building a bubble trap quickly

[klwheat]

So, I built my DIY sump from 29 gallon aquarium. Worked great, until I wanted to lower the water level and destroyed my bubble trap (late night, trying to hurry...no excuses...lol)
Anyway, I have to nearly empty my 100 gallon tank and take out the center brace from my stand in order to remove the sump - I want to AVOID that if possible. Instead, I'm planning to shut of my circulation, empty my sump return and skimmer sectons, and rebuild the bubble trap with acrylic pieces that I've precut to the size I need.
I want to do this as quickly as possible, as I'd like to get the circulation back up and running asap.
What do you all recommend to bond the acrylic to a glass aquarium that dries fish-safe quickly?
TIA for any help.

 

[ac7av]

Is there some reason you cant let it dry over night? The tank should be fine in that amount of time. I know you already have the pieces cut but going with glass on glass is really going to make a better connection and be stronger. The acrylic would work fine as long as its not holding back any water pressure and just simply a baffle that water has to go around. In witch case why not just split some airline tubing and run it down each side of the acrylic piece you made and slide it into place. It will work perfect and you will be able to remove it if you need to, so you don’t brake it again if its close to something you need to service that caused you to break out the other one.

 

[klwheat]

Is there some reason you cant let it dry over night? The tank should be fine in that amount of time.

I don't trust leaving it with no circulation overnight...seems too long...lol

I know you already have the pieces cut but going with glass on glass is really going to make a better connection and be stronger. The acrylic would work fine as long as its not holding back any water pressure and just simply a baffle that water has to go around. In witch case why not just split some airline tubing and run it down each side of the acrylic piece you made and slide it into place. It will work perfect and you will be able to remove it if you need to, so you don’t brake it again if its close to something you need to service that caused you to break out the other one.

I don't have any way to cut glass...lol
It's really just bubble trap/baffles, no need for these to hold water pressure at all. With the airline tubing, do you just split it, put it on the sides, and wedge it in? Hadn't thought of trying something that simple. hmmm.

 

[ac7av]

Ya just split the rubber air line tubing and put it on the sides of the baffle so the rubber tubing will hold it in place very well if the clearance is tight. If its not holding back any water pressure you would not even have to remove any water just cut tubing slip over ends of baffle and slide into place where you want it. You done. At that point if the baffle is above the water surface you could put a tack with your glue of choice to keep if from moving if you bump it in the future.

 

[Krish]

I'd use silicone if you want a more permanent fix, but that requires atleast a 24 hour cure time. Do you have any good sized rubbermaid containers you could use in place of the sump as you work on things?? Seeing it will only be temporay, I'd just pop a rubbermaid container under the stand so you can run your skimmer and put the return pump in there for circulation and let it rip. You will probably transfer some micro-bubbles to the tank during this time, but of course, it will only be for a short time. This way, you can take your time to glue in the baffles properly. Other than that, if you need to do the "quick fix" then maybe get some of that 2 part aquarium putty you can buy from most LFS for bonding rocks together etc and use that to hold in the baffles in place. It's supposed to cure pretty quickly so you won't have much down time. Won't look the prettiest, but should do the trick if you have a nice tight fit.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[klwheat]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll have to try the airline tubing and see if i can get that to work without draining...that would be GREAT (and probably make my wife happier as well....lol). If not, I used silicone initially and it worked great...just trying to avoid the downtime. Wonder if the glue I use for coral frags would work?!

 

[Krish]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll have to try the airline tubing and see if i can get that to work without draining...that would be GREAT (and probably make my wife happier as well....lol). If not, I used silicone initially and it worked great...just trying to avoid the downtime. Wonder if the glue I use for coral frags would work?!

I didn't even see Erik's post. The airline tubing sounds like a really great idea!

 

[Tecnomage]

How did it work out?

Inquiring minds want to know

 

[klwheat]

How did it work out?

Inquiring minds want to know

Well, so far...it hasn't...lol.
I cut 3 sheets the correct size and I plan to use the air tubing to place them. I just haven't had a chance to rearrange the return pump/protein skimmer/UV sterilizer long enough to do it. Unfortunately, my dogs destroyed our fence, so I've been rebuilding it instead.
I'll update this weekend with results hopefully!
Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[WABlonde]

LOL. Damn dogs.

so question.. for those of us NOT running a sump.. what is the purpose of this bubble trap? First I've heard of one.

 

[Krish]

LOL. Damn dogs.

so question.. for those of us NOT running a sump.. what is the purpose of this bubble trap? First I've heard of one.

Well, some of the time you get a lot of bubbles in the sump coming from the skimmer, incoming water etc which you don't want to transfer back into the tank so people would make a bubble trap which is usully 3 baffles (or partitions) back to back that directs flow over one, under the other, and then over the third. Usually that right there eliminates all bubbles from getting into the return chamer where the return pump is. If you look at any pictures of any sumps you will see three baffles spaced about an inch or so apart right before the return pump. That's your bubble trap.


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[WABlonde]

Ahh.. Thanks Krish. Yes. I've seen the sumps (have 2 sitting around) which have the three partitions. Thanks for explaining the 'bubble trap'. Makes a bit more sense when reading through this thread now. (needed the mental visual)

 

[klwheat]

So, WABlonde, you planning to set up a sump?

 

[WABlonde]

Nope! Not anytime soon. Pretty happy with our Fluval so far. Next tank has a built-in wet/dry filter. Just like to keep extra crud around I guess.

 

[Krish]

Ahh.. Thanks Krish. Yes. I've seen the sumps (have 2 sitting around) which have the three partitions. Thanks for explaining the 'bubble trap'. Makes a bit more sense when reading through this thread now. (needed the mental visual)

Haha! No problem. On some wet/dry's you won't see a bubble trap because they sometimes use a sponge right before the return chamber to catch the bubbles. I rather the bubble trap method though because that one sponge is another thing you will have to stay on top of keeping clean.

 

[jrgilles]

Careful about wedging it in. The plexiglas can expand and break your tank. Not sure if it is temp or the presence of water that causes it to expand a bit. Someone else can probably answer this though.

 

[ac7av]

That’s a good point. I didn’t know you were going to put in three pieces in like that. Be careful with the pressure on the tank. I thought this was a quick repair to one that broke out but 3 pieces could put a lot of pressure on the tank.

 

[klwheat]

Yeah, I inadvertently broke 2 and the other bent, so gotta replace all 3 (besides, the height needed adjusted down). Guess I'll be careful

 

[klwheat]

Any other suggestions for something to put these in that dries quickly and safely? I really don't want to have it down long enough to drain and silicone them in

 

[jrgilles]

I used an epoxy to put the plexiglass baffles in my sump. I think it was weld-on 40. I could check the bottle to be sure though. It is thick. Much thicket than the more common weldons. A bit tougher to get a hold of though. You could borrow some from me if you were around seattle (not sure where yelm is.)

It would probably be cured in 8 hours or so, still might want to wait 24 tho.... so not sure it helps.