baffle design to rap bubbles

ok i have a microbubble problem, my return pump from refugium puts them into my display. i have tried SO many things to get rid of these and nothing works. of all the problems i have overcome with this tank, microbubbles are proving to be the most difficult by a longshot. just today i went out and got alot of filter foam to try to stop them, they go right through it. i have no baffles but they are my last chance. what is the configuration i need to trap these suckers! it is a 10 gallon fuge and i dont have alot of space to play with. please help i have hit a brick wall with this. do all of your baffles work?

 

With a 10 gallon, you don't have much room for a return section. This is where you will see the evaporation and if it's too small you run a serious risk of running the pump dry. I would section it in half and just have a short baffle going from the bottom up about 8-10", how ever high you want the water level in that section, the have a baffle going from the top down to about an 1" from the bottom, don't worry about another baffle, it's really not needed. I assume it's your skimmer producing these bubbles? Or is it the drain?

 

have you tried filter socks?

~Will.

 

both the drain and the skimmer are making the bubbles.so i like the idea of just doing the two baffles. how do the baffles eliminate the bubbles? when the water is forced to flow down and under the 1" gap the bubbles cant sink down to the bottom and therefore dont make it to the return side? how do you determine the water level on the return side? or will it just be even height with the baffles.

 

yea when the water flows over one, you can have a foam sponge in if desired and that will catch all the bubbles as the water runs through it as it reaches the return pump reservoir. i have one of my sumps set up this way.

the water height (return) will be the height of your lowest baffle at max capacity, though for the most part its in a state of flux secondary to water levels...

for instance say you have a 20 inch tall sump. return drain from tank into sump, raises over a 15 inch baffle, then flows through skimmer area before hitting a 10 inch baffle, then foam and another 10 inch baffle raised 1 inch from base to the return pump reservoir. If you fill the sump/dt enough the water level in your return reservoir will raise.

i hope this helps!

 

That's basically right. If you had three baffles, the water height in the return would be determined by the last baffle, but I believe the water height will be determined by the first baffle.

 

properly designed baffles are the only way to prevent microbubbles from getting into your display tank...

even then you need a bubble trap sponge in between.

I have a sump w/o baffles and my skimmer shoots loads of microbubbles because it's a cheap POS...

i have tried everything including using rock walls etc to reduce them they've been marginally effective at best.

i like the three baffled sections because it gives more opportunities for the bubbles to rise out to the top w/o being transferred.

the more baffles, sponges, and space between your skimmer and return the better i say... having a quality skimmer doesn't hurt either

 

my skimmer output is going into the filter sock with the drain lines from the bulkheads. works good.