210 Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[slyfox]

nice

 

[rking77573]

Today should have been on film. If it had been filmed, it would have been called "National Lampoons Sump Plumbing" I'm thinking old school Chevy Chase here not Van Wilder. I'm not even sure where to start. Once I finally get finished I'll post an update with some photos (none of me completely inside the tank wall unfortunately) and a bit of the story. Don't feel bad for laughing at me. I'd laugh at me too if I were you. Till then.....

 

[rking77573]

Updates. I have pictures and I have questions. I got it done I think. So I have some pictures of all the junk I took out and some pictures of the new stuff inside. It's still a little disorganized in there because.... well basically because I'm a lazy s o b. Here goes.

The old sump. Anyone recognize city pets pricing in the bottom corner there?

And the new setup. You cant see it all very well but my wife insisted that the kitchen table be put back in place so I'm making do.

And then there is the new beer table on the family room side of the tank.

Finally are a couple of shots of the dang microbubbles that are STILL THERE! I'm at a loss here and not sure what to do to get rid of them. I've closed the ball valve on the return line significantly and it helps a bit, but doesn't get rid of them. I can't seem to find any place where air is getting in to the line and I'm not sure what to look at next. Should I be thinking of putting in a small submersible pump for the return instead of the current one? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated on this one. These things are driving me nuts. Look at the next 2 pics and tell me what you think.

 

[tmgrash]

Wow, that's a lot of bubbles. I think you have an air leak in your plumbing. Might be time to redo, go with vinyl this time. Table and chair set looks sweet!

 

[AnthonyB]

the table and chairs and nice good stuff

 

[decimal]

to locate the source of your micro bubbles, turn off your pumps etc. one by one and see if it changes. start with the skimmer. i know that all sounds simple, but just making sure we cover the basics. i would then move to the pumps as the next possible culprit. check your threaded in and out. unhook it and clean the threads with a toothbrush to make sure everything is out. rinse and redo the Teflon in the direction of the thread. if that does not solve it, its gotta be the plumbing and then its time to redo that. one way to check the plumbing is to smear ample amounts of Vaseline on the connections one by one. if that stops it then you can isolate the connection that is causing problems and replace it. come to think of it, you may wan to start there since it will be easier to do that then to unhook everything. whew!! hope that helps

 

[mpwolken]

fill the section of your sump around the skimmer return (at the exit of the gate valve) with live rock rubble. That will capture the micro-bubbles for you and give you just a little more biological filtration.

 

[rking77573]

I had been thinking of plumbers pipe dope.... much messier and impossible to completely clean up. Thanks for a dose of reality there. Vaseline would be a much better idea. I'm gonna try that out.

 

[rking77573]

I also have a few pieces of live rock rubble laying around. I'll stick that in as well.

 

[mpwolken]

Well, I didn't quite catch that you might have a plumbing leak. I haven't had to deal with those yet.

 

[rking77573]

The thing is... I can't find anywhere there is water dripping etc etc. So if there is a leak... it would have to be small. But I guess it would have to be small to create micro bubbles in the first place. Either way, I have some searching to do. Any other tips/tricks will be greatly appreciated. I don't care if I try 16 things at once and never know which one fixed it. I just want the results....

Thanks,

 

[FabRight]

I'm thinking that you have a leak on the inlet side of your return pump (between the sump and the return pump). To see if you have a leak there, you need to turn the return pump off for a while. You could also have a leak in the pump itself. Same thing, turn pump off (for 10-15 mins.) and then look for water. Good luck finding whatever the source is of your micro bubbles.

Mike

 

[decimal]

The thing is... I can't find anywhere there is water dripping etc etc. So if there is a leak... it would have to be small. But I guess it would have to be small to create micro bubbles in the first place. Either way, I have some searching to do. Any other tips/tricks will be greatly appreciated. I don't care if I try 16 things at once and never know which one fixed it. I just want the results....

Thanks,

you wont find a dripping leak. is a small pinhole gap that is sucking in air. go step by step.. take your time to figure out where its coming from. trust me.. i have had the same problem and thats how i was able to take care of it. the vaseline is not a permanent solution, its just to find the trouble spot.

 

[rking77573]

The vaseline is definitely going to happen today I'm going to go buy a jar of it shortly so I can start hunting when the lights turn on.

 

[rking77573]

Quick update...... Vaseline got me some seriously strange looks in Walgreens. It could have been that I was just some random guy in the store alone and I bought the biggest size available because I didn't know how much I needed. I tried to explain what I was doing with it, but the lady behind the counter wasn't buying my explanation! That was very amusing to me. I very nearly added a box of condoms just to really get her imagination going, but didn't feel like spending the cash. Either way, I applied about a pound of vaseline to every joint in the return plumbing and it didn't cut the bubbles at all. I am forced to conclude that the pump must be letting some air into the system where the gasket is on the front of the pump. Fortunately for me, tmgrash dropped off a submersible that he had laying around and I hooked that up a few minutes ago. I'm pretty sure that the bubbles are all but gone now and I will post some pictures for all to see whenever the lights are on. The bubbles always show up most under the lights.

 

[rking77573]

Bubbles are gone. I can't say there are zero microbubbles but there might as well be none. It's a huge difference. Now all I need to do is clean up the water a little bit and I'll be happy. Here are some pics.

 

[jhand]

Looking good Ray. Wanna come cut a hole in my wall....

 

[tmgrash]

Looking sweet. Now you need to start putting some nice corals in there, get that thing filled up.

 

[rking77573]

Hmm demolition sounds like just the thing..... No seriously, I'm always available if you need an extra pair of hands around there. Just let me know.

 

[jhand]

Hmm demolition sounds like just the thing..... No seriously, I'm always available if you need an extra pair of hands around there. Just let me know.

I do have a project I was going to ask yall about. I'll get with ya soon.