# Canister Filter Blowing out Micro Bubbles



## GABBA

Hi. So I have finally set up my 6ft tank and am running a Aqua One Nautilus 2700 UVC canister filter. The problem I am having is that it is blowing out a tonne of micro bubbles (via the spray bar). The bubbles in turn are being sucked back into the filter and the process is repeating. I was able to some how get it to stop blowing bubbles this morning and it was fine for about 10 hours, but all of a sudden it started again. The spray bar is firing directly in the water if that makes a difference. I shake the canister as best as I can (its huge so its very hard to shake) but i just cant seem to get it to work correctly. Not only is the tank full of small bubbles, but the filter is loud now as its pushing air through.

Does anyone have any advice.


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## eTrain

Are the holes in the spray bar submerged? Why is the spray bar that close to the intake?


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## m1ke715m

its getting air in the canister somewhere.. either through a gasket or a crack or something... check all its components


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## GABBA

The holes on the spray bar ARE submerged, is this correct? Or should they be above the water line? The spray bar is at the top of the tank and the intake pipe is at the bottom, it's just the pressure the spray bar forces the bubbles into the tank causes the bubbles to go everywhere.

I'm not sure where abouts air could be getting in from, my guess is that the intake pipe is sucking in the microbubbles and air is coming in that way. Does that make any sense?


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## 13razorbackfan

GABBA said:


> The holes on the spray bar ARE submerged, is this correct? Or should they be above the water line? The spray bar is at the top of the tank and the intake pipe is at the bottom, it's just the pressure the spray bar forces the bubbles into the tank causes the bubbles to go everywhere.
> 
> I'm not sure where abouts air could be getting in from, my guess is that the intake pipe is sucking in the microbubbles and air is coming in that way. Does that make any sense?


Yes but even then they would eventually dissolve IF the air stopped getting into the filter in the first place. It is likely as Mike mentioned you have a leak somewhere such as a gasket not making a good seal or if the media is clogged. Do you lube your gasket whenever you open it up? If this is a new filter then you may have too much media packed in it or the lid may not be on tight.

As for the spray bar it doesn't have to be submerged but I prefer mine submerged as it makes for a more quiet tank.

This is what I would do. Shut the filter off, open it up and close it back up making sure it makes a good seal. If that doesn't work then I would remove all the media by placing it in some tank water the same temp as the tank and then try the filter without media. I am not very familiar with your specific filter but the aforementioned should give you a good place to start.


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## m1ke715m

when it happened to me one of the intake tube junctions where the rigid tubing met the flex hose was above the water line on a fluval 405.. i moved it down so the junction was submerged and it stopped happening..


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## GABBA

So I spent about 2 hours after work fiddling with the filter and seemed to have fixed the problem, although it wasnt anything I expected it to be. I checked all the hoses and there didnt seem to be any air leak. I re-arranged all the filter media and removed two pads (one large and one small), but that didnt seem to help. As the hoses to the filter are clear, I was able to trace the bubbles back to the "cause". It turns out that where the plastic pipe makes a right angle turn over the back of the tank the "vortex" of water was causing the bubbles. It just so happened that there is a cap that can be un-screawed. I slightly loosened it, not so much that it lost its vacuum, but enough for the bubbles to dissapear......and they did.......looks like that is exactly what the cap/valve is there for, its just I had no idea....


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## m1ke715m

that cap is to pour water in to get rid of the air bubble and start the syphon as well


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