Innovative Marine AIO - Micro bubbles?

[saltcats]

I'm having a lot of issues with the return pump in my new IM AIO tank creating micro bubbles in the display. Per the instructions I have about a 1" drop over the last baffle to the return pump section, but this seems to create and push a lot of large bubbles down to be pulled in by the pump. I'm pretty sure I'm already running the tank more full than intended so I'm hesitant to add more water - without the filter media caddy installed there was almost no drop at all, maybe 1/4". I am not running a skimmer or anything else that would create bubbles. I can add pictures of the setup if that would be helpful.

I couldn't find much about this searching online, not sure if I set it up wrong somehow? Has anyone else had this problem and found a good solution? Thanks!

 

[PicassoClown04]

Hi! I have this tank and also had this problem. But I fixed it

can you post a pic of the water level?

make sure that little cage around the intake for the pump is clean, mine got clogged with bubble algae and caused bubbles

are you running a skimmer? If the skimmer doesn’t have a sponge in it then it will cause bubbles

obviously, low water level will also do this

is all your filter media clean? If it’s clogged, water will drain slower causing the water level in the return chamber to drop

 

[saltcats]

Hi! I have this tank and also had this problem. But I fixed it

can you post a pic of the water level?

make sure that little cage around the intake for the pump is clean, mine got clogged with bubble algae and caused bubbles

are you running a skimmer? If the skimmer doesn’t have a sponge in it then it will cause bubbles

obviously, low water level will also do this

is all your filter media clean? If it’s clogged, water will drain slower causing the water level in the return chamber to drop

The level in feed mode with the pump turned off is about 1" from the top of the glass.

With the pump running at 1.6 it looks like this -

It's definitely clean - it's been doing this since I first filled the tank and I have no algae yet.

No skimmer; my media is not currently clean (has rock dust in it from set up) but I still had bubbles when I first added it, and after I've rinsed and replaced it.

 

[PicassoClown04]

The level in feed mode with the pump turned off is about 1" from the top of the glass.

With the pump running at 1.6 it looks like this -

It's definitely clean - it's been doing this since I first filled the tank and I have no algae yet.

No skimmer; my media is not currently clean (has rock dust in it from set up) but I still had bubbles when I first added it, and after I've rinsed and replaced it.

Hmm, the water in the return seems low. my hands get wet when i need to take the pump out to clean it. Can you post a pic of the water level in the tank, like the display's level? Here’s mine, I think it needs to run pretty full

 

[saltcats]

Hmm, the water in the return seems low. my hands get wet when i need to take the pump out to clean it. Can you post a pic of the water level in the tank, like the display's level? Here’s mine, I think it needs to run pretty full

Thanks!
Here's mine with the pump off -

and then pump on -

I'm happy to add more water if that's what's needed! Tried to take pics with the overflow grill in for reference
What is the level in your return chamber like?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Here’s the return! Sorry about the blue, I seem to have misplaced my filter! Hopefully you can see

 

[saltcats]

Here’s the return! Sorry about the blue, I seem to have misplaced my filter! Hopefully you can see

That makes sense! Thanks very much, I'll try adding more water and see if that fixes it

 

[PicassoClown04]

That makes sense! Thanks very much, I'll try adding more water and see if that fixes it

I honestly don’t think that your water level is the issue, mine is actually slightly lower than yours in the DT. I think you have a blockage somewhere in the AIO compartment

 

[saltcats]

I honestly don’t think that your water level is the issue, mine is actually slightly lower than yours in the DT. I think you have a blockage somewhere in the AIO compartment

I'll check that out - the level around the pump definitely dropped a lot after I added the media in (just using the stuff that came with it, and a piece of floss to help with new sand/rock debris). Thanks so much for the help! Hopefully either messing with the media or adding more water will solve the issue

 

[PicassoClown04]

I'll check that out - the level around the pump definitely dropped a lot after I added the media in (just using the stuff that came with it, and a piece of floss to help with new sand/rock debris). Thanks so much for the help! Hopefully either messing with the media or adding more water will solve the issue

I’m running mine with filter floss and bioballs in a caddy in the first compartment. Very easy to clean and doesn’t really get clogged unless you leave it for 3+ weeks. I think it works a lot better than that giant black sponge thing

 

[saltcats]

I’m running mine with filter floss and bioballs in a caddy in the first compartment. Very easy to clean and doesn’t really get clogged unless you leave it for 3+ weeks. I think it works a lot better than that giant black sponge thing

Mine came with some carbon, a little brown packet which I think is for phosphate (can't recall off the top of my head!), and a set of 4 pompom-esque balls tied together - no sponge. Interesting to hear they sent different stuff with yours!

I took out all the media and ran just the empty caddy - still had bubbles, although not as many. Not sure if the water level in the return compartment changed much, will experiment again tomorrow when I can get an assistant to take photos while my hands are salty
In the meantime I've turned the pump all the way down to 1.1 which has almost (but not entirely) eliminated the bubbles, so I'm not totally sure where to go from there. I think my water level in the return chamber is still a little lower than yours (at the slow pump setting) so maybe that's still my issue?

Thanks again for all your help with this! Hopefully I can get it figured out and not have to look at sprite water anymore

 

[saltcats]

Today I took pictures of the water level with the caddy full of media, and then with no caddy, to confirm if the bubble issue was related to the depth - and realised even with no caddy to slow the flow the level in the pump chamber was pretty low! So I've added a little more water and I think the issue is solved, fingers crossed!

It's surprising because I think my display level is on the high side compared to others I've seen but everything seems to be running smoothly like this. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Jib]

While IM reccomends a 1" drop, I also found this caused micro bubbles. I have my ATO set to maintain about 1/4" drop from the second to third chamber. This more or less keeps the tank free of the microbubbles.

 

[Ckane2]

I had this same problem recently when I set up my Nuvo 10, the only thing I’ve done that has stopped it is raising the water level in the third chamber. Following this thread to see if anybody has other suggestions

 

[saltcats]

I had this same problem recently when I set up my Nuvo 10, the only thing I’ve done that has stopped it is raising the water level in the third chamber. Following this thread to see if anybody has other suggestions

I found a couple suggestions online for putting a sponge or something over the pump intake to stop the bubbles, but I think that'd restrict flow a lot... Strange they suggest having the level so much lower if that seems to fairly consistently cause this issue!

The only other thing I could think of was creating some kind of ramp type thing, so that the water from the second chamber doesn't enter directly over the intake. I figured then any bubbles would be too far to get pulled in, but I hadn't got so far as to figure out a design.

 

[jazzfisher]

Just saw this thread. I also had this problem on my new Nuvo 10. ( I have a Nuvo 30L my main tank). I was getting micro bubbles with the sock or the caddy in place. I just got the tank on Black Friday so wasn’t dirty media. The only thing I could figure out to stop them was to put more water in the 3rd chamber. Also the pump barely fits/ extremely a tight fit, thought that might have something to do with it.
I have the pump turned down about as low as it can go, it was so strong my baby captive mandarin could hardly swim. This is just a grow out tank for him, until he is big enough to introduce to my female.

 

[Reefer1485]

O wow I think I’m running mine wrong then. In the sump area I keep the water level all the way up to the bottom of the return outlets. Is that too high then?

 

[saltcats]

O wow I think I’m running mine wrong then. In the sump area I keep the water level all the way up to the bottom of the return outlets. Is that too high then?

Is that above the glass baffle? Mine I have now so it's got a slight drop in the water level but it's not actually falling over the edge, if that makes sense. I might try to lower it slightly but for now it seems to be working alright.
I did find that if it goes any higher than this, I notice some bacterial film developing in the second chamber due to not enough surface flow.

 

[Reefer1485]

Is that above the glass baffle? Mine I have now so it's got a slight drop in the water level but it's not actually falling over the edge, if that makes sense. I might try to lower it slightly but for now it seems to be working alright.
I did find that if it goes any higher than this, I notice some bacterial film developing in the second chamber due to not enough surface flow.

Yeah then I am running mine two high. I will lower my water level