YAY IM all done.....

[Nu2SW]

Well I am pretty much All done..... The reason I say that is because of one question I have for you guys.....

When the water falls back into my tank, I get lots of little bubbles when the water falls back into my tank.

Are really small bubles bad for fish or is it nothing to worry about.. Ill include a link to a video I took with my digital camera.

the video...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zQR5NP5LP-0

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

There are three problems that I am aware of with the bubbles.
1. When they pop they cause salt spray that causes lots of salt creep.
2. The take away for the esthetic appearance of the tank (crystal clear water looks nicer)
3. They reduce the amount of light that reaches the photosynthetic livestock in the tank. This is particularly a problem if there are lots of small bubbles floating about.

 

[TotalKhaos]

Micro bubbles - Common Problem. I think everyone who has ever set up a sump has had to troubleshoot that problem.

There are a number of easy solutions that I was able to employ, now my tank is micro bubble free... (most the time )

However it looks like you have your sump draining to the tank rather than your tank draining to your sump... So some of the fixes I used probably wont work for you. Thing is most people dont have to worry about how much bubbles their drain makes, only the return.

I know I havent been much help here, hopefully someone else will have some good ideas on how to eliminate the bubbles in your tank.

 

[TotalKhaos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7163382#post7163382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CaliforniaDreamer
There are three problems that I am aware of with the bubbles.
1. When they pop they cause salt spray that causes lots of salt creep.
2. The take away for the esthetic appearance of the tank (crystal clear water looks nicer)
3. They reduce the amount of light that reaches the photosynthetic livestock in the tank. This is particularly a problem if there are lots of small bubbles floating about.

to add to the list:

If you have alot of bubbles they will find little crevices under your rocks and make little air pockets. I know this from personal experience when I managed to suck air through my return while messing around in sump.

also, my corals didnt react to well to the breeze... they werent harmed but they certainly didnt appreciate it.

 

[Nu2SW]

Well what im thinking of doing and probably will. is drain out the water in the 20g take the skimmer and filer out and the rock. Ill hold the shelf its on and my wife will take some of the stoppers from the others shelf and place them about 9 inches or so below the top shelf and then ill lower the shelf down and see if that helps....

the theory behind that..... Less travel time down the pipe for the water to fall, so it will not gain as much speed and hit the water as fast, thus reducing bubbles....

OR am I just krazy????

LOL

thanks for the info guys,

 

[TotalKhaos]

Hey That is a good idea, I think You'll still have bubbles but certainly an improvement. Let us know how it works.

 

[Nu2SW]

I had my rio 1100+ hooked up which is rated at 398 gph, so it was probably pushing 350 and It was producing WAY more bubbles. So i hooked up my rio 600 and taadaa less bubbles.

So im hoping that bringing the tank down would help a little....

but Will the bubbles harm the fish?

hmm I wonder if i use a smaller pipe if that would help. Im using a 1" pvc pipe, I wonder if i went down to 3/4" what kind of difference that would make.

 

[MelodyCorals]

Ok, I'm not an expert here, but I'm thinking your problem is not the speed that the water is traveling into the tank. Your return is below your tanks water level, and so it is highly unlikely that a "splash" is causing your bubbles.

It appears to me that the bulkhead in your sump is setup so that 1/2 is in the water and the other 1/2 is open to the air - this IME is usually the problem. This usually makes a "flushing" sound as well, and the solution to the sound and the air is the same thing - make it so your water coming in is below the water line - by using something like a stand-pipe - similar to the way other would do in their display tank in an overflow. I'm thinking that a good stand-pipe setup is more likely to solve your problem - even a simple idea like putting an elbow on your bulkhead so it points down and under the water line so it stops pulling air into the pipe.

Just my 2cents, and I could be way off here - but probably worth a shot before you go changing elevations.

-- Josh

 

[Pico1]

how come you can't keep your sump under your stand, it would make the set-up look nicer overall and might stop the micro bubbles because the return wouldn't be partially gravity fed?

 

[Nu2SW]

Becuase my stand does not have any place for it below... thats why I had to put it up and to the side.

 

[fragaholic]

Looks like you need some more macro in your fuge....pm me if you want some Cheato, I need to do some pruning.

 

[Nu2SW]

Alright I added a elbow inside my 20g tank to raise the water level, so the filter is not creating bubbles, and the water is flowing solely into the elbow, no more gurgling noise. I also added some pipe and elbows inside my tank to further the water travel so most the bubbles stay inside the main tank pipe. Im only getting very small small bubbles which flow up to the top and pop. tank looks good now.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7164270#post7164270 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pico1
how come you can't keep your sump under your stand, it would make the set-up look nicer overall and might stop the micro bubbles because the return wouldn't be partially gravity fed?

I toyed with the idea of the overflow coming from my fuge rather than the other way around for a while. Just couldn't convince the wife to have this "ugly" fuge with a reverse photoperiod visible. The reason I wanted to do it that way was to ease the ride of the pods from the fuge to the main tank. From what I have read I guess that the pump shear isn't too hard on the small pods, but it can't be too good either.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

BTW - You will never be "all done .....", not in this hobby anyway.

 

[Nu2SW]

LOL yeah I know, But Atleast The tank and refug is up and running....

My wife wants to paint the refu tank, BUT I already put it up and I dont see how she is gonna paint the back with it against the wall... LOL

Heres the inside of the tank for what I did...