in sump skimmer question-also, pros and cons of bioballs

[ebosshard]

Two questions tonite.

1-Got my new in sump skimmer. makes great foam, big upgrade my prior cheapo model. The good news I am making great skimmate/foam. The bad news is i am putting a ton of microbubbles in the sump and sending those back to the tank. Any ideas? (I have built a couple little baffles that have helped but haven't stopped the problem

2-where does everyone shake out on bioballs? I ask for two reasons. One is i have 225lbs live rock and 200lbs of live sand and hear people say dump the balls (lfs says no but they really dont have them either). Secondly, if i dump the bioballs i increase my usable sump space by 125% as I can then use the former side with bioballs to put my skimmer.

Thanks a ton for help on this one!!

Eric

 

[Len]

Eric,

baffles is about the best you can do. Some people also put sponges on the outputs of the skimmers which usually helps significantly. But one thing I should mention is new skimmers will put out a ton of microbubbles at first, but it'll go away once the skimmer is broken in. I recommend you wait a month before deciding; the skimmer might just "fix" itself

As for bioballs, I'd dump it. No need. Your live rock and sand do all the job your bioballs can do plus other greater benefits (habitat for biodiversity, denitrification, etc.).

My two cents

 

[jle2003]

My tank got lot of bubbles too. I just got the Euroreef skimmer. I also put the sponge btw two compartments. did not help. BTW, how did you make a bafles?

 

[Jolieve]

jle... definitely dump the bioballs. Your live rock has all the bacteria you will need for the nitrogen cycle and then some. Bioballs become nitrate factories over time. It won't hurt anything to go ahead and ditch them now and save yourself the sorrow over nitrates later.

Making baffles involves getting a sheet of acrylic/plexiglass/glass and placing a wall (generally a couple of walls staggered in height) between your skimmer and the return pump in your sump. The bubbles have to go under one wall, then over another, and they tend to collect on the baffles or break on the surface when they go back over instead of going into your tank.

J.

 

[ebosshard]

Made my baffles out of some plastic lids from rubbermaid bins. Doing a decent, but not perfect job. Sounds like over time it may get better.

My sump is set up as a wet/dry, with 60% of the space on the input side with the bioballs and 40% on the other side with the return pump. I think I am gonna dump the bioballs and put the skimmer where the bioballs were, allowing more room for baffles as well as having the water then flow through the filter that sits on the wall that separates the two compartments.

Anyone else want to weigh in here?

Eric

 

[hdtran]

If you've got 1.25 to 1.75 lb/gal of LR, you've got all the bio filtration you need.

The bioballs, being immersed in aerated water (or in a w/d, worse, being subjected to water and air), get colonized with very efficient bacteria for converting ammonia to nitrates. While this is good for a FO tank, nitrates over 10-20ppm (various folks report various numbers, but you want to target 0ppm) can stress more delicate inverts, such as corals. LR and LS have some low oxygen regions (due to varying water circulation, unlike bioballs), which can be colonized by bacteria which convert nitrates to nitrogen (basically, grossly oversimplified, but that's the biology in a clamshell).

Thus, many reefkeepers have reported longer term success at keeping nitrates low without bioballs than with. W/D's are great with FO tanks, BTW.

Re microbubbles: (1) break-in, (2) a sponge on the outlet generally makes microbubbles coalesce into macrobubbles, which rise to the surface and break. To make sure your return pump is not cavitating, have you tried turning the skimmer off, and seeing if the microbubbles persist?

Re baffles: Basically, you're forcing the outlet of the skimmer flow to go over and under some plates, hopefully giving the microbubbles time to rise to the surface. If you also try to have your pump return sucking water as low as possible, that also helps.