air bubbles on _everything_

adamcourtney

New Member
Recently i've noticed that everything is covered in little air bubbles, the rocks, calerpa, substrate (Crushed coral) an the surface of the water.

If i stir it up, waft the rocks etc, they dissapear yet 30 mins later they are back again.

I've also noticed an increase in algae growth, i clean the glass daily now, if i leave it 2 days then the glass has a green tint.

Any ideas anyone?

Is this ok, good? bad?

Also, i saw one of my crabs having a nibble on one of my feather duster worms, its not coming out as much now, is there any way to "treat" the worm? Will it take anything other than marine snow?

Thanks

Adam
 

mwrager

Active Member
I could not tell you if this is good or bad. I just had this problem in my tank. I had not done a water change since Sept, yes I know I should do it more often, but I had shoulder surgery and was unable to do it. I started to see that something you describe and did water changes, one last weekend and one this weekend, and then rechecked the water to make sure everything is ok. I have not seen bubbles on everything. As for the crab, he would go to the sump.
 

mwrager

Active Member
The 2 water changes totaled 50% on my tank. My Tank is a 125 gal. My first one was 35 gal and my 2 nd was 30 gal. What are your parameters
 

ScottT1980

Well-Known Member
I have them as well and attributed it to respiration, especially because I find a good bit of these bubbles in my nuisance turf algae. Would be interested to hear other's opinions.

Take er easy
Scott T.
 

adamcourtney

New Member
SG 1.0023
PH 8.22
temp 26.7 (lights just going off so its a bit warmer than normal)
nitrite 0
nitrate between 0 and maybe 1 (almost 0)
alk buffer is high


all looks good. one of my mushroom corals has a kinda of spider web on it though, not sure what that is..

Cheers

Adam
 

EdgeKrusher

Member
How old is your tank? It could be that your skimmers is dumping micro bubbles into your tank, or resperation as mentioned. It could aslo be one of the byproducts of the de-nitrification cycle.

peace

EK
 

adamcourtney

New Member
I do have a de-nitrator but its been fine until now, the tank is about 2 1/2 months old now.

I did have a trouble originally with the skimmer dumping bubbles back in but i put some filter gauze in the output tray and that stopped it.
 

EdgeKrusher

Member
a de-nitrator? Never heard of it, could you explain what it does. I had the same issue with little bubbles all over my LR. I was told this was a byproduct of the nitrogen cycle, more specifically the gasses that bacteria release when they are doing thier thing. i saw them at about the same age as your tank. For maybe about a month. There are still some in my tank, but not as bad as it was. They should pass as the tank matures. Hopefully one of the pro's will jump on and let all know what it is.

Peace

EK
 

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Just curious, do you have a sump? We used to have that problem of air bubbles and once we added our sump we no longer have them.
 

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Our tank is not drilled either. You can make your own sump or buy one. Making it is alot cheaper though.

Plus, another benefit of a sump is more water volume. You can hide alot of your equiptment in there also.
 

Brucey

Well-Known Member
Curt ... Nice description mate. My guess is that it is a combination of several factors ... the tank is still relativley new and so is generally still cycling .... even though the amonia may have gone it takes anything upto a year for a tank to settle. I'm guessing microalgae is leeting off the bubbles, I noticed it more on my sand bed when i had the problem when i setup. I'm also guessing that your skimmer vents into the tank rather than into a sump where most people have them which gives the gas exchange a lot,longer to get rid of the microbubbles. I agree with Gina, I think a sump would be a valuablle addition to the tank
Brucey
 

adamcourtney

New Member
Here is a sample picture from a piece of rock. Its not limited to rock, most is on the substrate which even when viewed under the surface (at front f tank through glass) has trapped bubbles.

I have a green algae growth but its not like "snot". Well, least not yet, i keep turning over the substrate.

I've added a blue cheeck gobi on advise of my lfs and some more hermits to help the algae...
 

Curtswearing

Active Member
I'm running out the door at the moment. I have a lot of ideas and depending on how the phones are at work today, I might be able to post them. If not, I'll respond this evening. (I type while people blab on the phone).
 

adamcourtney

New Member
You know i thought just that and decreased it by 2 hours, i have 2 x 250w halide and 2 x 24w atinic all controlled by the aquastar,

On time is 08:30, off time is 18:30 for halides, atinic is 2 hours either side.

I really want dimmable atinics :eek:)

You think its still too much light? what do you reckon?
 

BigReepher

Active Member
I think Nivek might be right. I had the same problem when I added my MH. Let us know if shortening the lighting peroid works.
 
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