DurocShark Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've been battling microbubbles from my skimmer. It's well broken in, but I still can't get rid of the stupid bubbles. I was thinking about encasing the output in foam or something, then looked at my mostly empty fuge. I have an Aqueon Model 2 with that huge center section. I have one little thing of macros in there. That's it. I'm wondering if I'd get more value out of using the space for the skimmer (and whatever) instead of a fuge. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've been battling microbubbles from my skimmer. It's well broken in, but I still can't get rid of the stupid bubbles. I was thinking about encasing the output in foam or something, then looked at my mostly empty fuge. I have an Aqueon Model 2 with that huge center section. I have one little thing of macros in there. That's it. I'm wondering if I'd get more value out of using the space for the skimmer (and whatever) instead of a fuge. How many gallons is the display and how large is the refugium? What are your intentions for the refugium? Link to comment
DurocShark Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Ideally, I wanted the fuge as a true fuge. Keep pods and other critters. But I don't plan on having any sensitive fish (mandarins and sea horses come to mind), so it's pretty unnecessary. Tank is 70g, I don't know what the fuge holds. Total sump is 17 gallons. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Ideally, I wanted the fuge as a true fuge. Keep pods and other critters. But I don't plan on having any sensitive fish (mandarins and sea horses come to mind), so it's pretty unnecessary. Tank is 70g, I don't know what the fuge holds. Total sump is 17 gallons. I'm guessing the fuge will be about 7gallons. A 1/10 fuge-to-tank ratio isn't great; you wouldn't have a large benefit regarding nutrient export in a fuge that size. A skimmer is awesome for keeping your water clean and nutrients down... But won't help with pods and other critters. Maybe in the section with the return pump you could have some LR rubble for pods? Link to comment
DurocShark Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 I'm not expecting much nutrient export from the fuge. I use so many macros in the DT anyway, the fuge would be pretty irrelevant for that. I'm running the skimmer now, and it's great, but it's a Bubble-Magus MAC 3.5 and I just can't get the micro bubbles to go away. If I put it upstream the bubbles will get trapped/released before the water hits the return pump. Would the pods do ok in LR that isn't lit? Seems to me they wouldn't get enough plant matter/algae to eat. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Your skimmer is in your return pump area? After looking at the sump design it seems that the middle section is a multi-use. Like you can use it for either a skimmer chamber or a fuge chamber. I agree that it's small enough that I would use it for skimmer. So yes, put the skimmer in that middle chamber. Also, do you have the skimmer sitting in the right water depth? If the water depth is too low or too high that could potentially cause bubble issues. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Yeah, I've played with the depth. It's currently at 8", but I've moved it up and down 2" each way (and steps in between). No change. I reached out to Bubble-Magus, but haven't received a response yet. The air line doesn't have a valve on it, and I think if I could restrict that air line some, it would help. If I reduce the flow rate enough to eliminate the bubbles, the skimmate is pretty much clear water. My other option is a different skimmer. Aqueon shows using the return chamber for the skimmer, but having the skimmer output through the wall into the sponge barrier. My BM skimmer doesn't have that option without some creative hacking. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Hmm unless your bio load is ridiculously light it shouldn't be collecting clear water - to me that points to an adjustment issue. I'm not sure if putting a valve on the air inlet would do anything - except maybe reduce the amount of bubbles entering the reaction chamber which probably would make skimmer performance worse. You could try putting a silencer on if you don't already have one. Without restricting airflow the slight back pressure might help? With this design I don't think you can direct the skimmer output over the sump baffle unfortunately. I do see some people putting skimmers in return chambers but overall I think a lot of them run into issues of micro bubbles getting sucked into the return pump and ATO water level fluctuations - even though they're small it can still alter the adjustment on the skimmer. IME it's best to have the skimmer in a place where there's 0 change in water level. Link to comment
braaap Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Your skimmer really should be located in the chamber where your water flows in. So as far away from the return as possible. That way any bubbles you do encounter will break up by the time they get to the return. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Hmmm... OK, thanks guys. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Here we go. A vid I shot last night after solving the flow restriction from the overflow. Link to comment
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