Sump chambers / skimmer bubbles !

[Poltrono]

Hello,

I am still in the process of cycling my tank "3 weeks now with a damsel fish in". I had my protein skimmer off through all that time and only ran it when i first bought it to make sure it is running well.

Today i decided to run the skimmer, but the whole tank got filled with tiny bubbles from the skimmer even though this did not happen before! the LFS told me it is becoz my water quality is currently bad, while when i 1st tried it, i had no ammonia/nitrite in my water.

my sump is devided into 3 chambers:
1- overflow piping to a sponge , and then it flows through bio balls
2- skimmer
3- return pump

is it true that i am having bubbles now because my water quality is bad?
i am thinking of changing the sump arrngment and put the skimmer in 1st chamber , bio balls in the 2nd chamer so that i will give the bubbles some time to disappear.

please advice !

 

[neilanh]

I think your plan is a good idea. Get your skimmer as far away from the return pump as you can.

 

[cabezon]

There is supposed to be a baffle between the skimmer and the return. Or put a sponge over the output.

 

[melosu58]

Hello,

I am still in the process of cycling my tank "3 weeks now with a damsel fish in".

Cycle your salt tank

 

[mr_X]

you should have a bubble trap before the return section. you should also consider removing the bio balls and use live rock in the center section instead. far more efficient than bio balls.

 

[Poltrono]

There are baffles between the chambers.

I will try to swap the balls with the skimmer today, if it doesn't work then im going for the bubble trap. I still can not understand why i did not have this problem 2 weeks ago!