Bubble Trap Material

SCH14

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I am having a ton of bubbles coming in from the return pump - coming from the skimmer. I have a reef octopus 300INT 12” skimmer that’s been going for about 3 months. Water level is around 9 inches (recommended is 7.5-8) I’ve tried to lower it all the way to 7 and no difference.

Wanted to make a bubble trap and want to know what kind to get? The last one I got from Amazon soaked up all the water within 2min and made the return chamber almost dry while I was watching it.
 

CoralB

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I am having a ton of bubbles coming in from the return pump - coming from the skimmer. I have a reef octopus 300INT 12” skimmer that’s been going for about 3 months. Water level is around 9 inches (recommended is 7.5-8) I’ve tried to lower it all the way to 7 and no difference.

Wanted to make a bubble trap and want to know what kind to get? The last one I got from Amazon soaked up all the water within 2min and made the return chamber almost dry while I was watching it.
Not sure what exactly is going on but a short video could be helpful . That said your skimmer has a adjustable speed dc motor which you can try also make sure the tube from the motor to the skimmer is clear and clean .
 
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SCH14

SCH14

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Not sure what exactly is going on but a short video could be helpful . That said your skimmer has an adjustable speed dc motor which you can try also make sure the tube from the motor to the skimmer is clear and clean .
I’ll take a look at that. LFS set it up with the build and did a great job. Speed doesn’t matter have tried all levels, bubbles stay relatively the same. I’ll take a video tomorrow and post it here.
 

CoralB

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I’ll take a look at that. LFS set it up with the build and did a great job. Speed doesn’t matter have tried all levels, bubbles stay relatively the same. I’ll take a video tomorrow and post it here.
Have you adjusted it . It may have been set up ok when they set it up but sometime you have to adjust the level by turning the valve as it could be running too wet or too dry as it can drift out of tune .
 
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SCH14

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Have you adjusted it . It may have been set up ok when they set it up but sometime you have to adjust the level by turning the valve as it could be running too wet or too dry as it can drift out of tune .
Yes I have changed the valve a ton. Been adjusting every day for 2 weeks. Doesn’t seem to change the amount of micro bubbles on the output
 

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Yes I have changed the valve a ton. Been adjusting every day for 2 weeks. Doesn’t seem to change the amount of micro bubbles on the output
I still their a crack somewhere ? Can you show a picture ?
 
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SCH14

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Have you actually raised the skimmer up so it sits in 7 inches of water? Put a 2” spacer under it.
I’ve lowered the water by not topping off to get to 7”. I can try it one more time. Only makes my salinity 1.025. Goes up from 1.024 which is beneficial for my coral. Just wanted more water flowing thru the sump. Let me try that once more since it’s been about 2 weeks. Just added my first tang and he’s 8 inches so should create a bit more bio load than what the tank had.
 

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I’ve lowered the water by not topping off to get to 7”. I can try it one more time. Only makes my salinity 1.025. Goes up from 1.024 which is beneficial for my coral. Just wanted more water flowing thru the sump. Let me try that once more since it’s been about 2 weeks. Just added my first tang and he’s 8 inches so should create a bit more bio load than what the tank had.
That’s fine but if your water levels are fluctuating then the skimmer is gonna have sorts of problems.. put some egg crate under your skimmer to keep it at 7” or get some acrylic etc.. are you manually topping off?
 
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SCH14

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That’s fine but if your water levels are fluctuating then the skimmer is gonna have sorts of problems.. put some egg crate under your skimmer to keep it at 7” or get some acrylic etc.. are you manually topping off?
Right now yes. It’s 310g so salinity doesn’t really fluctuate. Working on building an ATO straight from my Rodi storage bins
 

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Right now yes. It’s 310g so salinity doesn’t really fluctuate. Working on building an ATO straight from my Rodi storage bins
Salinity isn’t the issue… if your water level in your sump is for ever fluctuating it’s impossible to tune your skimmer properly.. I’d work on your top off for now and get that dialed then get your skimmer running perfectly… I don’t think you’ll have any bubble issues then..
 

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