[neoacid]

Well, I haven't had any experience with water-cooling, but I'm currently putting together my first, and I've done a lot of reading of posts because i want to have as few problems as possible. Right now, though, i will not be including an air-trap in my design, just a reservoir. Unfortunately, my case is packed and very space limited, so the reservoir is going to be at the bottom of the case, which probably doesn't make for a very good air-trap, since bubbles will rise to the highest point of the water circuit.

Back to the subject of trying to make an all-in-one air-trap though, I think you can minimize the production of bubbles from a standard reservoir that has top inlet and bottom outlet without having to keep the water level within a certain small range. You would do this by using a flat piece of material slanted at an angle underneath the top inlet that goes down to about 1/3" the total length of the res. to act as a sort of slide for the water to smoothly flow on and hit the surface of the water without splashing as much. I'm not sure, but i think microbubbles should also be able to escape easier because the water will be spread out into a thin film going down the slide. Also, the right side of the resevoir underneath the slide should be much calmer and allow additional bubbles to rise to the surface. Please excuse my very hasty drawing.