Bubble trap

turboaf · 09-28-2009, 07:01 PM

Hello everyone,

I have a question about bubble traps and if they have to be three pieces of glass or is two enough?

Here is a little back ground I have started a new tank going from a 60 gal to a 125 gal and from a canister filter and HOB refugium to a 30 gal sump.

The sump was four chambers so i have modified it to be three. Each chamber has two piece of glass to seperate them. The first divider is under then over the second is over then under.

The problem is I still seem to be getting micro bubbles in the DT.

Here is what i have already for my new setup.
125G glass DT
SSB caribbean Sea Aragonite reef sand 100Lbs
1x150 watt metal halide
AuqaC EV 240 skimmer
Lifegard Quiet One 6000, return to DT
LifegardQuiet One 5000, skimmer pump
tunze turbelle stream 6065
tunze turbelle nanostream 6045

Will be adding 150 to 200lbs of cooked LR
and 2 T-5 to supplemental light. The lighting is still being look at as I have not made up my mind yet. I'm also running another skimmer right now that is a Venturi style and handles about 60 gal/hr

fish
2 Ocellaris Clownfish
1 lawnmower blenny
1 coral beauty
1 six line wrasse
1 bicolor basslet
1 engineer goby
1Sleeper Gold Head Goby
1 orange starfish
1 sand sifter star
2 blue footed hermit crabs

Thanks to everyone for all your past help this site has been great, any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Fat Tony · 09-28-2009, 07:11 PM

2 weirs are often enough to keep the bubbles in the trap and not in the display tank. BUT, this all depends on the flow through the sump.

turboaf · 09-29-2009, 10:59 AM

Thanks Tony, is there any thing to consider or check when dealing with flow in the sump?

Fat Tony · 09-29-2009, 11:49 AM

It all depends on the sump. A slower flow through a narrower sump will equate to the need of another weir to control bubbles as the water flow is forced into a narrower channel. The same flow through a wider sump will be much easier to manage bubbles getting through the trap. Ideally, you want to shoot for around 3-5x's the volume of the sump as your flow through, but that is not always achievable. For instance, I have about 27 gallons of volume in my sump, yet I push about 500 gph through it. That is about 20x's the volume. I use a 12' wide 33 gal long tank as my sump and have 0 issues with 2 weirs and microbubbles making it back to the display.

turboaf · 09-29-2009, 08:12 PM

thanks again i looked at my sump this morning and I'm not sure it's the sump it self.
I think it might be the pluming on the return or the return pump it self. I will do some more looking around to day and let you know thanks.

By the way your build was awesome I read the whole post last night, work can be slow lol.

Fat Tony · 09-29-2009, 08:20 PM

LOL.. Thanks. I really enjoyed the build on this tank. My next tank will be a tad different though.

chimera · 09-30-2009, 06:26 AM

heres a pic of a bubble trap a mate made which sits prior to the weirs in his sump (thus minimising microbubbles in the sump even further). worked so well I did the same on mine - reduces salt creep too! water enters the side of the chamber (can't see in pic). the whole unit is enclosed with just enough holes at the bottom (experiment depending on flow) to let water escape sufficiently. the pipe at the top is for air + allows for any excess water. all the "bubbling" goes on inside the chamber.

turboaf · 09-30-2009, 10:42 AM

Nice thanks for the idea, it is so awesome the wealth of info that everyone here provides. I think that half of the fun has been reading and gathering the info and this site has been awesome.

So I did so more poking around in my sump this morning and I think that the bubbles are coming from my new skimmer, it is still in the break in stage. The amount of bubble has decreased a little over the last two days. thanks again everyone for all your help.