the new cube and microbubbles

[jwils27]

well the 135 is broke dwon and the new 40 cube is up and running. i would have to say i'm really pleases with the out come. it has a 20K XM 250W MH keeping it lot and a mag 12 that is delegating the flow( i have it turned down to about 900GPH). There is about 70 LBS of LR and about 50LBS of LS. it is a mixed reef tank with my pair of clowns, bangii cardinal and my bi color taking residence.

now my only problem is microbubbles. i can't figure out how to get rid of them. i turned down the flow and it helped a little. but other then that i can't figure it out. i just added the filter pad but i will not leave that in for long b/c it dose not seem to help. below are some pics LMK what you all think.

Thanks
Jake
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[saltwater junky]

check and see if the mag 12 is making a vortex on the inlet.

 

[jwils27]

no the water is deep so there is no vortex

 

[flyingarmy]

With barb type nipples I would use a o clamp to secure the tubing on the nipple. You could be getting air from one of those locations or where you hose connects into your ball valve. It can be tricking finding out where the air is coming from. The tank looks great!!

 

[saltwater junky]

tank looks awsome.

 

[jwils27]

thanks guys, the tank turning out so good made it alot easier to let the big tank go.
I think i either don't have enough baffles or the flow is too high because the majority of the bubbles come from the drain when it enteres the sump and just seem to continually circulate through the tank. i need to find a way to make more of the bubbles surface and pop. or a way to create less bubbles.

 

[blind1993]

maybe adding more baffles then,

how much flow do you have going through the sump? how many baffles? and how many gallons?

 

[jwils27]

3 baffles and 900 GPH the sump is about 15G i think i would have to ask mark

 

[blind1993]

i do not know too much about sumps but that seems like a little too much flow.

 

[sammy33]

I used a "bubble buster" in my sump to help control the micro bubbles. This is an acylic box I made, open on top and closed on the bottom. The sides and one end have slots routed in the bottom about 1.5" high all around.

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The bubbles exit the drain pipes from the overflow and then most of the larger ones just rise inside the box and pop. The pretty much bubble free water exits the bottom slots and goes through the rest of the sump. Notice all the bubbles in the box and almost clear water right next to it.

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The end with no slots faces the rest of the baffles in the sump. This keeps the bubbles exiting the other end of the sump through the return pumps to almost nothing.

 

[sammy33]

I agree with blind that your return pump may be a bit large for your system. I have a 125g tank with over 6000GPH of total system flow but with only two little 400GPH pumps for the sump returns. The other 5400GPH is from Koralias and Tunzes.

This leaves me probably about 450-500GPH (probably less) running through my sump. This is in the ballpark of my skimmer turnover rate and keeps my sump quiet allowing bubbles time to rise and pop.

This slower flow also quieted my overflows and seems to keep my skimmer consistently producing. You may want to try out a smaller return pump and maybe add a couple powerheads in the display to make up the flow. A closed loop system may be even better/stealthy and looks like it could be workable with your plumbing?