How important is a bubble trap in a sump?

mash2k · #1 01/09/2008, 01:10 PM

How important is a bubble trap in a sump? I ask because I am setting up a 30 gallon long as a sump/refugium for my 75 gallon reef tank. On my last reef, I just built my partitions and had no buble trap at all. I also had absolutely NO microbubbles in my display tank.

Please elaborate with any thoughts you may have. I am still unsure whether i will add a bubble trap or not to my sump.

Thanks

AquaReeferMan · #2 01/09/2008, 01:19 PM

I used to have a 30g long as a sump for my 125g. I just sectioned it off with no bubble traps either. I never had any bubble problem. If you didnt have any issues before, I think you will be fine this time around too.

mash2k · #3 01/09/2008, 01:27 PM

I hear you. I had to ask because I am essentially starting from scratch on my new 75. I don't want to have to do any construction once I get water in it.

Seems like every website I look at for DIY sumps say to install the bubble trap; 2 down, 1 up, with an inch of separation between pieces of glass.

I was planning to use a big piece of PVC with holes drilled in it to accept the drain water from my display tank. I saw the idea a while back from a thread called "Ghetto Beauty" that a guy had done. His setup was beautifully simplistic.

AquaReeferMan · #4 01/09/2008, 01:38 PM

Yeah, I mean I am not telling to not to do it but I didnt and hadnt had any issues for the year I was using it. Either way its a sump and it will be benefiting your tank bubble trap or not.

LobsterOfJustice · #5 01/09/2008, 01:51 PM

It depends a lot on the type of skimmer you are using IMO. If you skimmer isn't putting out that many bubbles, dont worry about it. I wouldnt dream of not having baffles with my beckett though.

Genral72 · #6 01/09/2008, 01:59 PM

I had problems for a while but some clever placement of the pump fixed the problem.

mash2k · #7 01/09/2008, 02:42 PM

I just bought the Octopus Extreme 150 to put in the sump. Hopefully there will be little to no bubbles expelled back into the sump water.

driftin · #8 01/09/2008, 02:45 PM

I really think it's dependent on the rest of the sump design. I just pulled my baffles out of my sump because there were no bubbles to trap, and the baffles were using up valuable space.

silvers · #9 01/09/2008, 02:53 PM

If you have a auto top off to keep your water leval consistant for your skimmer and dont have micro bubble problems there is no issue. I did not put baffles in my sump and I am kicking myself now though but I run a PM bullet-2 beckett and have a micro bubble issue that I was stuped enougph to look over when setting up.

curthendrix · #10 01/09/2008, 03:11 PM

Any trap that draws water/bubbles downward creates more issues than it solves imo. If you're going to use a baffle I would design it so water runs over it..not under. I have found keeping the bubbles near the surface and drawing my return near the bottom is the best design.

AquaKnight407 · #11 01/09/2008, 03:46 PM

Worse comes to worst, you can always rig some in there. Because my 125's sump is rubbermaid, there's no baffles, but I did have microbubble issue, so I laid two sheets of acrylic on top of the return pump and it solved them.