Sump Baffles

[aaron]

I started making my sump yesterday and ran accross a problem. I have a fairly large skimmer and space is a real problem so I was wondering:
Do you really need the three baffles for the bubble trap or do you think i coul get away with just two? I currently have a sump with no baffles and the micro bubbles in the tank are driving me insane so i hope to avoid this but i dont want to waste too much space with the third baffle if its not really that important
what do you guys think?

 

[marrone]

My old sump only had 2 baffles, the raised middle one and the one to the left of it by the return pump, and it worked well. The mirco bubbles hit the raised glass and burst and never made it into the tank. I had no other problems with just the 2. I now have 3 in my new sump and don't see any difference.

 

[joseney21]

how bout filter socks??that could be another approach.

 

[jhale]

If you can control the bubbles at the source you could have just one baffle.

for the water entering the sump you can direct it through a thin tower in the corner filled with rubble, just make sure you have a platform to keep the rubble off the bottom so it does not become a detritus trap you can't clean.

for the skimmer bubbles your going to have to get creative and build something to eliminate them. I'll leave that up to you

how are the motor things coming along?
I need to make some for my tunze's

 

[aaron]

The oscillating returns are going OK though i really need some equipment that's a little more precise than a hand held drill and dremel. The main problem is getting the pivot point absolutely dead centre on the pipe - I think i'm going to need a drill press if i am ever going to get this to work

 

[jhale]

that's one thing I don't have is a drill press. someday.

how powerful are the motors? would they be able to turn a large power head you think?
when your at home can you post the link for the place you bought them from.

 

[zahner]

lmk how this works out; i have the same space vs microbubbles concerns and plan to use just two baffles (under - over)

 

[aaron]

Motors are from
www.allelectronics.com
But I just had a look and could see them on the site - i think they called them syncro motors. i'lll check the invoice when i get back home

Oh, John, can you cut that other flange for me soon?

 

[aaron]

I'm thinking of getting the dremel drill press attachment.

 

[pecan2phat]

aaron,
I'm pretty sure 3 baffles are more likely to dissapate bubbles better than two. If your getting very fine micro bubbles than even 3 baffles might not work well enough. The key is also the distance that the baffles are placed. The farther apart, the better they work. I run 4 baffles at 2" apart and this did not stop the micro bubbles that I was getting from my skimmer until the skimmer broke in.

 

[House of Laughter]

Stop the bubbles at thier source and then baffle so the retrun doesn't scoop up any from the drop of the last baffle

Also, I used th rubble methos with great success as well.

House