Return and skimmer section together?

[The River Reef]

I would like some feedback on this idea... I have a small sump under smaller 54g corner stand. I have worked out a way to greatly reduce the bubbles with the skimmer and return sections combined. The system will have an ATO. Will it still be possible to maintain the water level in that section? Or am I full of high hopes? Please advise

 

[MrX]

Maybe a quick mock-up/diagram of what you're thinking might help people provide input. More details on the bubble reduction idea might help too.

 

[JohnK]

I suspect that no matter what you do the return will be blowing bubbles.

 

[uhupong]

I have this set up but I can still notice micro bubble. You can set up ato in this section of the sump, no problem.

 

[uhupong]

I have aquaflex series 3 sump just an fyi.

 

[dannyp02908]

for this to work, you definitely need an ATO as it is important for the skimmer section to remain at a constant height. As for stopping the bubbles in the return if you do this, i am not sure how to go about that. I have a seperate return section and an elbow pointed to the bottom and bubble trap and still get bubbles in my return.

 

[mchartier]

I run a baffeless sump. I had to I could only fit a 20H in the stand, my skimmer (Alpha 170) has a large foot print and so does my return pump (Water Blaster 3000). I have no micro bubble issues at all. I run a Herbie Drain that is submerged by about .25" in the sump. The tank came drilled 1" and 3/4", I use the 3/4" as my drain that has a gate valve on it and the 1" is my emergency drain, then I went over the back for my return. I run a Spectrapure UPLC for my ATO. When you setup the UPLC you mark the sensor with the water level you want then on the next step you move the sensor to the amount of change you want, so I barely moved the sensor. So the change is very minimal, I would say about 1/16".

 

[shawn708]

I run a baffeless sump. I had to I could only fit a 20H in the stand, my skimmer (Alpha 170) has a large foot print and so does my return pump (Water Blaster 3000). I have no micro bubble issues at all. I run a Herbie Drain that is submerged by about .25" in the sump. The tank came drilled 1" and 3/4", I use the 3/4" as my drain that has a gate valve on it and the 1" is my emergency drain, then I went over the back for my return. I run a Spectrapure UPLC for my ATO. When you setup the UPLC you mark the sensor with the water level you want then on the next step you move the sensor to the amount of change you want, so I barely moved the sensor. So the change is very minimal, I would say about 1/16".

Good point, river reef on your previous build threads it looked like you were setting up your drain with a herbie method. From everything I read a herbie drain is not only used to make the drain quiet but if done correctly there will ben no air in the tubes and no bubbles.

 

[twiddledog]

I had my skimmer in my return section for 7 years..never had a problem with bubbles. Just use an auto topoff to keep the height constant.

 

[The River Reef]

I can post an illustration of the concept tomorrow. Basically, I was tinkering with raising the skimmer with the limited room in my sump, I realized I could build an acrylic shelf to raise the skimmer and have the return below that shelf. So the water will flow through one end that has a hole or opening and flow underneath to the other end of the sump under the sealed acrylic shelf to the drilled return. You could even baffle the space below the skimmer if needed. The bubbles should be forced to rise, right?
And yes my drain will be free of air and bubbles. So only be dealing with bubbles created by items inside the sump.