2 or 3 inches from the pump inlet.

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

I bet it's your Goby kicking up you sandbed. Keep us posted on what you find.

Dave

 

[CleveYank]

I am beginning to think this is a seeing is believing...or that someone of knowhow that is located out by our periled reefer is probably the best way to get to the bottom of this mystery bubbles/silt/ghostly fog in the solution.

I am not real close and so far as I know do not have happen chance to be out that way any time soon or I'd assist and check it out just out of curiousity.

Partition off the sump and find a safe place away from sand to house the goby away from pump intakes and such and see if the sandstorm/bubbles go away. Just keep moving on an isolation and checking for results as your modus operandi.