Micro-Bubbles?!!!!!! Help!

[fishfeeder]

Ok, Tank has been running for two or three days. With fresh water I didn't notice any microbubbles, but I really wasn't paying much attention.

Now, Monday, I added my salt to the tank. Cloudy! Tuesday, I added sand to the tank...still Cloudy!

Today, after running 24 hours...still Cloudy! Looks as if it is microbubbles in the tank! Here are the specs of the system:

240 gallon tank
(2) 2" drains & (1) 1.5" return split into four 3/4" loc-lines
40 gallon breeder sump
EV-200 skimmer w/ mag 12, Mag 24 return pump

Loc-line is not fully submerged under the water...Has anyone had these cause microbubbles?

Or Could the mag 24 be causing the microbubbles? The tanks previous owner had a Sequence Hammerhead as the return pump, but he had a manifold coming off of the return pipe?

All help would be appreciated as this is driving me Nutts!!!!

Thanx,

Jay

[Mariner]

Are there bubbles in the sump? Does the sump have baffles or compartments between the overflow input and the return?
Mariner

[Tomoko Schum]

I've had Loc-line drew some air in before, but the major source of micro bubbles are usually the sump design (no baffles or too small) as Mariner pointed out or a skimmer dumping out fine foam. Pipe connections can draw in air, too, when it is not completely sealed. You don't see any leak from the connection but it sucks in air.

Tomoko

[fishfeeder]

It ended up not being microbubbles after all!!!!! It was caused by one of the return lines being pointed at the bottom of the tank. I pointed them at the bottom to help stir up the salt, and I never readjusted it...so when I added the sand...well, it just kept stirring sand!!!

I readjusted it this morning and by the time I got home, all was clear!

But, I do have a question about my skimmer:

It's a EV-200 w/ a mag 12... The bubble are not rising up the chamber, they just sit and bubble at the base of the skimmer?

The water level is about 1/2" from the chamber platform (which is what AquaC recommends). Do they tend to do this until they get broke in? I have tried adjusting the gate valve to increase and decrease the output, but neither make the bubbles go up the chamber?

I have some live rock in the tank, probably not much die off, but it should have some.

Help!!!!!

thanx,

Jay

[fishfeeder]

still have some microbubbles after the sand cleared...

Has anyone ever used a foam prefilter in their bubble trap to help with the bubbles? The microbubbles are getting sucked through the return pump...they are all over my sump area!

Or what other recommendations do you have?

[Tomoko Schum]

Do you have baffles in your 40 breeder sump? Like Mariner mentioned earlier, baffles are quite helpul on cutting down on the micro bubbles going back into your display tank.

As for installing a foam prefilter, the one on my ASM outlet does help some, but it cannot stop a huge amount of bubbles which happens when the skimmer go nuts (after using the Aqua Mend for fastening frags to rocks or due to a maladjusted riser tube.) Your skimmer may be skimming too fast?

Tomoko

[kng]

In my opinion, microbubbles are just part of a new tank for some reason. After a week or two, they disappear. I've experienced this with both tanks I ran sumps on.

As for the baffles, I've never used any other than one divider per section of the sump, and don't have a mircobubble problem.

If you don't have any issues such as sucking air in from somewhere (maybe the loc-line since it is out of water), I would give it another week and see what the status is.

[Tomoko Schum]

Oops, I assume that he meant his skimmer was the cause of the micro bubbles when he said "bubble trap".

What Kyle said is very true. If the micro bubbles are due to the loc-line or other minute gap/connection issue, these will be plugged up with bio film and salt coating the them and micro bubbles will stop soon.

To add to what he said, in my past experience, a really large pump can cause micro bubbles with a sump without baffles. I had to go down to Mag 12 for my 120G tank since I could not control the micro bubbles with Mag 18 on the return. There was just too much water coming down too fast to my sump with the dual Megaflow drains. I believe that a lot of reefers prefer a smaller return pump with a closed loop connected to a large pump in their set up due to this reason.

Tomoko

[fishfeeder]

Here is a picture of my sump...you can see the layout of my baffles along with the microbubbles in the skimmer section.

These are created by my skimmer plus the two 2" drain that enter there. The bubbles seem to flow through the bubble trap and get sucked in by my return pump. I can't move my return pump any farther from the baffles because of the plumbing.

They seem to have reduced the amount over the last day or so. I just wondered if a foam filter would help some?

I may just wait and see if by next week they have ceased.

Sump Pic