Weird Bubbles in Tank

kategreatwhite · May 13, 2015

So I have a 40 gallon Innovative Marine tank. I have had it for about a year. I got a protein skimmer about 3 weeks ago. Even since the filter keeps on spitting out little bubbles as seen below. This has never happened before unless my tank was low on water. Then the bubbles would appear. But now they are here and the tank is fully filled. Do you know what to do?

melypr1985 · May 13, 2015

what kind of skimmer did you get? My tunze nano skimmer produced a ton of bubbles in my display until I built a new sump to fit it and put a lot of things between it and the return. That's when they stopped. Drove me nuts!

kategreatwhite · May 13, 2015

I have a Innovative Marine SkinMate Ghost Series Midsize protein skimmer.

melypr1985 · May 13, 2015

yup. that's a similar design to mine. it's producing bubble from the bottom. I used a dress sock to diffuse most (but not all) until I got my sump built. But, I have a different brand.... maybe yours will break in and stop doing that. Sorry about it, maybe somebody else has a tip to help. Mine is to use a filter pad, sock, floss, just something between where the skimmer is and the return to diffuse the micro bubbles.

kategreatwhite · May 13, 2015

melypr1985 said:
yup. that's a similar design to mine. it's producing bubble from the bottom. I used a dress sock to diffuse most (but not all) until I got my sump built. But, I have a different brand.... maybe yours will break in and stop doing that. Sorry about it, maybe somebody else has a tip to help. Mine is to use a filter pad, sock, floss, just something between where the skimmer is and the return to diffuse the micro bubbles.

Do u have any pictures/examples of this?

melypr1985 · May 13, 2015

k. so this Is when I first got it. My sump was a 10 gallon tank so I had to put it in the display. You can see the sock over the bottom in my effort to stop the micro bubbles.

I have one more recent to show it in the new sump, but its on my phone and has to be loaded separately. will do shortly.

melypr1985 · May 13, 2015

Ok. So this is my diy sump. Sorry about the bad handwriting, but i did it with my finger on my phone. I put the skimmer in the overflow entrance area, then the refuge, then a poly filter that the water is forced through before going into the return chamber. This way all micro bubbles get trapped or dissapated before entering the display. Just an example. My set up is simple. My point is, you need something to diffuse/trap the bubbles before they reach the return.