Problems adding a second refugium

I recently added a second refugium to my set-up. Problem was that when I added the refugium I also added a insane amount of micro bubbles to my tank. Here is my build:



Any advice on how I can change my design to get the overflow bubbles reduced to zero?

 

Also the reason I had the overflow going into the return pump section was to reduce the amount of flow through the sump/fuge

 

Your problem is that the overflow is going directly into the return chamber, put it in the skimmer section.

 

Like Devin said, put the return into the skimmer section. Or add a bubble trap into your return section, but that requires a lot more work!

 

Ya, it looks like you need to put sump 2 return into your skimmer section before the bubble trap. You might just have to rely on sump 2 for slow movement. But, you could always throttle back your return pump and slow down the gph through sump 1.

 

Your drawing doesn't show a valve to slow the water going to 2nd fuge. You either got water runnin to fast or the bubbles are coming from the fall into the pump section. I wouldn't want my fuge water runnin through the carbon & filters. You would lose pod population. I would throttle back flow into 2nd fuge. You could also try putting a type of bubble diffuser on end of 2nd fuge pipe. You might need a combination of things in order for it to work.

 

Yeah I forgot to show the ball valves. I have a ball valve on each line after the "T" from the return pump. Would a peice of acryllic at a angle reduce the bubbles? Anyone ever try to make a bubble trap out of PVC pipe? Like a series of eblows in a fashion similar to the baffles? Like you said, thats the main reason to put the overflow in the return chamber.. I just imagined all those pods getting skimmed out :/ Maybe Ill just bite the bullet and use this extra fuge as a extra bio filter/water volume and not worry about the pods going into the skimmer. As for the filter pads, the pods seem to like them, I see hundreds of pods living in the pads eating the algae that grows on the top one from the lighting I use.

 

Maybe try putting a cup that sits on sump bottom but the rim breaks the surface & water overflows out of cup. Should be enough to contain bubbles & give them a chance to break before entering pump.

 

prefilter sponge on the pipe may reduce the bubbles. You will have to rinse out out occasionally. I put one on my drain pipe to reduce noise.

 

What a great idea, I will give this a shot.

RoloSaez, I will try this too, thanks