Micro bubble/dust problem?

[Andrew52984]

Hey guys, as some of you have probably read I swapped out my substrate last week from crushed coral to sugar sized CaribSea sand. Currently i'm still having quite a bit of dust accumulating on the glass and on the surface, but I'm also still having problems with my skimmer(AquaC Remora with MJ1200 plus pre-skimmer surface box) producing a ton of microbubbles. Any help you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated. I've check to make sure my skimmer's level and it is an so is the preskimmer box. The sponge at the bottom of the box is sitting where it should be. I've got a koralia 2 about a third of the way down on the side of my tank aimed at a 45 degree angle toward the surface to aggitate a lil bit cause their is an oily residue still on the surface(possibly dust from the sand). And i did rinse the sand in RO water very thoroughly before adding it to the tank and used the old plate trick when adding the water back to the tank to prevent from a dust storm...thanks for the help!

 

[cbrownfish]

It is very common for new substrate to create cloudy water. Do you have any sort of pre-filter in place? Add a filter sock, pre-filter or hang on filter temporarily. The substrate dust could be causing the skimmer to act funky and create extra bubbles. Set the skimmer to skim "wet" and this will help clean the water quicker.

 

[jblincoe]

does this system have an overflow to a sump at all? these usually keep the film on top of the water under control and most people i know never have any issues with this. if you don't you may want to get a small hang on back (HOB) skimmer or carbon filter. carbon would do well since most people run it periodically anyway, and it will also clear up your water pretty quickly, just remember to change it regularly.

 

[jblincoe]

oh yeah, and the koralias are great pumps, but if your bubbles from your skimmer are getting sucked into it it will make for a pretty lousy view of your beautiful reef. a good idea would be move the skimmer output to the most dead spot (meaning low flow) this will also prevent that spot from becoming stale, it will create some movement.

 

[lcstorc]

IMO it is the film on the water making the skimmer wack out. Sounds like it is acting more or less like a new AquaC. The Koralia is a good idea to break things up and I agree that skimming wet is a good idea. Keep an eye on that sponge and clean it frequently. When I moved my 90 I had to clean the filter sock 3 times a day at first. The sponge would be about the same thing.
If you have a little HOB filter or a canister filter then I would put it on temporarily.
I think the most important thing is just to keep everything clean and give it some time.

 

[Andrew52984]

My problem or I guess the thing buggin me is that I am running a canister filter temporarily(only since the substrate swap) and its output and my koralia 2 are on the left side of the tank and the skimmer is on the far right back side of the tank(AquaC Remora w/MJ1200 and surface skimmer box). Not sure what you guys mean by running wet tho? It also doesn't help that i'm getting over a cyano breakout(water was still cloudy and had surface oil before the breakout tho) and all of the dust from the sand has settled and its just the microbubbles and the oil on the surface of the water I'm having trouble with. Water isn't cloudy due to anyting floating around other than the microbubbles. Should I run active carbon in my canister filter? I have a marineland c220 canister filter, where in this filter would i place the carbon if i should run it? Thanks for the help guys!

 

[lcstorc]

Carbon is always a good idea but I don't think it has anything to do with the issue.
I really think it just needs time.
Running wet is adjusting the skimmer so you get more wet skimmate. The cup will fill faster but so only adjust it so far, but that is the idea.
What is on the surface is likely oil of some kind and oil goofs up skimmers. Once the oil is removed things should go back to normal.
You may want to try adjusting the pump to a slightly different angle. That helped mine when it was new.

 

[Andrew52984]

Sounds good, i'll try and get the skimmer to run wet. Skimmer's been up and runnin on the tank for two months now. Hope it starts clearin up soon.