sump help

[magicbuddha19]

I am currently having some trouble with my sump which is causing microbubbles in my aquarium and loud noises in my room...they are coming from the return pump and I think the skimmer has something to do with it. the skimmer is a reef octopus. in the manual it says that the return needs to be above the water line which is causing a lot of noise. does anyone know if it is ok to make the water line halfway up the return or somewhere near there? Also

 

[Reefing Madness]

The water line is supposed to be maintained constant for skimmers. If your getting bubbles in the DT from the rerurn pump, its sucking air from somewhere. Gotta find out where its getting air from. If you think its the skimmer, turn the skimmer off but not the return pump, are there still bubbles?

 

[ReeferEric]

Um... do you have the skimmer in the same chamber as the return pump? If so, then this is another part of the problem.

Like Reefing Madness said, a low water level will put out more microbubbles and not be consistent with skimming if it is at all.