My New 90 Gallon Reef Build

[Myers13]

Here's where I'm at with Equipment:

90 Gallon Non-Drilled Aquarium
Aqueon Proflex Modular Sump Model 3
Coralife Super Skimmer 125
Aqueon 4000 Submersible Return Pump
Coralife Mini T5HO Refugium Lighting
Hydor Koralia Evolution 1050 Circulation Pumps x2
Ocean Pulse Duo Wavemaker Controller
Eshopp's PF800 Overflow Box
Loc Line x2 at end of Return Line
OR IT2080 Programmable LED Lighting
BRS Carbon & GFO Reactor
AutoAqua Smart ATO System

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[Myers13]

Currently, I have a Hammer Coral, Nuclear Green Palys, Texas Trash, Green Bird's Nest, & a Leathery Toadstool. I'll be stocking more Mushrooms, Zoa's & Paly's, and Frogspawn over time.
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[Myers13]

My Fish and Inverts consist of 1 Cardinal, 1 Pink Firefish, I Diamond Watchman Goby, 1 Coral banded Shrimp, 1 Bloodred Cleaner Shrimp, 2 Peppermint Shrimp, 1 Green Emerald Crab, several Blue Hermit Crabs, several baby Fighting Conchs, 1 Black Urchin, and 2 Sand Sifting Starfish.
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[jimsflies]

Looking great! How's your flow rate with the return and sump been since you worked on it?

[Myers13]

Everything is flowing great Jim! There's only one thing that I'm not completely satisfied with - MICROBUBBLES lol! I've tried a few things to eliminate them, however no luck yet lol. I can see them I'm the return chamber so I unplugged the skimmer and eliminated that as the source, I just installed a GFO & carbon reactor but had them previous to that but eliminated that as a source as well. I have a baffle (bubble trap) in between the refugium and return chamber where there is a 2" x 4" x 13½" sponge. I believe the sponge is supposed to be at the bottom of the baffle to stop microbubbles, but I've tried raising it up to the top of the waterline where the waterfall hits, and I also bought a second sponge to fill the entire baffle space from the bottom to above the waterline. Still have microbubbles. I'm not quite sure what to try next as my plumbing parts should all be well coated in a slime later by now, even if the skimmer was the issue I have routed it's drain into the refugium chamber, quadruple checked all return line joints, and have my return loc lines submerged far enough below the water surface as to avoid pulling air from vortex swirls lol. If you, or anyone else have any suggestions, or need some additional pictures of the system to form an opinion, please let me know.

[jimsflies]

It looks like you don't have an adaquate bubble trap in your sump. There should be a trap between the refugium section and the pump. Air is being entrained when the water cascades out of the refugium. See this photo I grabbed off the net:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_L37iXeurD4c/TEtaNnyQPxI/AAAAAAAAACs/F0oLGacJAK4/s1600/Bubble+Trap.jpg

With that said, try raising the operating water level in your return chamber (make sure you still have enough free board so if the return pump is off that the sump doesn't overflow). Also turn your pump around so the intake is on the other side from where the water enters the return area. This might be enough to help dissipate bubbles before entering the return pump. If that doesn't help, you could jam filter floss in that baffle between the refugium and return area...but this could create nutrient issues in the long run by trapping detritus.

[Myers13]

There are 2 bubble traps in the sump actually, but are they adequate lol? I'm not sure. I was playing around with the water level in the return chamber when I got your message. Here's a couple pics of the traps.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/22/e8a373ccc5d1c250d5a499e903a5dfee.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/22/1be441afea33a9ee3d0b281e7d194448.jpg

I will turn the return pump around today. The 2nd bubble trap is the one I was curious about. That's the one with the blue sponge. Normally, wouldn't the sponge be submerged fully resting at the bottom of the sump to catch bubbles as the come over the waterfall? That's usually how it sits. It seems that if my water level is higher than that baffle, the bubbles will flow right over into the return chamber, but if I keep my water level just under the height of that baffle, the bubbles cannot travel over the top. Although in retrospect, the water level is not playing a role in the amount of microbubbles in my DT. Even when I doubled up the sponges in that baffle (where the blue sponge is in the pic, I put another same size sponge on top of it,) out didn't effect the amount of bubbles in the DT.

[jimsflies]

I may not be seeing it correctly in your photos. But a bubble trap should have a down flow and then an up flow component. I'm only seeing the down flow and then it is flowing into the chamber with your return pump. (Missing a baffle?)

I always found that dialing the flow back through the sump also helps a lot with bubbles. As we discussed in the past, the flow in the sump doesn't have to be very much...it could be as low as 3x turnover of the main tank (90*3= 270 gallons per hour).

Turning the pump so it intakes on the far side of the sump should help. You could also install a down turned elbow on the intake so it is less likely to get floating bubbles by intaking closer to the bottom of the sump. Raising the water level in the sump would also help distance the intake from the water surface (as well as minimize the drop out of the refugium).

[Myers13]

Okay, sounds like I've got a little "return chamber rearranging" to do again lol. I'll try those things you pointed out and see what happens. I wonder if there's a fellow reefer in the area who's proficient in sump mechanics lol? It'd sure be nice to have someone take a look at it. Are you coming to this side off the state again anytime soon Jim lol? If not, maybe I can convince Andy.

[Myers13]

Well Jim I'm totally frustrated again lol. I did everything we talked about in hopes of eliminating the microbubbles,. I made the changes to the return line, return pump, bubble trap, baffle walls, and reduced the flow dramatically. I have the same amount of microbubbles in the DT as before. I honestly don't even understand how that is physically possible. It's almost as if the laws of physics cease to exist in my tank lol. I've included some pics do you can see. If you can't see everything well enough, I can shoot a short video to your email. I thought for sure after I reduced the flow by as much as I did, it would make s difference, but it looks exactly the same. Here's the pics, please let me know what you think. Or if anyone else has any ideas, if love to hear them.
--> Mike
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/1fed5a9371996b61e9b028ca0fe638f2.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/0c211dfd216e3cbf57badf439925ae56.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/ec186e9bd8a7fb69ba11d96e6909204f.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/572ea29458002c2a475f91db2d6da9cc.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/6851a6b476b8de8c63ada6d27752a431.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/25/d6ce3fb5c6d7c5ea43e6c5fe752166c8.jpg

[Myers13]

Well, evidently Aqueon & BRS have no advice for the elimination of my microbubbles except everything I've already done lol. After a week of raising the return chamber water level and adjusting the height of the adjustable wall before the refugium chamber, there's is no difference in microbubbles. I even removed the intake cover on the return pump to eliminate the possibility of pump cavitation. And in fact, letting the adjustable wall only made matters worse because without the waterfall effect from the drain chamber, my refugium wasn't getting any water circulation. Water was just gliding across the top of the refugium chamber and flowing into the return. The microbubbles are really irritating because my water is so clean and clear from the new GFO and carbon reactor lol. If it wasn't for the microbubbles, I'd be in heaven! I'm going to try one last thing - I'm going to pick up some coarse sponge from the lfs/pond shop and replace my sponge in the bubble trap with that. It appears that the microbubbles are flowing through that and right into the return pump. We'll see how that goes lol.

[Myers13]

Has anyone else had a microbubble issue using the proflex sump? Or a microbubble issue at all that resolved by doing something I haven't tried yet?

[binford4000]

Install a ball valve in your return line and adjust the return chamber level tell the bubble issue goes away. Micro bubbles are common with that style pump or change to a lower profile pump I.e. the water blaster or something with a more unrestricted inlet. The valve would be my first choice

[larryandlaura]

You will not go wrong with a water blaster. Its all I use. Did you try a sponge in between the bubble traps?

[binford4000]

Larry , I am thinking the pump is over rated for the water level which is causing Micro bubbles . I think if he restricts the return slightly it will raise the compartment level and the pump will stop sucking air. Been down this road long long time ago when wet dry sumps became all the rage!