I found a sump I can afford and starting to set it up as a mechanical sump. When I bought it it was a trickle sump
It came with a boat load of bio-balls and not knowing how clean they were and how much of a pain it would be to get under my tank stand to take the balls out to clean them is why I'm changing it to a mechanical sump with a protein skimmer.
Right now I'm waiting for the silicone to dry.
I have three baffles, skimmer/sock part of tank, water flows under the first baffle.
I siliconed the next baffle to the bottom so the water flows up and over to a sponge filter, through the sponge then underneath the last baffle.
Hopefully this we'll take care of the micro-bubbles.
The first pic is just the sump with a fan to help dry the silicone.
The second pic is with the sock and skim in the first chamber.
If all goes well I will have more pic's tomorrow with it up and running. ( insert pic of fingers crossed )

