Micro Bubbles from Closed Loop

[BillyZ]

I hacked up my 10' of 1/2" [acronym:03eca70ff6="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:03eca70ff6] the other night and pieced together a closed loop. I currently have a mag 7 driving it. The pump is outside the tank.

After hearing so many folks say that they don't even bother gluing their [acronym:03eca70ff6="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:03eca70ff6] pieces together, I dry fit it all together and turned it on. After getting it primed it worked quite well, except I was getting a ton of micro fine bubbles coming from the outlets. I put the prefilter that came with the Mag7 on the intake pipe and the bubbles are so tiny the water looks milky as it comes out of the pipes.

Is this an air leak in the intake pipe or is there something else going on?

[reefrunner69]

Air is getting sucked into your dry fit pieces. Take it back apart and apply [acronym:a3284fc57c="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:a3284fc57c] cement liberally to all pieces outside the tank, bubble should clear up pronto

[justDIY]

yup ... or for a less permanent solution, apply a bead of silicone around each dry-fit joint .. it will give the air tight seal but still allow your joints to come apart if you need to

the silicone will not add any strength to the joint, as it doesn't stick to [acronym:ca4aae60b8="Plastic pipe"]pvc[/acronym:ca4aae60b8] - but it will stop air from sneaking in.

[BillyZ]

actualy, I took some teflon tape and wrapped the two threaded pieces with it and put it back together, no more bubbles.

Thanks guys

[justDIY]

ooh, ok, you didn't say it was threaded pieces giving you trouble! I thought you were talking about slip joints

well, glad the problem is solved none the less!

[fishfreek]

very good.

I was going to suggest something that was causing me problems when i was setting up my sump.

If the water going into the pump is restricted in anyway the impeller will cavatate (sp?) and inject the microbubbles into the tank.