Neptune Aquatics

For those that run sump with no filter sock

newhobby

newhobby

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What do you do to avoid the salt spray from bubbles that come down from drain and burst?
I'd like to run my drain without sock, but want to avoid that nasty salt spray.
 
Well, the sponge and underwater route doesn't work for me. They would still let the bubbles pass and be inside the sump.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
My drain pulls a lot of air, which in turn makes a lot of micro bubbles that explode when they surface.
The micro bubble burst is what creates the mist.
Right now, I have a filter sock that keeps all the bubble explosion to the inside of the sock and I have very minimal to not even noticeable mist.
I use a drawstring type to close the top side of the sock.
The umbrella idea looks better, but without the sock, I'd have to cover the entire compartment, which also houses the skimmer and would make it almost impossible to contain all the area with the skimmer in the way.
The only solution I could find was to use a recirculating skimmer and use the drain to feed the skimmer.
Drawback of that is the return would have to be dialed down considerably, right?
 
I took Tuberider's suggestion and turned down the output of my return pump to lower the volume of my tank. I was getting a lot of noise from the drain. Maybe that is what makes less bubbles for me?
 
I dialed down my return pump flow so that I wouldn't get so much air entrainment.

Also used 1.5 inch pvc for a submerged drain and ran a vent on the horizontal portion to let out any trapped air.

Minimal bubbles and minimal noise.
 
You can place the return several inches below the waters surface and add an open T with a small riser above where the return penetrates the water, that will allow the gas to escape instead of forcing the gas to penetrate the water.
 
I have the same issue with the return making a mess. You can try to extend the tubing for the return so that the water returns below the water line. I used a large filter pad that floats on the water surface. The bubble would then rise to the top but below the filter pad and pops there instead.
 
I'll try the vent escape idea.
I've seem them on some other post somewhere and it was being called reverse durso, but the purpose was to minimize the noise.
I can see it serving the purpose of containing the bubbles inside too.
 
But, out of curiosity on opinions, is there any disadvantage on having a very low turn over on the return?
In my visit to reefers in Brazil, they seem to run tanks with very little turn over. Something like 1:1 ratio. 60gph on a 60g tank.
They were using closed loop for internal flow.
So, my question is: if I have enough internal flow, do I really need a really high ratio on the return?
 
As long as you have enough flow i can't think of anything bad about having a low turnover rate. Even if you were using a filter sock to help remove sediment you just need enough flow in your display to keep it suspended in the water column until it gets removed via the overflow.
 
If you dose a lot into the sump you could get extra precipitation if the flow is too low.
Could mess with your pH alarms if your probe is down there.
If you're running heaters and probes down there can be thermal differences between tank and sump.
Sump could be cooler than your halide-lit tank, fans might not kick on if temperature probes are down there until enough hot water makes it down.
You skim the hell out of your sump but not your tank.

Same stuff I deal with running somewhere south of 3:1 turnover. There are ways around it all though.
 
I use a spihon durso with a gate valve for the drain. This pulls down a lot more water than an open channel and there is no air, so once the siphon is started there are no bubbles coming down the drain into the sump.
 
magnetar68 said:
I use a spihon durso with a gate valve for the drain. This pulls down a lot more water than an open channel and there is no air, so once the siphon is started there are no bubbles coming down the drain into the sump.
Click to expand...
I only have one drain pipe and would only feel comfortable doing this if I had 2 drains.
Any difference on volume passing through that gate would affect level on DT, which could possibly lead to a flood, doesn't it?
 
houser said:
If you dose a lot into the sump you could get extra precipitation if the flow is too low.
Could mess with your pH alarms if your probe is down there.
If you're running heaters and probes down there can be thermal differences between tank and sump.
Sump could be cooler than your halide-lit tank, fans might not kick on if temperature probes are down there until enough hot water makes it down.
You skim the hell out of your sump but not your tank.

Same stuff I deal with running somewhere south of 3:1 turnover. There are ways around it all though.
Click to expand...
Yeah, good point.
My next trip out there, I'll ask them what they do about that.
They use constant kalk drip and no dosing, though.
Temperature in there is a bit different than here too.
 
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