Aquamaxx ws-1 micro bubble problem

[OutColdCRNA]

Hey all, I have a ws1 for hat I have been running for several months on my Tideline 65. This thing skims well but produces micro bubbles like crazy. Even after several months of use. I have tried raising and lowering the skimmer. I even rigged a air needle valve to the intake to be able to fine tune the air coming in. Nothing has helped. The only thing that works to stop the bubble entering the tank is wrapping my return in a mesh filter sock which significantly reduces the flow back into the tank. Now just have ti run the skimmer at night so the display isn’t clouded by all the bubbles! Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[HappyOne]

It sounds like it has been running in the system for long enough to break in so the problem is likely elsewhere.

How stocked is the tank? If there isn't much in there, there won't be much to skim out and that can create bubbles in the DT. Also what salinity level are you running?

I ran a FOWLR setup that wasn't much of a bio load for almost 20 years at 1.021 sg and the skimmer threw out so many bubbles into the DT that I had an overflow box made for the tank and I ran the skimmer, heater and the canister inlet in the box. That stopped the bubble problem.

This year I renovated the tank and set up, (new tank, stand etc) but with the existing LR, substrate, water and livestock but went to a mixed reef. Salinity up to 1.025 and more bio load with fish, inverts and corals and that same skimmer produces much fewer bubbles in the DT.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

The bio load is light. I only two clowns and lots of snails. That’s a good thought about the load. I am currently running it because I have been dealing with some cloudy water to assist with the Uv. Which has helped. Salinity is 1.025. I have three more fish coming from dr. Reef. So even though the load is light I’m more concerned of when the tank is stocked to be able to run the skimmer all the time.

 

[HappyOne]

I found that fish only didn't create much bio load for me. I was lightly stocked (never had more than 4 at a time in a 40 tall) and didn't feed much. Once I did the tank refresh and started to add corals -that made the difference.

I put a Fluval Ps2 in initially and it worked great for the first month or so and then I was emptying the cup two or three times in the day so I put my old Remora back on. It has much more capacity.

It's noisy and still throws some bubbles into the tank though...I think I will need to upgrade it