Bubble Trouble

[arvin]

Once again I need your help.

I have lots of bubbles showing up in the display tank. Below is the image of my fuge & sump:

There are at least three potential areas were bubbles are getting created. First in the fuge where the water enters (circled in the picture). I am not sure if these bubbles will/can reach the display tank.

Second the water coming from the fuge to the sump (curved arrow).

Third, the water that the pump pushes back to the sump (green arrow). To reduce the flow of this water, I created a manifold with two tees and one elbow. This seemingly reduced the gushing force in the center compartment of the sump, but it still did not improve the bubbles in the display.

There is way too much water that gets around in my sump. How can I control the bubbles?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[arvin]

first step of baffles are actually down-up-down.

 

[JohnS_323]

When you say "down-up-down", do you mean the water goes under, then over then under? Or the first baffle is down (causing the water to go over the top), etc? I'm hoping it's the second way and that the water goes over the first baffle.

Also, can you actually see the bubbles in the sump being sucked into the pump?

I'm always perplexed by this because we never really even considered it. In our main system, we just kind of slapped everything together and (I can't believe I'm saying this) we never really had any trouble. The ONLY time we had an issue was when we first put it together and there was a small leak in the line feeding the pump. Once we fixed that the problems went away. In our 65, where we're only using a small 10g tank for a sump, we never had a problem. In that sump, we only have 2 baffles. The water goes over the first and under the second. One thing we do have in there is a piece of filter floss between the two baffles. Maybe that's catching any stray bubbles?

I dunno. . . . sorry but I can't offer any definitive help.

 

[billyr98]

my return pump is pushing so much water, I run a filter sock to catch my drains and it kills my bubbles...

 

[JohnS_323]

OK, Billy, you just reminded me, Duh I have my drain lines in filter socks for the main sump too.

 

[arvin]

When you say "down-up-down", do you mean the water goes under, then over then under? Or the first baffle is down (causing the water to go over the top), etc? I'm hoping it's the second way and that the water goes over the first baffle.

yes that is correct.

Also, can you actually see the bubbles in the sump being sucked into the pump?

No, I see some bubbles by the last baffles, but I dont see any getting sucked into the pump.

 

[arvin]

my return pump is pushing so much water, I run a filter sock to catch my drains and it kills my bubbles...

I have a filter sock in the drain too.

Also, I read somewhere that the skimmer works best when the drain that feeds the the skimmer runs slow. So I divert most of the water to the fuge. Is that true? If I can increase the water flow to the skimmer and reduce the flow to the fuge, this might reduce the water flow to the sump from the fuge.

 

[JohnS_323]

Hmmm . . . since you don't see bubbles near the intake, that would make me think one of two things:

• There is a vortex that happens periodically sucking surface air into your line
• There is a leak or something between the sump and the pump that is introducing air into the system

I've also heard that it can be caused from the pump being starved for water but I'm not sure about that one.

HTH

 

[RichT]

(I can't believe I'm saying this) we never really had any trouble.

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No worries....anti-jinx spell cast on your behalf.

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