My air troubles

Tommy Gun · 10-07-2006, 01:41 PM

Hey all,

I know that I have been asking a lot of questions about my sump, skimmer, and pumps lately but I have been not been getting many answers at all. I just took this short video of my tank in hopes that maybe someone can help me if they see what is happening:

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In this video, the first 15 to 18 seconds show the tank without the skimmer running at all. You can see the overflow return pipe coming up from my sump, through the bottom of the tank, and back into the main tank. You may notice alot of bubbles stuck to the overflow chamber and the back glass. This is because when I turn the skimmer on, in the second half of the video, it creates so many bubbles in the sump that they are returned through the overflow return plumbing and into the tank. The problem gains momentum over time and eventually the tank is full of tiny bubbles, resulting in what looks like a 'sand storm' throughout all the tank's water. The second half of the video shows that bubles entering the tank and you will notice that the water flow coming out of the plumbing very clearly.

The water level in the sump is well over the top of the return pump by at least two or three inches. This means that the pump cannot possibly be getting air from the surface to make these bubbles. To further that idea, the bubbles only occur when the skimmer is on.

I have cleaned out the skimmers inner workings as well as its intake pump but while the water inside the body definately looks 'milky' like it should, the water just below the containment cup is very still and not bubbly at all. Do I have a bad skimmer or is there something I am missing here? I cannot stand the looks of the tank with all the bubbles in the water and eventually, it gets hard to see anything in the tank at all. This usually takes about 6 to 8 hours to get this severe and fixes itself pretty quickly once the sump is off. I am lost here and need some help quickly since I am not sure how long my water quality will remain as good as it has been without the skimmer's help.

ahill3780 · 10-07-2006, 09:57 PM

Hey Tommy,

I think I have gone over this with you in another thread already so I'll just sum up my suggestions on this. You have 3 choices from what I can tell by your description of the problem and from what I have seen.

Place a filter on the return pumps intake to screen out as much bubbles as possible.
Increase the flow of water into the sump so that the surface of the water is high enough above the return pump intake that it does not cause a whirlpool sucking air into the works.
Change out the return pump with one slightly less powerful so that it does not drain the sump so fast that it creates a whirlpool sucking air into the return line.

Other than that you should look at all the obvious stuff like plumbing seals for the return line, micro-bubbles in the return chamber of the sump, etc.

HTH,
Aaron

Tommy Gun · 10-07-2006, 10:11 PM

Aaron,

I am sorry to bother you on this issue again and I did everything that you had told me before. I appologize for not clarifying that, I really should have.

I think that my problem is my skimmer really. When I turn off the skimmer, the bubbles are not a problem at all. In fact, I noticed yesterday that the water coming out of the skimmer was all bubbles, even with the air flow turned to the lowest setting (it is a coralife super skimmer, i see them commonly in magazines and so I hope you have seen them too). The skimmer is ultra clean, which I hated doing since it might have to 'break in' again, and my sump has a sponge filling the gap between the pump's chamber, and the main chamber with the skimmer. So, this means that there has to be a ton of bubbles in the sump to be forced through this sponge.

I did switch the pump with a smaller one and went from 800 gallons per hour to 500 gallons per hour. I have kept the door open on my stand all day today and the water is at least three inches above the pump's main intake. The odd thing is that when I took the skimmer out of the sump and hung it on the side, the problem stopped completely. I cannot think of a logical explaination for this, but for now I will go with it. The only problem with the skimmer on the side of the sump is that it is pressed against the stand's glass door and I can see it clearly. (The door is like a tinted window)

Thanks for your help and I hope I didnt bother you by asking this question again. I was looking for anyone's advice and I didnt want my post to seem like I was only asking for your advice by saying "I did what you told me". I hope you understand.

Thanks again

ahill3780 · 10-08-2006, 03:25 PM

Hey Tommy,

No need to apologize, I wasn't comming down on you for reasking a question.

I encourage everyone to ask a question as many times as it takes until they get the answer they need. I was merely posting the suggestions that we had previously discussed so that others who want to contribute will know where we currently stand on the issue.

I am familiar with the Coralife skimmer you are referring to, it is one I have looked at closely when thinking of upgrading my current skimmer. I have not gone forward with it yet because I have also been considering making my own.

Excessive bubbles in the tank due to the skimmer is a very sommon problem with all skimmers. The way to keep the skimmer in-sump without having the bubbles end up in the tank is to filter them all out before they get into the final chamber of the sump where the pump would move them to the tank. I have heard of people using socks, or very fine filter media (like poly filters) to catch them all. I would need a camera to show you all how I got around the issue - explaining it would be fairly confusing.

To be honest I do not think your skimmer is 'broke-in' yet. It took mine a full year to break in. I used to clean it at first then I found that every time I did that I would start collecting more water than skimmate so I stopped clening it. When the collection cup is filled I empty out the skimmate and place the cup back on the skimmer without cleaning anything - I don't even cut the skimmer off while emptying the cup.

Hopefully someone else will have some more thoughts on how to eliminate the micro-bubbles for you.

Aaron

Tommy Gun · 10-08-2006, 04:40 PM

Aaron,

Thanks alot for the sock suggestion! I used a new pair of 'stockings' that my wife had and simply zip-tied them on the exit hose on the skimmer. It slows the water down that is coming out just enough for the bubbles to break up.

I think you are also right about the not cleaning the skimmer. I know that my skimmer isnt completely broke in yet, but after cleaning it, I could clearly tell how much better it worked when it was a little dirty. I put it back into the sump so I cannot see it and am not having any problems with the return water flow. Sometimes it is the easiest things that will fix the confusing problems!

Thanks again