OP
OP
I just figured out the whole issue. This is gonna sound crazy or stupid. My husband drilled a hole in the top return pipe for a siphon break. I covered the hole ALL BUBBLES STOPPEDOK, I see your protein skimmer is not running. Has it always been that way?
Anywhere your water is actually flowing over the baffles, like a waterfall, like I can see in the lower right of picture #1 and possibly pic #2, there is the potential for bubble introduction so fill to where there is no falling water. Next get rid of the floss in the last baffle. I see that you only have two baffles and only one chamber to trap bubbles just prior to the return chamber. I also see that this is a DIY sump. (Mine as well). As such it shouldn't be too much of a problem to modify this section so that you have three baffles and two chambers for a true bubble trap just prior to your return chamber. I would place three baffles in a high-low-high configuration. This just makes cleaning the sump easier and removing detritus less of a pain. Not necessary though just easier down the line, so to speak. Currently, you have a low-high baffle configuration prior to your return chamber. Once you modify the sump, do the following.
1. Turn off everything. (You have not added or removed any water to the tank or sump, you just filled the sump to the level before you made baffle modifications) 2. Fill your sump to just barely below the top of your sump. 3. Start your return pump & let the water come to finds its level in the sump. 3. Start your protein skimmer. At this point, you will not have any floss in your new two-chamber, three baffle bubble trap this time. The trick will be figuring out how high to have your baffles. This is where adjustable baffles help. Generally, if I'm doing the DIY sump route with glued baffles I find my ideal water level to keep max water in the sump and proper flow while at the same time having the proper level for the protein skimmer before installing the baffles and then mark that level. If, at this point, you do not have sufficient water in the sump to eliminate any waterfall effects over your baffles you need to start adjusting the flow of your return pump and/or plug the anti-siphon hole you have drilled in your return line within your DT. Once you have figured enough flow, max 10 X tank volume, then put your anti -siphon hole just a hair below the surface on your return line in the DT. The idea is to eliminate as much, if not most all turbulence in the sump. Once you have done this, since you do not have livestock in your tank (I'm assuming), turn off the skimmer till you have something to skim. Don't put the floss back in. That is just a bubble trap that will let bigger bubbles through. The flow has to be fine-tuned so you are not pushing bubbles to your return section of the sump. Make sure to eliminate any bubbles sticking to any surfaces and let this ride for a week or so. It can be a little tricky but this is doable. You might have too small of a sump for the return pump. If you could give specifics about the size of your tank in volume and the size and dimensions of your sump as well as the return pump and rating as well as the protein skimmer type and size that might help others with any additional ideas/info.
