Advice for a Bubble Trap on the drain from the DT.

[Neil S.]

Hi. I'm building a refugium/sump for a Triton based 40g DT. The DT drains straight down to a 10g refugium where the chaeto will grow, then goes from there to an eshopps cube refugium and then back up to the DT.

Currently the DT drain into the 10g refugium is pushing a LOT of bubbles into the refugium, and hence creating a lot of salt creep and noise. I don't think I can throttle the down flow back too much (I do have a ball valve in the drain line) as this reduces the flow lower than the 10x recommended flow rate. Is it okay to build a couple of baffles in and then a small lid over the section where the drain pipes enter the refugium? The baffles would be an under/over/under design with a lid over the section where the pipes are. The lid is to stop spray and salt creep. The pipes exit under the water so splashing is not present but the amount of fizzing from the bubbles produces a lot of salt creep.

(Note: I had posted this in the Triton forums but have received no replies, thinking I might have put it in the wrong location)

 

[redfishbluefish]

Let me give you two ideas that worked for me.

The first I termed a Reverse Durso. Here's what it looks like before installing it:

And here it is installed:

FYI, this is 1 1/2 pipe for my drain, but will work for any size pipe.


The second bubble trap I termed the Rube Goldberg bubble trap. The drawing of it looks like this.....again, the input pipe is 1 1/2:

It's not on the above drawing, but the bottom of the three inch pipe does have a knockout test cap closing it off....

And the reducing bushing on the top, going from 1 1/2 to 3 inches has multiple holes drilled to allow air to escape.

Here is the Rube Goldberg installed:

Both of these designs worked very well.....no bubbles! Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[crusso1993]

Let me give you two ideas that worked for me.

The first I termed a Reverse Durso. Here's what it looks like before installing it:

And here it is installed:

FYI, this is 1 1/2 pipe for my drain, but will work for any size pipe.


The second bubble trap I termed the Rube Goldberg bubble trap. The drawing of it looks like this.....again, the input pipe is 1 1/2:

It's not on the above drawing, but the bottom of the three inch pipe does have a knockout test cap closing it off....

And the reducing bushing on the top, going from 1 1/2 to 3 inches has multiple holes drilled to allow air to escape.

Here is the Rube Goldberg installed:

Both of these designs worked very well.....no bubbles! Hope this gives you some ideas.

I dig both of these solutions. However, I'd have to go with the "Rube Goldberg" because, well, RUBE GOLDBERG!

 

[Neil S.]

@redfishbluefish
Thank you for the details on your Rube Goldberg device. This looks like a solution. One question if you can answer, as the Triton method requires 10x system size in flow per hour, does your 'Rube Goldberg' bubble trap slow down your water flow?

 

[George Lopez]

If you throttle it down just enough to get a full siphon you'll stop the bubbles. But only do this if you have a an emergency drain in place. That's what I did with my Herbie set up into my fuge

 

[Neil S.]

@George Lopez
Hi George. I'm not sure I can throttle the flow down at all as the Triton Method apparently requires approx 10x flow. At this point I'm running the drain wide open (hence the bubble problem) and the return pump is only running at 50% of it's max capacity which places the flow at about 5x system volume. I'm going to be installing a larger overflow box this weekend (an Eshopps PF-1000) that has about double the flow rate which is split between two drain pipes instead of the current single drain pipe (both drains are 1" ID bulkheads). I do know that with the current set up I can throttle the drain down to the point where there is no bubbling, however at that rate I have to dial the return pump down to about 20% to keep the system balanced.

I'm guessing that I'll have to run the system closer to wide open, which is why I'm trying to find out if it is recommended to add a couple of baffles just after the drain section, but before the chaeto section, and then put a cover over just that area so that I don't have salt creep which is caused by the bubbles fizzing at the top of the water. Just to be clear about this, I do know that other sump designs do use baffles in this area to control bubbling, BUT, I cannot find any information if this is recommended for the Triton Method. The information on the Triton Method indicates that a high flow past the chaeto is required, what I don't know is if the baffles would slow down the flow rate.

 

[Erica-Renee]

This looks good.. but remember if you increase the flow rate thru your sump not designed for it you will create so much turbulence that SALT Creep will consume your entire Cabinet if this sump is in a cabinet.. This is the very reason my sump is a 150 gallon Aquarium... I have 4500gph pump but some of the water is bypassed for carbon and sump circulation....

 

[George Lopez]

@George Lopez
Hi George. I'm not sure I can throttle the flow down at all as the Triton Method apparently requires approx 10x flow. At this point I'm running the drain wide open (hence the bubble problem) and the return pump is only running at 50% of it's max capacity which places the flow at about 5x system volume. I'm going to be installing a larger overflow box this weekend (an Eshopps PF-1000) that has about double the flow rate which is split between two drain pipes instead of the current single drain pipe (both drains are 1" ID bulkheads). I do know that with the current set up I can throttle the drain down to the point where there is no bubbling, however at that rate I have to dial the return pump down to about 20% to keep the system balanced.

I'm guessing that I'll have to run the system closer to wide open, which is why I'm trying to find out if it is recommended to add a couple of baffles just after the drain section, but before the chaeto section, and then put a cover over just that area so that I don't have salt creep which is caused by the bubbles fizzing at the top of the water. Just to be clear about this, I do know that other sump designs do use baffles in this area to control bubbling, BUT, I cannot find any information if this is recommended for the Triton Method. The information on the Triton Method indicates that a high flow past the chaeto is required, what I don't know is if the baffles would slow down the flow rate.

You are not really throttling it down, you are adjusting how much water stays in the pipe, your flow Remains the Same as long as you don't start coming out of your Emergency Drain basically what you're doing is matching your drain to your return so it's the same flow whether you had It Wide Open or just trickling out of your Emergency Drain

 

[George Lopez]

Basically what you're doing is adjusting your drain to your flow rate. For example your drain can handle 1600 gallons an hour and your pump pushes 1000 gallons an hour. When you adjust your gate valve you're setting your drain to be able to handle 1000 gallons per hour and that reduces your bubbles. That is why you have an emergency drain just in case your main drain gets clogged for whatever reason just make sure that it can handle your full flow.