more bubbles!!! help

[reefNewbie]

Hello, I started my aquarium about 2 weeks ago. I had lots of bubbles in it before, but thought it was just due to the fact that my emperor 280 was throwing the water in too fast and hitting the suface of the water too rapidly. Well, i just installed a sump and now the return water from my sump is makine huge amounts of bubbles. It sits 3 inches under the water and still makes all these bubbles. It makes my tank look really cloudy because of these damn things. Is there any thing to add to the water or some method of getting rid off these? Or will they just go away when my tank cycles properly? thanks

 

[aquarist=broke]

Hello!

I believe the problem you are having is a plumbing problem. If you have a pump outside of the sump, your intake or the pipes going to the intake probably don't have a good seal. Did you use teflon tape on the threaded connections? How about primer then glue for the joining sections of pipe(assuming you used PVC). Did you attempt to turn any pipes that were semi dry?(moving freshly glued pipes seconds to minutes when they are freshly joined together can break the seal.

If the bubbles you are experiencing are random, I would think that the pump is sucking air from the intake (3 inches below the surface) like in a toilet (spinning water tunnel).

If the bubbles are constant, then I would think it is a plumbing problem.

Is this helpful?

 

[reefNewbie]

dont think its a plumbing problem. Because like i said, even the filter that expels water(emperor 280) makes mad crazy bubbles. Not to mention all of the plumbing is sealed as can be. its all tubing anyway, not pvc. Its gotta be something in the water! i need to get rid of them, there annoying to look at and take away from the overall look of the aquarium.

 

[big o]

try putting a sponge at the intake of the pump. see if there are bubbles in the sump just before the intake.you might have to channel the water through your sump differently

 

[reefNewbie]

there already is a sponge there. Im telling you, its the water. I mean, everything makes bubles...even when i had the protein skimmer in the tank it was making tons of bubbles from the output!

 

[pperez]

Do you have any baffles in your sump?...If not then thats your problem. In order to minimize microbubbles you have to give them time to dissipate. Otherwise the current will carry them right through your return pump and back to the tank. Try placing some baffles, that should help.

 

[reefNewbie]

so in order to get rid of all the bubbles, your saying i have to place baffles in the sump and baffles in my filter so that there is absolutley no bubbles in my tank?

 

[pperez]

I can't say for sure whether this will eliminate all bubbles. What are the specs of your sump?..There's many variables that determine whether this is possible or not. Keep in mind that the bigger the sump the better it is to dissipate the bubbles. Also if you are pushing alot of water through a small sump, it would be hard to keep the bubbles from returning back. I mean baffles help in that it contains bubbles and allows them to burst.

As for the filter, i can't help you there...

 

[reefNewbie]

just a thought....it wouldnt happen to be do to the fact that i used stress coat on the water, would it?

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like the problem. stress coat makes the pumps and skimmers go crazy. Somebody had an explanation but I cannot remember what it was.