IM Fusion Pro 10 - Microbubble Madness!

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Just set this tank up a few days ago. New sand but rock and water directly transferred from an old tank so no cycle. So far so good, corals are all open except the toadstool which looks like it would like to shed first. No fish, just three snails.

The only real problem is that I'm getting a ton of microbubbles in the display. No skimmer, just the media caddy with filter floss and a bag of carbon in the first chamber, a heater in the second chamber, and stock return pump in the third.

I've tried turning the return pump to it's lowest setting but still tons of microbubbles. All connections look good on the pump. Could some of this just be break in related, like once everything has a good biofilm it might go away? Third chamber has the water level set to about 1" below the baffle as per the instructions that came with the tank.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Bleigh]

Just set this tank up a few days ago. New sand but rock and water directly transferred from an old tank so no cycle. So far so good, corals are all open except the toadstool which looks like it would like to shed first. No fish, just three snails.

The only real problem is that I'm getting a ton of microbubbles in the display. No skimmer, just the media caddy with filter floss and a bag of carbon in the first chamber, a heater in the second chamber, and stock return pump in the third.

I've tried turning the return pump to it's lowest setting but still tons of microbubbles. All connections look good on the pump. Could some of this just be break in related, like once everything has a good biofilm it might go away? Third chamber has the water level set to about 1" below the baffle as per the instructions that came with the tank.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Hmmm... Perhaps biofilm will help? Can you tell if the return pump is sucking in air? If I put my power heads too close to the surface, a vortex is formed, it sucks in some air, and shoots out some bubbles. Not really sure how to fix that without raising the water level.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Hmmm... Perhaps biofilm will help? Can you tell if the return pump is sucking in air? If I put my power heads too close to the surface, a vortex is formed, it sucks in some air, and shoots out some bubbles. Not really sure how to fix that without raising the water level.

Thanks for the reply. I've been shining a flashlight down there in an effort to get a good look at what's going on. It could be turbulence related since it seems to get slightly better with the water level higher. It's definitely worse when it needs to be topped off. I might try some creative filter sponge placement to see if the problem magically goes away.

Probably going to pull the pump tomorrow and see if there could be something else going on. It's always possible I got a faulty pump, these things do happen.

I even wonder if I just have a self perpetuating issue with the pump spitting bubbles and the bubbles going back through the intake and down into the pump! I guess unlikely with all the filter media but I'm getting the feeling that there are some funny "gotchas" when you're working on such a small scale.

Not panicking yet. The corals seem happy anyway, it just ruins my view a bit.

 

[un5tab1e]

Had the same issue with my Fiji Cube 10. Raised the water in the return chamber and it stopped. Now that it's ran a couple weeks it don't do it even when it's lowered back down.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Had the same issue with my Fiji Cube 10. Raised the water in the return chamber and it stopped. Now that it's ran a couple weeks it don't do it even when it's lowered back down.

That's excellent! So more than likely this, like so many things in this hobby, will just be a matter of patience.