Thanks for the reply. Since I made that post, I have done everything you just mentioned. I added an in-cabinet sump and protein skimmer. My micro bubbles with the Red Sea skimmer did stop after Red Sea sent me a replacement pump for the skimmer. I added a Trigger Systems sump bc I was cheaper and bigger than the Red Sea sump. However, I did need to buy 32mm to 1” adapters to go from the Red Sea bulkhead outlets to the standard (I live in the US). While I was at it, I also used a gate valve instead of the Red Sea diaphragm valve. It’s working well and is very quiet. Tuning the valve take a bit of time but now that I have it dialed in, I just make minor adjustments with my return pump to get my water levels where I want them. I have a EcoTech S2 return and can change the flow rate from 0-100%, which is much easier than messing with the gate valve as I can make 1% adjustments…and that happens to actually make significant changes. If your water level in the rear sump is not perfect, you’ll get a Venturi in the main overflow pipe (if it’s too low) which causes a lot of noise. If it’s too high, you’ll overflow into the emergency down pipe, which can also be noisy as it’s purging air through the pipe.
As I was ordering everything to make the switch, I did get the system in its AIO configuration dialed in, but it is much better now as I have more options available to me with the sump. A piece of advise would be not to get a skimmer that it too big. I may have done that. With the filter socks in place, my skimmer does not have much to pull out. So I just removed my filter socks and am going to see what just running the skimmer does. I’m only doing that bc it’s easier to empty a skimmer cup that clean a filter sock, but I don’t need both right now. I have a light bioload currently, only 4 small fish. That will likely change when I add more and bigger fish. Let me know if you have any questions.
