Bubble trap?

[digitalis]

Does anyone know of an easy way to stop bubbles from entering my sump? The drain comes down on 2" pvc straight down from the ceiling. The display is upstairs, and sump is downstairs. The water drops about 8 feet and creates a massive amount of bubbles. I am thinking something with a bucket or something. I am currently using a filter sock, which works, but I want something more permanent.
Any Ideas?

[DaveTheReefGeek]

Originally Posted by digitalis

Does anyone know of an easy way to stop bubbles from entering my sump? The drain comes down on 2" pvc straight down from the ceiling. The display is upstairs, and sump is downstairs. The water drops about 8 feet and creates a massive amount of bubbles. I am thinking something with a bucket or something. I am currently using a filter sock, which works, but I want something more permanent.
Any Ideas?

Sure... Ton's of ideas!!1
Here's one:
As far as controlling the bubbles, forget it. Too great a distance, the bubbles are unavoidable. As far as socks go, unless you are planning on changing them daily I would forget it. One good idea is if your sump will allow (size factor) I would put a 5gallon aquarium or some type of container inside your sump. Just make sure to prop it off the bottom of the sump (use egg crate or something similar) to keep it higher than the water level in the sump. Have your lines run into the 5gal under the surface for about 2" this should defuse enough bubbles so that it is no longer an issue.

[digitalis]

The sump is a 100G stock tank. I can use an IO bucket, Right now, the sock overflows more than it filters. There are still bubbles across the entire surface of the sump. Are you suggesting that I just put the bucket in there, and let the bubbles overflow the rim of the bucket? The filter sock does that now, and I'd like to find a way to reduce the amount of bubbles.

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by digitalis

The sump is a 100G stock tank. I can use an IO bucket, Right now, the sock overflows more than it filters. There are still bubbles across the entire surface of the sump. Are you suggesting that I just put the bucket in there, and let the bubbles overflow the rim of the bucket? The filter sock does that now, and I'd like to find a way to reduce the amount of bubbles.

Why not a DIY p-trap type drain for your overflow?


I can't draw worth a flip in Paint. The green would be elbows, the pink is a T, the blue is a ball valve. The idea would be the drain comes down, elbows into a T then elbows back up, at the top it would make a double elbow back down into your sump. The ball valve is so that you can "dump" the trap so that debris, detritus and even critters that get caught in it don't stop up the drain. The T is to give it a place to settle without blocking flow through the drain. When you do maintenance, you dump the ball valve and drain it, then shut it off. If the riser pipe on the right hand side went up about two feet, the bubbles would get trapped and should dissipate on the left side. You may still get a few bubbles but not like what you are describing now. It would break up the fall from the overflow and give the bubbles time to dissipate.

[crvz]

Do you have any baffles in the sump? That's how I've controlled bubbles coming from the drain and skimmer.

[Elegance Coral]

I was having the same problem. This is how I fixed it. I expanded the drain pipe to 4" and drilled holes down in the slots where the arrow is. A few feet below this the pipe drops back down to 1.5". I put a valve near the bottom so that I can adjust the height of the water in the 4" pipe. The air bubbles escape through the holes in the top and nothing but water comes out the bottom.

[digitalis]

Originally Posted by Elegance Coral

I was having the same problem. This is how I fixed it. I expanded the drain pipe to 4" and drilled holes down in the slots where the arrow is. A few feet below this the pipe drops back down to 1.5". I put a valve near the bottom so that I can adjust the height of the water in the 4" pipe. The air bubbles escape through the holes in the top and nothing but water comes out the bottom.

Good idea. Is that a 1.5-4" reducer bushing?

[digitalis]

Originally Posted by OneDummHikk

Why not a DIY p-trap type drain for your overflow?


I can't draw worth a flip in Paint. The green would be elbows, the pink is a T, the blue is a ball valve. The idea would be the drain comes down, elbows into a T then elbows back up, at the top it would make a double elbow back down into your sump. The ball valve is so that you can "dump" the trap so that debris, detritus and even critters that get caught in it don't stop up the drain. The T is to give it a place to settle without blocking flow through the drain. When you do maintenance, you dump the ball valve and drain it, then shut it off. If the riser pipe on the right hand side went up about two feet, the bubbles would get trapped and should dissipate on the left side. You may still get a few bubbles but not like what you are describing now. It would break up the fall from the overflow and give the bubbles time to dissipate.

I tried a similar approach, but it restricted water flow too much and the overflows in the display backed up more than I'd like them to.

[digitalis]

Originally Posted by crvz

Do you have any baffles in the sump? That's how I've controlled bubbles coming from the drain and skimmer.

I considered that, but really nowhere to attach easily, and the bubbles still back up. When I run chemiclean in the tank, that baffle area would (most likely) just become a protein skimmer water column.

[david426]

I put a makeshift bubble screen on the intake. I had a 1" bulkhead below the drain sucking bubbles and blowing them into the display, which is different than your issue but I'll share anyway. I used a 1" pvc pipe that I'd drilled a bunch of holes into and one of those foam filter blocks available at the lfs. Use a knife and stab an "x" down through the long end of the block but don't go all the way down to the other end. Now shove the pipe into the block and then insert the pipe into your bulkhead. No more bubbles. Now however I have to pull the thing out once a week and wring it out but it's really no bother.