Anyone get bubbles from their canister filter?

[MalcolmV8]

I have a marineland C530 canister on my 90 gallon tank and I notice from time to time (once an hour maybe?) it shoots out a bunch of bubbles that seem to have been collecting. I'm pretty sure its from the hoses and connections because a few months ago when cleaning it I pulled all the hoses and tightened the heck out of the connections and it greatly reduced the bubbles down to about hour intervals.

So I was thinking maybe I should run a bead of fish tank silicon around all the connections to stop it all together. Anyhow else have this problem?

Thanks
Malcolm

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I get the bubbles from my canisters, also marinelands.
I'm not too worried about them, since I think some of them are from the co2 that gets sucked up by the outputs. My plants also pearl alot, so the bubbles from my filters typically just blend in.

 

[Newman]

yea. canisters sometimes fart bubbles out...has something to do with the canister not being filled completely with water (i notice the eheim filters never are)

 

[MalcolmV8]

Ah ok. Glad I'm not the only one. The bubbles are just more annoying than anything. I may try and seal the connections with silicon on the weekend or something and see how that goes.

 

[Newman]

don't know if that would help exactly, but hell why not try it
tell us if that fixed it.

 

[MalcolmV8]

It should unless there's a leak somewhere else sucking in air. Perhaps between the motor head and body of the canister when you seal the two together. I've inspected that seal though and it looks perfect. I'm not sure where else it could be sucking in some air.

 

[Newman]

i think some canisters are designed to hold a little bit of air at the top...so the air bubble thing seems unavoidable -_-

 

[MalcolmV8]

But there can only be so many bubbles trapped in there. How could it keep outputting bubbles for months on end? What makes you think that's an intended design feature? just curious.

 

[Newman]

no idea man, its just that I've seen it on my eheim ecco, and that's been running for around 4 months now. I do have CO2 bubbles going into the intake tho...

 

[MalcolmV8]

Oh ok. I have no bubbles going into mine. At one point I thought that maybe my air bubbles from the air stone where somehow making it over to the canisters intake so I turned the air pump off for a few days but it made no difference.

 

[JRB__]

Hey Malclom,
Dude I have the exact same issue with my 2 Eheim 2215 cannisters. I believe it has something to do with how you prime it. Because when I set my first one up it never did it. I then got another one and that one did it from the beginning. I then cleaned my first one after bout 6 months and when I put it back together... it started to fart bubbles (nice way of putting it newman ) aswell.
However like you, its got me stumped because.... if its because I didn't prime it 100% and there is a pocket of bubbles in the top of the cannister, logic tells you it should stop eventually unless there's a constant source of air..... I haven't done anything to my lines like tightning etc yet mine have greatly slowed done how often they fart. And if it was a leak in a seal or line somewhere, wouldn't it be dripping and if not dripping, at least moist? I've checked all tubing and seals reguarly and have never found any moisture.
Another thing that makes me think its got something to do with the priming of the cannister is, I've got a fluval 404 cannister that has a self-priming function and I have never had the bubble issue with that cannister.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Well I was thinking maybe the seals on the intake line are not as good as they could be so when the pump is sucking in the water its sucking hard enough that little air bubbles could be getting sucked in via the joints too and accumulating inside the canister until its big enough to blow out. This would never drip or leak unless that intake pipe when under pressure forcing the water out the less than perfect seals. Just a theory.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Well I called Marineland today and asked about the bubbles. They said that's not normal or a design feature. The lady said either my o-ring on the canister is leaking and I should put more lubrication on it or else my intake hose is leaking somewhere as I suspected.

So I guess I'm back to silicon sealing the intake hoses joints and see what happens

 

[Newman]

good luck with it. tell us if siliconing everything eliminates the problem. if it does, then I gotta look into this as well for both of my canisters..

 

[JRB__]

yup, me too

 

[MalcolmV8]

Well guys I have some great news. I got it fixed *BOUNCINGS

I've attached some pictures of the work. I turned off the canister and closed the valve and removed the base unit for better access. I put a real thin bead of silicon around the joint areas on the intake hose only. I did this in the morning and let it sit all day to harden. I also put a thin coat of vaseline on the o-rings before sliding the host attachment back into the head of the canister.

Fired it up and could tell right away. It blew the bubbles out the hoses and stopped right away. I let it run all night and today and nothing, not a single little bubble coming out. This is great!

 

[Newman]

wait a week and watch it closely before making assumptions lol! tell us if it really fixed it xD

 

[MalcolmV8]

Will do but I can tell you mine spit bubbles all the time, every 30 minutes to an hour. Lots of really tiny fine bubbles. It would accumulate and then suddenly spit them all out. So far nothing. I didn't even have to see them spit out, I could hear it.
Also the top of the tank would have all the tiny bubbles all over and you'd see them on the side of the glass too for a short period after a bubble burst had come out.
I can tell you there has been absolutely none, not one bubble all day. I've watched it quite a bit. I will continue to do so, its right in my living room and we all see the tank all the time. That's probably why the bubbles bothered me the most.

 

[JRB__]

well fingers crossed it works long term.
Be careful turning your filter off all day.. you might damage the good bact and cause an ammonia or nitrite spike or worst.
I re-primed both of mine that were blowin bubbles.. I think bad priming was my problem.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Be careful turning your filter off all day.. you might damage the good bact and cause an ammonia or nitrite spike or worst.

I don't think one day off is going to do much of anything to the bacteria. It was still full of water. Anyhow I have an emperor 400 with two bio wheels going on that tank too so I'm sure it'll be fine.

What do you have to do to re-prime your canisters? What's involved? what brand are they? I ask because I don't see how you can have endless bubbles unless there's a leak? If you just had some air captured inside there it should eventually deplete and stop bubbling right.

Thanks