Anna, how are you- other than the air? I 'bookmarked' this post last night, in case that Chris' excellent advice didn't work. You can take a bucket of water, or better yet - a garden hose turned on just enough to 'dribble out' and slowly pour the water on any suspect plug, fitting, the pump lid... and see if the air bubbles lessen - this will pinpoint the air leak.

Another possibility is that you have an obstruction in either the vac hose or the skimmer hose, in which case the water is cavitating thereby producing the bubbls.

I wish you and your husband well with the 'detective work' this weekend, if you need any more help - you know where to find us