Drain shooting air bubbles!

[adamizy]

My drain is big (about 1 1/4" wide) and it drains into my sump and shoots out a lot of bubbles and fast! And in the cheato area there are lots of tiny air bubbles which travel to my return pump and shoot all over my display and makes the water all cloudy. How can I fix this? I'm getting a new Jebao DCT-6000 tomorrow so i hope it helps but I'd like to get of the air bubbles in general so im open to anything lol

That's what it looks like

 

[happyhourhero]

You could install some baffles. I built a small shelf out of egg crate and place a wad of pillow stuffing as filter floss right at where the drain hits the water. This pretty much takes any debris and bubbles out of the water.

 

[twilliard]

Build a filter media sock.
That's how I cured my air bubble issue the salt creep was bugging me!

 

[ReeferBob]

Change your drain to full siphon. There are no bubbles and no noise with full siphon drains. Check out "Bean Animal".

 

[TheEngineer]

Are you using a reef-ready tank? You can use a herbie drain style too. (Precursor to the bean animal)

 

[adamizy]

I have 3 chambers, first is the drain second is the cheato and third is the return pump

 

[adamizy]

I think I need a ball or gate valve on my drain so it's only taking in water not air and I won't have any bubbles

 

[AZDesertRat]

Never put a valve on an overflow or drain unless you have multiple drains.
What type of overflow box and standpipe do you currently have? Pics?

 

[adamizy]

Here's a video of down under... I can't get a pic of inside the overflow yet

 

[TheEngineer]

Is there one drain pipe and one return pipe in your sump?

 

[adamizy]

Yea. The drain pipe is bigger

 

[Myka]

You need two drains to do a Herbie and three for a Bean Animal. Since your tank is already setup and you can't drill another drain hole, I'd suggest you do as others have suggested and use a filter sock or wad of floss/media. Just make sure you machine wash and bleach it or toss media weekly or you may get nitrate creep.

 

[adamizy]

You need two drains to do a Herbie and three for a Bean Animal. Since your tank is already setup and you can't drill another drain hole, I'd suggest you do as others have suggested and use a filter sock or wad of floss/media. Just make sure you machine wash and bleach it or toss media weekly or you may get nitrate creep.

Yeah that's probably my best bet. I'll benefit from it along the way lol

 

[TheEngineer]

You can still use a herbie, it was designed to work with reef ready tanks. I use one on mine. It just requires running one pipe up for the return line, a relatively easy task. You don't have to drill, you can just come up and over the top with the return line. A herbie also runs just about dead silent, as opposed to the open style drain that comes standard.

Try the filter sock first and see if you like it.

 

[Myka]

Icecool2 actually has a good point. I've done a few reef ready tanks that way. It depends though, I've seen "reef ready" tanks that had one hole in the bottom of the overflow and one in the back glass for the return. If there are indeed two holes in the bottom of the overflow you could switch it to Herbie.

 

[AZDesertRat]

You are perfectly fine with a single overflow, they have been used for decades and are extremely reliable and quiet once set up properly. How is your overflow configured and what standpipe do you have? How tall is the standpipe in relation to the overflow box? Does the standpipe have an air inlet to get the proper mix of water and air for a smooth, laminar, bubble free flow? I have been using Stockman style DIY standpipes for about 20 years and never once had an isue or flood in all that time. They are simple, cost $3-$5 to construct with common PVC parts and are very quiet when set up properly.

 

[adamizy]

You are perfectly fine with a single overflow, they have been used for decades and are extremely reliable and quiet once set up properly. How is your overflow configured and what standpipe do you have? How tall is the standpipe in relation to the overflow box? Does the standpipe have an air inlet to get the proper mix of water and air for a smooth, laminar, bubble free flow? I have been using Stockman style DIY standpipes for about 20 years and never once had an isue or flood in all that time. They are simple, cost $3-$5 to construct with common PVC parts and are very quiet when set up properly.

I have a inch or 1 1/2" pvc it's about 3" under the overflow box and 2" under the water level. It has a T fitting with an elbow coming out (I twisted it so its facing down towards the floor) and sucking water and a cap on top with a hole with airline tubing and 4 smaller holes around it. Here's a pic...

 

[TheEngineer]

Looks and sounds like a durso to me.

 

[Myka]

Looks like a Durso, except the elbow is pointed sideways instead of down...?? Dursos can be very quiet if properly sized and properly setup. In cases, I've drilled the hole in the end cap large enough to snugly fit airline tubing and run about 8" of airline tubing with a ball valve on the end. Use the ball valve to control the air.

Here's a great explanatory pic:

 

[adamizy]

Looks like a Durso, except the elbow is pointed sideways instead of down...?? Dursos can be very quiet if properly sized and properly setup. In cases, I've drilled the hole in the end cap large enough to snugly fit airline tubing and run about 8" of airline tubing with a ball valve on the end. Use the ball valve to control the air.

Here's a great explanatory pic:

I tried the ball valve (the fish acclimation one) and it's the same.