my 300g in springfield

[stankyd]

You said your bubble issue is in the last sump section with the return pump right? If that is the case, then shouldn't just raising the water level in your sump fix that?

 

 

It really didnt. Raising the level eliminated the waterfall which probably helped but the flow was so fast from the skimmer section that bubbles were zipping through the 3 baffles. I added a raised baffle on the skimmer side of the trap and that really did the trick.

 

Dave

[stankyd]

Well things have settled down quite a bit.

 

micro bubbles are gone

cycle complete, and then complete again

water clarity is greatly improved despite my crappy lighting

seeing alot of green algae

boosted my cleanup crew with more snails, the astrea's are the only ones who seem to be interested in the green hair algae.

as you can see, I started to put some finishing touches on the tank stand, will sand and paint soon.

 

 

[Coral Hind]

Nice job, the tank looks like it is coming along nicely.

[stankyd]

Nice job, the tank looks like it is coming along nicely.

 

 

Thanks, the reduced lighting is a huge change for me, going from sps dominated with MH's to this combo of PC and low end LED's is a learning experience.

[Coral Hind]

Do you have any updates for us? What was the cause of the micro bubbles?

[stankyd]

ultimately the cause of the microbubbles was the speed the water was flowing down the overflows. it was so fast, it was sucking air down along with the water.

With all 3 overflows feeding the refugium, the flow over the baffles was too much and with 4 baffles I was still getting bubles at the pump.

 

i resolved it by taking the flow from 1 of the 3 overflows into the section with the pump, slowing down the flow from the refugium. I restriced the flow with a valve from the 1 overflow into the pump section which eliminated those bubbles.

 

What a project!

 

Dave