new problem?

[cogburn]

well it seems everytime i take a step forward with my tank i find another issue... i got another fake plant and this totally completes my aquascape... its simple but i like it... i also decided to get a long (23") bubble wand and bury it under the gravel so the bubbles come out from the gravel and it looks more natural... well i hook her all up and bury it nicely... everything looks great... the bubbles look really cool coming out of the gravel... but... the bubbles keep getting sucked into the filter and making a kind of splashing sound... almost kind of like the filter is skipping a beat... its weird... i dont think its hurting the filter but the sound is kind of loud and i know it will drive me nuts... my 3 part question is...

1. am i hurting the filter at all?

2. will this eventually stop or will i have to get used to the noise?

3. is there any way to prevent this or should i just suck it up and deal with it?

thanks in advance guys... you have all been so helpful and i know youll know just what to do...

Larry

 

[neilanh]

It sounds like occasionally a bubble is being sucked into the intake of your filter. The noise you hear is most likely the impeller chopping the bubble to smithereens.

1) probably - although I don't think it's serious. People say over time this will wear it out, but in planted tanks it is extremely common for people to do this on purpose with CO2 being chopped up by an impeller.

2) No, if it is the intake sucking in bubbles, it won't stop until you move either the wand or the intake of the filter.

3) See number 2

HTH

 

[cogburn]

thanks for the quick response... i think im gonna suck it up (pun intended) and just deal with it... ill just turn the tv up hahahah

 

[Purrbox]

As long as you don't have a filter that is prone to airlock, it shouldn't pose any problems other than annoying you. The reason that CO2 eventually causes issues, is that it actually eats the plastic parts in the filter. This should be less of an issue with O2 and probably a non issue. Might cause a little extra wear on the filter, but that's it. Personally I'd go with Neilanh's suggestion and move the filter intake or bubble wand enough to stop it, but that's because the noise would drive me nuts.

 

[QTOFFER]

Same thing happened to me when I had a bubblewand a few years ago. It won't harm the filter, but I'd rather listen to a noisy airpump that to that infernal gurgling noise. Try positioning the bubblewand and/or the filter intake so that the bubbles don't get sucked in. If that fails, you can wrap the bubblewand with a strip of saran wrap so that no bubbles are generated near the filter.

 

[rkilling1]

Besides moving the filter, moving the wand, or wrapping the air hose, all of which I have done way back when. I found the best thing for me was to cut the bottom of a water bottle about 1" from the bottom and bury it under the filter intake. It works the same as what QTOFFER mentioned, only it's hard plastic.

Make sure you bury it as if it was sitting on a table and not upside down. If it is upside down, air will collect and end up making it come out of the substrate.