Reef Octopus XS 200 skimmer dumping microbubbles

[Jasonrusso]

So my new 210 Aqueon has been running for about a week and a half, and I am having a battle with microbubbles. I upgraded to the 210 from a 150. I bought a Reef Octopus XS 200 4 years ago when I upgraded to the 150. Since then, I have always noticed that the skimmer puts out some microbubbles into the sump. I am using 2 Eheim 1262 pumps as returns. I also have an old Oceanic reef sump with a bubble wall built in before the return chamber.

Now that I have the 210, I think I have a more efficient return system so the sump is seeing a lot more water flow. With the 150, the bubbles wouldn't make it through the bubble wall, but that is not the case with this set-up. I fixed some issues I found already. I am using the megaflow returns and the siphon break was causing a venturi which I fixed, but I am sure that my bubble issue is coming from the skimmer. I can see the bubbles in the sump.

At one point, I was getting bursts of bubbles from the returns. I could see the bubbles swirling around under the screens on the Eheims. I removed the screens thinking that maybe there is a low pressure zone under the cover due to the restriction, but now the bubbles are just getting directly injected into the tank.

Now, when I first bought the skimmer, the return is above the water level in the sump so it was VERY noisy. I added a 90 degree elbow to put the output under the water level to quiet it down. Is this the issue?? Will this stop after the tank breaks in? Maybe it's because I stirred up everything and all the glass and plumbing is new? The skimmer is 4 years old so it is broken in.

 

[Jasonrusso]

A couple pics of the return

 

[Sniperhank]

I made a similar modification to my reef octopus skimmer. I put some pantyhose over the elbow to stop the issues with bubbles entering the display.

 

[Jasonrusso]

I made a similar modification to my reef octopus skimmer. I put some pantyhose over the elbow to stop the issues with bubbles entering the display.

Oh, good idea. Does it get clogged up over time? And you have the elbow under the water?

 

[Sniperhank]

My elbow actually is above water. It can get clogged, but at 99 cent per two it isn't that big of a deal to replace. Even then, it wasn't very often that I needed to replace them and it was more due to algae growth on it clogging things up due to spill over light from y ATS.

 

[Jasonrusso]

My elbow actually is above water. It can get clogged, but at 99 cent per two it isn't that big of a deal to replace. Even then, it wasn't very often that I needed to replace them and it was more due to algae growth on it clogging things up due to spill over light from y ATS.

I'll try that with the elbow under the water first. Thanks for the tip

 

[Jasonrusso]

My elbow actually is above water. It can get clogged, but at 99 cent per two it isn't that big of a deal to replace. Even then, it wasn't very often that I needed to replace them and it was more due to algae growth on it clogging things up due to spill over light from y ATS.

Do you find it too loud being above the water level? Do you still use the skimmer?

 

[Sniperhank]

I'm currently using an Eshopps, but I still have the skimmer. It was not too loud, especially with the panty hose over the elbow.