I have a 65G that I have just set up with a temporary rubbermaid sump under the tank with a Quiet One 220 as a return pump and a stock Megaflow kit. The overflow is surging like crazy and micro-bubbles are streaming out of the returns. I did this with my 120G initially and didn't have this problem, so something I'm doing is different and I'm not sure what it is.
What is the usual cause of micro-bubbles?
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how is it plumbed? is the little hole at the top of the megaflow kit open? what does the return to sump look l,ike? If it is too turbulent, that may be the issue. You may need to restrict the pump a little. How much flow does it do?
The micro bubbles usually come from either a hole somewhere in the plumbing (typically before the pump) or from the drains bringing in too much air with them on the way down. You said that your drains were surging, so I'd guess that they would be the culprit...
-chris (oops - logged in to my wife's account)
-chris (oops - logged in to my wife's account)
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already...thats sad. You probably wear her robe and slippers too.
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If the overflow is surging (and the hole is open), the flow is too fast, and it will keep "flushing". The bucket may help some microbubbles, but it sounds that slowing the pumps would defintiely.
Jeremy is right I think;
One of my megaflows was surging really badly, (oddly the other one wasnt) So I added a 'trap' similar to what you would see under a sink to slow the drain down a little. This helped a lot, and also I widened the hole very slightly in the top of the overflow (the air hole) to allow more air to enter and this along with the trap seemed to be the right combo. It also has gotten even better over time as I suppose the "break in" of the pipes has now passed.
*note: I think Jeremy is saying reduce the flow...eliminte the flushing. In my case, I had 2 overflows, one of which was apparently draining faster than the other, so my trap slowed the faster one down, helping balance between the two. Now that I think about it, this might not work if oyu have only one overflow.
One of my megaflows was surging really badly, (oddly the other one wasnt) So I added a 'trap' similar to what you would see under a sink to slow the drain down a little. This helped a lot, and also I widened the hole very slightly in the top of the overflow (the air hole) to allow more air to enter and this along with the trap seemed to be the right combo. It also has gotten even better over time as I suppose the "break in" of the pipes has now passed.
*note: I think Jeremy is saying reduce the flow...eliminte the flushing. In my case, I had 2 overflows, one of which was apparently draining faster than the other, so my trap slowed the faster one down, helping balance between the two. Now that I think about it, this might not work if oyu have only one overflow.
Yea, I've only got one overflow. So I put a bucket in the sump and am now running the overflow to it to make the bubbles rise up and that helped some. Still getting the surging and some micro-bubbles. I did notice that when I restarted the return pump I was already getting micro-bubbles before the overflow started running so some of the micro-bubbles are getting introduced from the pump to he tank.
Ok, I'm watching the overflow box and the water comes above the three holes in straight portion of the overflow, then drops about an inch, then comes back above the holes, on and on. When it drops the water in the box goes below the elbow of the return so I'm thinking that may be the source of the micro-bubbles.
Hey Bud, grow a pair and turn down the overflow!The overflow is rated for 600gph and my return pump is only putting out between 300-400 gph so I don't think I'm puttng through more than it can handle.
I feel a little swelling between my legs so I'm going to go for it and close the ball valve a little.
I feel a little swelling between my legs so I'm going to go for it and close the ball valve a little.
Ok, manhood is restored. I did what most everyone was telling me I needed to do and sure enough the surging has stopped. Woohoo! Now I'm back to the problem of micro-bubbles. Once I raised the level of water so that the bottom of the elbow was no longer exposed it really cut down on the amount of bubbles but I'm still getting some. I don't remeber tightening the threaded locline part of the return nozzle into the elbow as far as it could since I didn't think it really mattered, but maybe it does. I'll take it back apart and make sure it is as tight as possible and maybe even put teflon tape on it.
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microbubbles from the return pump would only come from the input to the pump. The output would cause leakage, not microbubbles. There may just be too much turbulence in the sump. In my sump, the skimmer is the source of the microbubbles, so I added a sponge and a little ingenuitive plumbing, and its gone.
Thanks Jeremy. Now that I've gotten the surging to stop and the overflow is going into a bucket that is inside the sump there isn't anywhere near as much turbulence if any at the bottom where the pump is. The thing that leads me to believe that I may be pulling some air is that when I turned the pump back on I could see micro-bubbles coming out of the nozzles even before the overflow started dropping back into the sump. Plus after I raised the water level above the elbow the micro-bubbles were reduced dramatically. I'll try tightening the nozzles and if I still get them since they aren't as bad as they were I'll wait until I get the permanent sump going before I do much more.
Actually, I can lower the overflow back below the elbow and see if the micr-bubbles get much worse again. I'll try that first.
Actually, I can lower the overflow back below the elbow and see if the micr-bubbles get much worse again. I'll try that first.
They didn't get any worse so the initial improvement happened for some unknow reason at this point. So I think you are totally correct that they are still coming from the pump input. I'll just have to live with them for now untill I get the baffles in the permanent sump and get it in place. Thanks!
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