Microbubbles?

[John Vinson]

I've made some recent hardware changes and I'm struggling to find out what's causing the microbubbles in the display tank.  First, I added a UV Sterilizer last week and the only place I can put the UV pump is the same chamber as the return pump - so I'm thinking something is going on in there and  I've ordered a couple sheets of sponge padding that I'm going to try and wedge in there to see if makes any difference (I've since turned it off the past couple days but they haven't cleared up)  Second, I also cleaned the Reefwave 25's, but that was a week prior and didn't notice any bubbles until right after installing the UV.  The last change was installing the Avast "squeegee" neck cleaner for the skimmer.   Anyone else done these type of hardware changes and had to deal with microbubbles as well?  TIA for your help!

[Parzifal]

Pictures of the setup?

 

try turning of the IV sterilizer for a few hours to see if the bubbles dissipate.  That can help narrow it down. 

[John Vinson]

12 hours ago, Parzifal said:

Pictures of the setup?

 

try turning of the IV sterilizer for a few hours to see if the bubbles dissipate.  That can help narrow it down. 

Here's the setup currently (still have some cord management to do LOL).  I did try turning off the UV for a couple days and it didn't have an effect on the bubbles (unless it takes some time for them to dissipate?)

[Parzifal]

Couple days should be enough for most any tank.   

i think your still in determining the root cause phase of this fix.

my suggestion would be to in sequence, turn off one piece of equipment that moves water in any way.

Keep each piece off until you find the one that’s creating bubbles.   

if you have gone through all equipment except the main return pump. Then you know the problem is there.

[John Vinson]

Thanks for the advice.....the filter sponges came yesterday and I put the denser one in between the skimmer and return chamber and that seems to have fixed the problem (it's only been a few hours and not all the bubbles are gone, but it's been significantly reduced). 

[Parzifal]

Nice!!!!   Hopefully that works and that’s an easy solution.

[John Vinson]

21 hours ago, Parzifal said:

Nice!!!!   Hopefully that works and that’s an easy solution.

I wish it were that easy.  I've found the source of the microbubbles (the skimmer) and today it decided to go haywire on me.  It was working great (the neck cleaner was keeping it clean and the CO2 scrubber brought my Ph up to almost the ideal (around 8.2 now).  The collection cup was only about 1" full yesterday and today I see the cup overflowing.  I emptied it and tried starting it up again and it overflowed instantly.  I go through the tuning procedure again and reduce the pump speed and it's behaving in a "lean" condition now (not enough organics) - probably because the Reefmat is getting most of it before it makes it to the skimmer.  I need to get an air-intake adjustment valve (right now it's just a tube going from the silencer to the CO2 scrubber), so hopefully once I get the skimmer tuned again it will also fix my microbubble problem....fingers crossed