New guy

[JoeSanzone]

Hello all,
I just found this site. It looks great!
Here's my tank:
75 gal. 100lbs Fiji LR, 3-4 pieces Tonga branch, 2" LS, 15 gal sump w/mag 7, 24" downdraft skimmer w/mag 9.5, 48" JBJ w/2 actinic & 2 white, 15 watt UV w/270 gph powerhead, 1 "sweep" powerhead, 1 old small powerhead. It's been set up for 3 weeks. I just added 15 Astrea, & 15 "red leg" crabs. I'm planning on a mixed tank, w/ 3-4 fish, some soft corals, & maybe a couple acroporas up high.

Prev. Exp.

Salt:
20 gal w/skilter ~5years ago. Also a "mini" (2gal) for my wife's desk, w/ a duetto, a little rock & sand, a damsel, a shrimp, a madarin, & a few assorted polyps. It "lived" for 3 years!

Fresh:
7-8 freashwater tanks (none currently). Well, my son (13) has a 2 gal mini w/ 3 Platties & an Irridescent Shark.

I have a question about my skimmer. There's too much air getting
into the tank through the circulation pump. I believe the tiny bubbles are good? But it's not asthetically pleasing to my wife, and the tank is in the living room. Any ideas?

Thanks

[wickerj]

How long have you been running your skimmer? With some skimmers you'll see a reduction in bubbles that are being returned back to the tank after a break in period 1-2 weeks. Is your skimmer in your sump? If so is your skimmer output close to your return pump?
If you turn your skimmer off do you still see bubbles in the main tank?

[JoeSanzone]

It's new, & plumbed outside the sump. I had it in the sump & the bubbles were worse. The sump just isn't big enough for it. The bubbles appear to come from the skimmer. There are nearly none with it off. There is some air in the sump from the "turbulence" in the overflow. If I shut the air off to the skimmer there's still quite a bit of bubbles being returned to the sump, just from the swirling in the skimmer. The skimmer return is fairly close to the circulating pump. It's only a 15 gal sump! The circ. pump is in the top left corner, & the skimmer return is in th ebottom right corner.

[wickerj]

Sorry I missed that you had had a 15 gal sump. I think you'll have a hard time with the bubbles in that small of a space. Do you have any baffles in your sump? Can you pick up a longer tank to use as a sump?
I would have my return pump low in the sump. You could be sucking in air from the surface if it's to high. You could try a filter sock on your skimmer output and see if that helps.

[JoeSanzone]

I was thinking that the sump was too small also. The only problem with a bigger one is my wife's requirement that all equipment goes inside the stand. It's in HER living room. Maybe I'll try the baffle idea.
Thanks

[Q-ball]

Hi Joe...something that might help, can you run the outlet of the skimmer into a small bucket that could sit in the sump? It would overflow the bucket into the sump & may help the bubbles stay out of the main part of the sump. I haven't tried this, but I know others have and it's worked for them. HTH & good luck

Q!!!

[JoeSanzone]

Thanks Q! I like that idea!

[kymebud]

Another idea. I put a small sponge over the outlets on my skimmer because i get the same problems. It actually quiets it down alot too. Just a suggestion. Use one of the sponge filters used for saltwater, most have a hole down the middle, it will fit directly on the outloet, or you can use it in the watter to break the fall of the water

[JoeSanzone]

I put a pre-filter on the intake for my circ. pump for that reason. It helped. I didn't think of putting one on the output of the skimmer.

[JoeSanzone]

Thanks to everyone. A combination of sponges & a baffle did the trick.