Plastic cup for bubble reduction on scrubber - Need help/ advice?

[milk]

So - I built an algae scrubber that sits above the tank in a rubbermaid tub for my 10 gallon. Its working well, but the problem was that the drain coming from the scrubber and returning into my tank's overflow was producing a lot of bubbles as the force force of the water coming from a height of about a foot was gushing into the tank's water. The drain leaves the scrubber, makes a 90 degree elbow turn and goes into the overflow area of my tank. The drain is close to the return pump to my tank (not much room in a 10 gallon overflow area) and was creating bubbles that were then being distributed into the display.

 

So I figured if I could force the bubbles to go to the surface without coming in contact with the pump = no more bubbles in the display. I did this by simply putting a plastic cup underneath where the drain comes into the overflow, so it drains into the cup, the water stays in the cup (the cup is a barrier for the bubbles) until it flows out closer to the surface. This reduced the contact that the pump had with the bubbles immensely, and now there's is very minimal bubbles in the display.

 

The cup I used however might be a problem. It is a plastic drinking cup that you get from the zoo. Figured its made of cheap plastic, and I'm concerned things may leech into the tank over time. I couldn't think of another way to create this without making and siliconing an acrylic "box" togerther that I could put under the drain that would serve the same purpose. I may still have to do this however if the cup deems tank death, I just don't want to do extra work .

 

I believe that the bubbles from the return drain are in part caused by the air sucking sound that is created in the rubbermaid as the water leaves into the drain. I have read of people fixing the sucking sound on various overflows by created a T connector where the water leaves as opposed to a straight pipe. I'm going to buy one and try it out today and see if I can fix both problems at once

[milk]

well it turns out that the T valve worked great! - what I did was take a T connector, cap one end with a few holes popped through to minimize the air flow and the gurgling and sucking is 100% gone! I used to be able to hear it from the other side of the house, now nothing. The bad news is that the bubbles are still there, but the cup is doing the trick - still need to know if the plastic is going to leech harmful chemicals..

[milk]

Or just use a glass cup! LMFAO duh! problem solved everybody..

[Miles A]

Glad i could help lol