Sump/Refugium and Micro Bubbles

[bkennedy]

I currently am putting together my 240 display with a 55 gallon Sump/Refugium. The display has 2 built in overflows with 2 one inch sea swirls powered by a Sequence Dart from the sump/refugium (the return pump does have ball valve on it for flow control). In my first attempt of my sump design, I had a bunch of micro bubbles getting back to the display from the sump. I have attached a Microsoft Excel document (each little square being 1 inch) that shows what the first design looked like (the top two pictures) and what I am going to try on the second go around (the last picture on the document). I believe my problem with the first one was the baffles where too narrow, resulting in too much flow through them to be effective. On newest design, the baffles are the full with of the sump which is 12 inches. I was hoping that this will allow the baffles to be more effective. I also put a 4th baffle in that would be the last under before the return. With the old one, as water evaporated, the last over would become a waterfall causing a bigger bubble problem. Another one of my concerns is that the return pump (Sequence Dart) might be too much. It does have about 6.5 ft of head pressure, with a ball valve to control the flow. I really wish I would have posted my first design here for suggestions before I built it, but I guess you live and learn. I was able to break out all the acrylic from the first try, but now it just doesn't look as nice. Good thing it will be behind doors! Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[bkennedy]

opps... forgot the attachment, and I had to convert it to a Microsoft Word document

[wozza]

When i opened the file the pic was on two pages and i couldnt make any sence of it.

can you re-post it as a .jpg?

cheers james

[bkennedy]

I converted it to a adobe document. The top two are are the old design (top, and side view), and the bottom one is the new design (side view).

[Virginia Reef]

I've got a similar situation...I'm pulling too much water through the baffles with my Iwaki 75. I also have a ball valve on the Iwaki outflow and can work on reducing flow. My baffle area is too narrow for the flow as yours was initially. I use a dosing pump for water topoff (and kalk) to eliminate the "waterfall" effect by keeping the sump level stable.

Ideally, the last baffle would be an "over" as an "under" tends to keep the bubbles in the bottom of the water column where it is drawn into the return pump. I have thought about raising the top of the "under" baffles to raise the overall level of the sump. This should encourage the bubbles to remain somewhat higher and be less susceptible to being returned to the tank.

I may have to step down to a lower flow pump in the future. Fortunately I have 2 closed loop systems each with a Sequence Dart pump so I don't need a ton of flow through the sump.