SEIO820 Creating MicroBubbles??

[sticky]

Next I placed sponge at the pump bulkhead with LR piled around it



I then placed sponge between the skimmer baffle and the refugium to catch just about anything that comes in that area.

[sticky]

This has just about eliminated the microbubbles from the system, when I do get them, they usually come out of the T and float right to the surface. There are just some sand debris floating about, pods, and some left over shrimp that the cleanup crew hasnt caught yet.

[jerryc]

Sounds like it works

But be careful of all those sponges Thea can be a nitrite factory if not
cleaned ever few days

[davejnz]

I agree with Jerry,sponges are a bad idea in reef tanks for a number of reasons.First off,they filter particulates/food itens that corals/inverts can use.Secondly,they area good medium for the growth of bacteria.This bacteria is responsible for converting Ammonia all the way to Nitrate.The end result is high Nitrate levels in the water.You will have to clean them at least twice a week.If you must use them,buy duplicate sponges that you can alternate on a bi-weekly schedule.After cleaning the old sponges,soak them in freshwater with just a capful of bleach for a couple hours to kill the bacteria.Then remove them,rinse them thouroughly and let dry.

[sticky]

I hope I don't have to keep the sponges in place. After my Ich problem, Once I get tank settled down and cleaned up again I would like to be able to remove all but the 1 sponge infront of the bulkhead. I am going to try removing them 1 by 1 until I get down to zero if possible and just use the LR piled up around the bulkhead. I have to admit 1 thing about the sponges it cleared up my sandstorm in a matter of no time with sponges catching the debris.

[sticky]

Well after thinking, planning and working on ideas this is what I came up with

Created Baffles and use a natural type of filtration. With my new setup I have tons of room in my refugium as well the cheato now acts as a microbubble filtration system.




Just a simple little PVC/Egg Crate stand now puts my cheato where the overflow from the ref heads into the next baffle creating a nice filters. Now there are NO SPONGES in my tank to worry about.

Maybe this will help some of you, or maybe some of you have already done this.

[jerryc]

Looks like a good setup and no sponges is always good