Tiny air bubbles - noob needs help!

[Djtuan]

Hey scr, I'm completely new to the saltwater fish tank hobby. My friend was kind enough to give my 10 month yr old son his 75 gallon uniquarium that was brand spanking new. So I been spending a ton of time at my local fish store and decided to join SCR for questions. I been cycling my tank going on three weeks now. Testing levels at my local store. Everything seems to be in place except for the billions of tiny air bubbles that comes out from the return pump. Any ideas of might be causing this? Thanks SCR and I'm pretty excited about getting my tank started. I attached pictures of my setup.

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[reefes pieces]

Welcome! Is the skimmer next to the return pump? If do that's the culprit

 

[itis]

+1 on the skimmer, that or if your sump has no baffles to diffuse the bubbles.

 

[Rrocky]

Water level not high enough on return pump side maybe

 

[tylbaart]

Your using a uniquarium do you have anything under the drip try or are you just dropping water straight down. Thats start if you have rock rubble in there +1 Bio balls ok but switch sooner than later. add water to rear area it needs to be higher on the pics it looks like your just covering your pump. When I ran my uni I had the sump as full as I could to where the water from the drip tray just dripped you want some air in between bottom of tray and surface but maybe an inch so your water in sump should be like 4 inches from top of tank. More water volume is good. Also check all seals on your return pump if you fill sump this wont matter but if you continue to run low any tinig air getting in will cause these bubbles and might not be leaking water out. Let me know how it works out.

 

[Justkeepswimming]

Unplug the skimmer and see if the stop. If they do you need to relocate the skimmer or take it apart and clean/ make sure it's all working effectively and no bubbles are ecaping. If it's not the skimmer, make sure your return is fully submerged. You might want to take that apart also to elimate all possibilities. Good luck!

 

[tylbaart]

Guys look at his pics its a all in one uniquarium skimmer is on opposite side of tank from return he can't relocate its only place it'll fit its factory. Sump is in back of tank.

Water level is too low in rear sump that's one of my old systems I had same set up. Manfr pic of rear.

http://www.advanceaquatanks.com/uniq.html

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[Djtuan]

I'll fill the the back and make sure the return pump is full of water. I did remove the bio balls from advice from my local fish store guy. Ill fill it and get back to you guys


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[Bigkahuna]

+1 on turning off the skimmer for now and check if its the skimmer.

 

[tylbaart]

Put rock rubble back not bio balls

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[tylbaart]

how did raising water level do?

 

[dbone]

I could be wrong but looking at his pictures the water level inside the chamber isn't that low. Its about an inch below the first baffle in the 4th pic. Theres no bubbles going into the heater chamber, 3rd and 4th pic, so can't be the skimmer.
In the last picture, water level is like way above the return pump assuming that 90 elbow is going into the display. Also, if water is low in the return chamber, there will be ton of sucking noises..
Either ways, i'd shut off the skimmer and all other pumps/power heads or anything that move water except the return and see whats up. If you still see bubbles, plumb a hose or pipe or w/e directly into the display from the return and skip that 90 elbow. Its above the water line from what i see in the last pic. Could be a broken gasket or something there. My 2C

 

[dbone]

and assuming the last picture is the chamber where the return pump would be, theres no bubble collecting in there neither.

 

[tylbaart]

Dbone sort of correct the water level isn't so much about sucking air on pump. That system has a drip tray after heater and water in that section is same as return height wise but with a low water level and no rubble or bio balls to brake water fall and trap bubbles it creates a ton of bubbles and they get sucked into pump without light you won't really see them. I had the exact same thing happen when I was cycling my uniquarium so I tried all the usuals and eliminated variables and figured out what it was

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[Djtuan]

I added rock rubble in the chambers after the water heather and also raised the water level. Air bubbles deceased a little but I do get sudden bursts of tiny bubbles coming out of the return pump into the display. I'll play with the skimmer next


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[tylbaart]

Still a littl low on water level

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[tylbaart]

Or leak in return line how high is water level now

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[tylbaart]

How's it going ?

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[Djtuan]

Sorry for the delay response. So after about a week, I added water so the return pump is full and also made sure all my pipes and fittings we're good and check out the skimmer. Everything seems to be GOOD!! The tiny bubbles has deceased tremendously.

Can't really tell from this picture but it's not an issue anymore. Thanks everyone for their help!


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