Skimmer Making Too Many Bubbles

[stresco]

I have soo many bubbles in my tank, it looks like a snow globe in there. I have the skimmer in my Ameracle WetDry Sump, and since I removed the bio-media from my CPR BackPack Skimmer the buble level in my tank has increased. I have turned off the skimmer temporarily while i am treating my tank for ICH (see http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=4720&highlight= ) and i have noticed that i dont have any more bubbles in my tank.

Here is what im thinking: I want to get another one of those cheap timers from Home Depot and plug the skimmer into it. I will set it to run over night when the lights go off and shut off in the morning before the lights come back on.

Does anybody have an opinion on this?

Are all those little bubbles in my tank bad for the inhabitants?

Will the skimmer be as effective running only 12 hours a day (at night)?

 

[reefrunner69]

Does anybody have an opinion on this?

If it is using a rio pump (like my bak pak skimmer), the rio will probably fail to start one evening and since it is running after the lights are out, you might not notice.

Are all those little bubbles in my tank bad for the inhabitants?

They can be harmful and iffitating to your fish and any inverts in the tank.

Will the skimmer be as effective running only 12 hours a day (at night)?

IMO, no. Skimmers work best when there are lower levels of organics in the tank. When the DOCs are higher a skimmer will overskim until it catches up. Over skimming will give a larger volume of effluent, but it will have a lower % of organics, cause it is mostly gonna be water. IMO, you might look into a bubble trap for the CPR skimmer, this will keep the bubbles out of the tank You might also consider purchasing the return for the CPR 2R bak pak skimmer (skimmer only), the return goes further down into the chamber (I think) and the outlet nozzel has a bubble reducer on it, it doesn't prevent the bubbles, but it's design causes the bubbles to surface within an inch or so of the return, rather than being blown around the tank.

 

[Hara]

I used a pantyhose sock on the return of my skimmer in the seahorse tank as bubbles are a big nono with seahorses. It is a pretty good fix until you decide what else you want to do.

 

[stresco]

Thats a thought Hara, but with the backpack, the return is an overflow chamber (that was fille with biomedia), that overflows itself back into the sump. Where would i put the pantyhose?

 

[stresco]

RR i just found where i can get a Bubble Trap as you suggested. If Hara's idea doesnt work, i will invest in one.

 

[Hara]

uh, dunno...guess my ignorance on design was showing on that one.