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Thousands of tiny bubbles in new set up

zed

Member
Joined
21 Sep 2008
Messages
100
Location
Teesside
It's been a long time since I last set up a tank, so don't know if this is normal: I filled my 350 litre tank with water and fired up the fluval FX5 filter (with a DIY in-line external heater on the output of the filter). I haven't put any media in the filter, just the supplied sponge.

I don't have any gravel/scaping in it, just water, as I'm just testing all the pipe work is leak-free and the external heater is up to the job.

It's been over 24 hours and the tank is filled with what looks like thousands of tiny air bubbles, making the water look cloudy.

Is this normal? If not, what's likley to be causing it?

Thanks
 
Cheers Gordon, got my plants arriving on Thursday was starting to worry a little, thinking maybe the system was taking in air somewhere!

Just had another look, and it looks like I have dust in the tank as well as the bubbles, probably due to me not washing the filter sponge before hand :oops:

Thanks again ;)
 
If the bubbles are waterbourne rather than on the glass it could still be sucking in air. fx5's being so powerful are prone to it.
 
Lots of bubbles are water bourne which are only really visible with the lights on, and some on the glass.

How would I eliminate the air being sucked in, should I tighten the lid even more, or look at the seal?

Thanks
 
check all the seals and make sure everything is nice and tight, you could be looking at something that is just a pin prick in the tubes or just the lid not tightened fully.
 
There may also be air trapped in the filter sponges/media that is coming free and being atomized by the impeller before being squirted into the tank. This happens all the time when I clean the filter and lasts a couple a hours, if the put the sponges in dry it will be worse.
 
beeky, that did cross my mind, so thanks for that.

The bubbles appear to have cleared up now, so that's the test-run complete.

My DIY external CO2 reactor with built-in heater is leak free, and heats up the tank great. I just need to connect up the CO2 now to see how well it difuses the CO2.

Thanks again!
 
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