Micro bubbles from return

[saltier]

Peoples, I just set up my 90 gal Oceanic bow front, got the sump, skimmer, pump, the overflow (that came on my tank) and I put it all together and I am having these micro bubbles coming from the return back into the tank, I have never ran a tank that needed a wet dry so I am not sure if I did something wrong or if this is going to be a normal thing. The tank has been running 2 days now. A little bit about it, its the 90 gal Oceanic bow front, with built in overflow. I added a regular sump and a pump, vortek power head, and marineland skimmer. I have 3 bags of Indo Pacific sand and nothing else as of yet so it will cycle and settle first. Am I doing something wrong for the return to continuously blow these clouds of bubbles through out the tank?:confused:

[Gseclipse02]

is the skimmer return ( the part that lets the water) near the return pump ? that will cause micro bubbles

also try turning the return pump off and on 2 o r 3 times sometimes its just air in the line

hope that helps

[aquasport24]

Do you have baffels in the sump?

[saltier]

It is, and I dont think I can place it anywhere else unless you have a trick of the trade for me.

[saltier]

if you mean the little bio balls, yep I have them, should I get rid of them?

[Gseclipse02]

It is, and I dont think I can place it anywhere else unless you have a trick of the trade for me.


turn it around ...

[saltier]

I did and the bubbles decreased but did not completely go away. Is it normal for a wet dry system to sound so loud? When I say loud I mean the hum of the pump.

[Bill S]

Try to isolate the pump. How is it plumbed (hard PVC, or hose), and is it sitting on the bottom of the sump? Adding a rubber mat of some kind under it will help. If it's hard plumbed, let me know and I have some ideas.

[Gseclipse02]

what area do you live in maybe I or some one near by could lend a hand

the pump noise it it from rubbing on the bottom or is that the pump is just loud?


can you get a pic of your setup ???

[Europhyllia]

I had little rubber feet under my pump when I had a wet/dry. That helped.

[Big_Pun]

get some pics up, i can also come by if you need help

[saltier]

Try to isolate the pump. How is it plumbed (hard PVC, or hose), and is it sitting on the bottom of the sump? Adding a rubber mat of some kind under it will help. If it's hard plumbed, let me know and I have some ideas.
It is plumed with a hose and it is sitting in the bottom of the sump, I will try the rubber mat under it today as well.

[saltier]

what area do you live in maybe I or some one near by could lend a hand

the pump noise it it from rubbing on the bottom or is that the pump is just loud?


can you get a pic of your setup ???

I live on the SE side of SA and I think it may be coming from the rubbing of the pump on the bottom of the sump ( I hope), I will isolate tat and see it it helps. I can hear the water overflow from the baffle section to the sump, I am thinking there has to be a way to quieten this also because it sounds like I have a wide open faucet in a sink and maybe that's causing splashing and disturbing the water the pump is picking up.

[saltier]

get some pics up, i can also come by if you need help

I will get some posted today.

[allan]

Oh good another early riser.

Going back to the micro bubbles in your display, have you resolved this yet? The only two times i've seen, or see, bubbles in my tank is when the water in the sump gets low enough that the pump creates a minor cyclone (?) or whatever it's called when the water circles around the inlet allowing air to be sucked down into the inlet of the pump itself. The other is I first set up and the return line (both flexible and rigid) had a minor leak in it... in the locktite section.

I work at fort sam, if you are near there I could swing by if you'd like. Not an expert but it may help to get another set of eyes on it.

[saltier]

Oh good another early riser.

Going back to the micro bubbles in your display, have you resolved this yet? The only two times i've seen, or see, bubbles in my tank is when the water in the sump gets low enough that the pump creates a minor cyclone (?) or whatever it's called when the water circles around the inlet allowing air to be sucked down into the inlet of the pump itself. The other is I first set up and the return line (both flexible and rigid) had a minor leak in it... in the locktite section.

I work at fort sam, if you are near there I could swing by if you'd like. Not an expert but it may help to get another set of eyes on it.

Retired Army so I will forever be an early riser LOL. I used to work on Sam so im not far away from there. It is a new tank set up and I DID have a leak around the bottom of the tank where my hose connections are. I fixed that and rotated the skimmer away from the pump and that corrected a lot of the bubbling in the display but I still have some. I have the water coming from the baffle overflow and that may be splashing the water in the sump and could be causing it too, I will try to fix this but if I modify my sump i void the warranty so I have to put my thinking cap on for that one.

[allan]

Congratulations on the Retirement... I've got 2 years, 10 months, and 25 days till I can retire from the Army. My early rise started with DS school (or rather the two years following the school), and now it seems the best time to get things done.

I guess I'll have to refer to the other requests for a picture of the set up, or actually see it in person. You may be able to incorporate a few baffles (without glueing) by wedging in some thin plexiglass in the appropriate location where the water spills into the sump. Not sure how long that would last, but it should be long enough to determine if that's the problem.

[corruption]

Yeah, without pics at this point narrowing it down is going to be difficult... As we discussed via PM though, I still have to think your factory plumbing may be somewhat to blame -- factory overflows and plumbing are notoriously undersized for what most people attempt with them -- the easiest solution is to replace it with something better, or a Durso/Stockman configuration... the Durso/Stockman is much cheaper to build/do, esp. if the tanks running :)

Any microscopic leaks along your plumbing can be sucking in microbubbles too -- how is your return plumbed?

Edit: You two are early-risers, I'm the late night walking dead -- go graveyard shift! :D

-Corruption

[allan]

Dion,

On Corruption's note above, and a little off target, if you decide that you need more plumbing I have a box full of pvcs odds and ends I can bring in for you to pick out of or take if you have to plumb. Free of charge... just pass on to the next what you don't use.

[Big_Pun]

do you have ball valves on your overflow and return i have a 65g with a internal overflow its an AGA but i think the overflow is the same, i had to dial down the return a lil to eliminate bubble and gurggling noise, also by dialing it down the over flow fills a lil higher and the water fall noise goes away.thats a pic of my tank and sump.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu357/stangchris/65g.jpg

[ErikH]

check the connections. Most often small amounts of air seep in at the connections. If my return is slightly loose on the tube, MBs everywhere.

[saltier]

do you have ball valves on your overflow and return i have a 65g with a internal overflow its an AGA but i think the overflow is the same, i had to dial down the return a lil to eliminate bubble and gurggling noise, also by dialing it down the over flow fills a lil higher and the water fall noise goes away.thats a pic of my tank and sump.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu357/stangchris/65g.jpg

The overflow looks like mine but I dont have the ball valves. The waterfall noise in coming from the sump, Here is mine.4506

[allan]

Looks like about four inches of water in your sump. Not sure what size pump you have but if my sump gets to four inches my rio will pull in air and send it up to the display.

Unless I miss my guess you have two pumps in there, one is your skimmer and the other is your return pump... that compiled with the fact that it looks like you're sending your skimmer water back into the sump makes me think you have a lot of movement in the sump. I think you may be sucking up air bubbles with all that movement.

[Big_Pun]

ok i see now your goin to have those problems witht that setup, you can always ditch the bio balls go with live rock rubble and run the pipe all the way in like mine, also with the skimmer there you prob wont get rid of all MB, if you have the room you can always buy a cheap used tank off craigslist and build a fuge, mine is a 29g only mods i hav added was eggcrate on the last short baffle to keep cheato out my pump area.