Air Bubbles throughout whole tank

[ashleigh234]

Hi all
I have just purchased a fully set up tank (has been running for a year) from someone local, and was up until 3am putting the thing back together.
Although I now see we have micro air bubbles blowing out of the tubes that come from the pump.
This was not happening before in the tank before we disassembled it. We have turned the pump on and off a few times to try and get rid of any air pockets etc but to no avail.
We have sponges in the sump to reduce air bubbles which were there before, could we perhaps have them in the wrong place, or could the sump not be full enough?
Any input appreciated as I dont like to look at airbubbles and im sure the fish dont like them either!

 

[ifirefight]

Going to need some pictures in order to figure this out. Way to many variables. Make sure all your connections are tight and you are not sucking air in anyplace. Moving a tank causes all kinds of things to move around and loosen up...some stuff may even of had salt creep sealing a potential air leak ,and may have come dislodged.

 

[ashleigh234]

Ok will have a go at checking everything out tonight.
Im in australia so its only morning here, we had the tank set up at 3am this morning and noticed the airbubbles this morning when it was fully clear (good pump, looks perfect except the air bubbles)
If we cant manage to get the bubbles gone I will take some photos and put them up. We are looking at upgrading sump in a couple of weeks as well as the walls are low which means if we had a power cut the back flow would go over the sides of the sump, so not good, and also it will be slightly bigger in length as there are only 2 compartments on it at the moment with a sponge etc to keep bubbles at a minimum

 

[phil47952]

Ok will have a go at checking everything out tonight.
Im in australia so its only morning here, we had the tank set up at 3am this morning and noticed the airbubbles this morning when it was fully clear (good pump, looks perfect except the air bubbles)
Ashleigh,
I visited your beautiful country in 1957[I'm old] I was on a Navy Destroyer. I loved it and never forgot the great beer, LOL, I also never saw or heard of Fosters until years later.
Good luck on that new tank, you wont have any problems solving the bubble thing.
Phil

 

[ashleigh234]

I have done a little more research this morning and I have found that maybe our overflow isnt filled enough.
The water level in the overflow (which is in the corner of the tank with holes in the bottom going down to sump) is only about half way up the tank
Would this be contributing to the bubbles?
The previous owner who we picked it up from yesterday has put 3 marks on the side of the tank by the overflow, which i assume indicate the level the water should be at. We are at the top mark, or just over it, so nothing should be different in this aspect.
the water level should be within a few inches of the top, is that correct? My sump is about 35cm high so i am not sure if it will allow for the water level to be any higher. we are looking to upgrade

 

[ashleigh234]

OK we had tried adding more sponge and moving a few things around to try and stop the bubbles but it doesnt seem to help. so we are still stumped.
I have attempted to draw a pic for you to see if you can help - please dont laugh haha, its not the best, i think i got everything in the sump.

We have sponges in the side with the skimmer to stop the bubbles, i added a couple more last night and they seemed to reduce the bubbles to a very minimum. The water goes underneath the centre piece of glass, i think it has a gap there, i cant remember. Then it has some sponges and mesh to stop bubbles going through, so it seems to work from that side i think.
But then on the other side, i think there may be 1-2 inches of water above the main pump ... is that enough or will that be the reason?
Any ideas why bubbles would come out of the one outlet and not all of them?
We are looking to get a bigger sump soon, the current one is 600mm x 400mm x 400mm high. We are looking at a slightly bigger length and width, and increasing the height in the tank. ANd having 3 sections rather than 2.