Help, too many micro bubbles.

[deep blue]

I need help. I have too many micro bubbles in my tank. I thought that over time they would dissipate like in times past but it doesn't seem to be the case. The tank has been set up for five months now and still heave bubbleage. I have an overflow and a protien skimmer that add air to the water. The overflow falls to the sump below where the protien skimmer also is. From there the water is returned back to the tank. I have tried to put a sponge on the return line but that didn't help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[adrian]

Do you have any partitions in your sump? If you can arrange your overflow and skimmer so that the bubbles have time to rise before being sucked up by the return it should put a stop to the bubbles. HTH

 

[wolffam]

I inserted a small piece of plexiglass to deflect the overflow water. This is set at an angle to the water. Water hits the glass and then slides down into the sump. The only bubbles created tend to be caught at the surface like a river going over a small waterfall. HTH

 

[jimi]

I have flexible pvc tubing on my skimmer return lines that return as far away from the pump intake and as close to the water as possible. Both lines run on to a Poly-Filter, no bubbles. If that is not the problem depending on the type of pump you have make sure you intake fittings and hoses are tight. When I initially installed my iwaki I was getting small bubbles constantly blown in my tank. After eliminating any sump/skimmer possibilities I turned the pump off took off the clamp and tubing, unsrewed the fitting, doubled the teflon tape on the fitting then put it all back together. No more bubbles. My lfs had told me to do this because alot of times if your intake is not completely sealed it will actually suck air in through the smallest crack or unsealed area causing microbubbles without leaking.

 

[calvin & hobbes]

Do you use any chemicals like stress coat or stress zyme. These products seem to create those bubbles while your skimmer is removing them.

 

[kodi]

What type of overflow do you have. There are some mods that can be made to some overflows that really help.

 

[deep blue]

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I don't add any chems that could be increasing the bubbles so I think that I will have to try replumming like jimi advised. I'm not sure what a poly filter is but I run a little giant pump. Maybe that is the culprit, I will keep you posted.

 

[salttrigger]

If you have a DSB this also produce bubbles in your tank the nitrates are changes in to nitrogen gas bubbles.

 

[deep blue]

Thanks to the good advice the problem is now under control. No more micro bubbles. I replummbed my pump with hard PVC and doubbled up on the Teflon tape. Somehow the pump was sucking air without leaking water. Thanks!

 

[jimi]

Glad I could help. The pump has so much sucking force on the intake side it actually sucks the air into the water through the smallest space without leaking.