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Pump Spitting Micro Bubbles


Tygan

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Started a stock Oceanic 14BC about 5 weeks ago. Things are going well thus far, but after reading alot of BC posts, decided to increase my flow by purchasing a Maxi-Jet 900. Stock pump out, new pump in with no problems (pretty tight fit, but got it in). Started it up and bubbles galore. Waited a bit - no change. Turned everything off, took the pump out and held it underwater (thinking it had trapped air). Reconnected, same result.

 

Started thinking that it was too much flow, going from 137 gph to 240ish gph, so I took it back to the LFS and downsized to the Maxi-Jet 600, thinking the minor upgrade to only 160gph would be fine. Submerged it to fill with water, hooked it up - bubbles. Checked to make sure the water level was correct and pump was totally submerged - yes to both. I let this pump run all night. Just got home from work and its still spitting bubbles - heavy enough for it to be considered excessive. Fiddled around with it a bit with no success. So I decided to put the Oceanic stock pump back in. You guessed it... streaming bubbles.

 

I did make 2 changes when I put the 900 in. I was running a protein skimmer in chamber 1. I removed that and put the stock carbon/floss back in, and I also added a bag of Purigen into chamber 2. I ran the purigen under water before placing it in the tank.

 

I'm really at a loss as to why the bubbles continue. Any input would be truly appreciated. On a personal note, I love this site. My wife is hooked too, and is determined to learn how to propagate. Sounds like fun. Guess I better start looking for a second job!!

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Add more water if you haven't already. The skimmer may be blocking the flow of water through the chambers. May I ask which skimmer you are using?

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ohai.its.steven.

yeah. just add more water. i dont even pay attention to the little water level thing on the side because even when the water is at "maximum" it still spitting bubbles.

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Its the Oceanic Biocube skimmer for 14 and 29 gal BCs, but I removed that when I initially installed the new pump, havent put it back in. The water level is already about an inch above the the Maximum line, do you still think it needs more?

 

What's frustrating me the most is we didn't have this issue before we tried switching pumps, and even now that we've re-installed the stock pump, it continues. Do you think we should put the skimmer back in? (Was trying the charcoal, filter floss, purigen thing in place of).

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ohai.its.steven.

i would fill it up until it stops blowing bubbles. just be sure to make sure the salinity is right from adding all that water.

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Is there a waterfall in your back chamber? It could be pushing down bubbles that the pump is sucking up. Or it could be picking upnair in the connection to the output if it isn't tight enough... That actually happened to me. Good luck

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