Micro bubbles

J

jrstheone

Hi everyone, I'm getting micro bubbles and just plain little bubbles all over my main tank, on the glass, powerheads, live rocks, etc. I know it not coming from the refugium, nor the powerheads, I ruled that out by buying new ones. I'm puzzled by where there coming from. Has anyone seen this happen? All my corals and fish are fine, no sign of sickness or stunt in growth with my corals either. Has this happened to anyone else?
Thanks
Jamie
 
I dose two drops of Beano daily for the fish.....

Seriously though.. micro bubbles can be coming from the skimmer. If thats not it, then you may have a small hole or leak somewhere in the lines. Do you have anti-siphon holes in the return nozzles? Do you see them coming out of the nozzles?
 
i had some being created by a o-ring in a pump not being seated correctly before. it didnt leak any water so i didnt worry about it when i reconnected it after cleaning, but apparently it was enough for some nice bubble action. do you have any type of external pumps or hang on back canisters or anything of the sort that could be pulling in air? pics would be great of your system.
 
Guys its not coming from the skimmer, no leaks anywhere that I can see. I'm wondering if its not a bacteria or something. I will post some pictures of the tank today if I can get the camera to take a descent shot.
Thanks
Jamie
 
Ok, here are some shots, you have to look closely . I've replaced the maxi jet 1200 with new ones, and somehow I believe there coming from them.
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The bubbles are getting traped onto the algea so I'm wodering if my clean up crew could do a better job on the algea then the bubbles would have nothing to stick to.
Any thoughts on this or a solution would be appreciated.
Jamie
 
That's not micro bubbles.. that is either dynos or cyno. The bubbles are oxygen/nitrogen being released by the algae/bacteria itself.

You have a water quality issue or flow (or combination) going on there.

Please provide the following so we can help you further on this..

Temp
Salinity
Ca
Mg
Alk
Nitrates

Describe the size of the tank, the amount of flow you have, how the flow is directed around the tank.

Type of lighting, age of bulbs and details on the bulbs (Kelvin Temp) etc.

Let us know what you run in the system, such as skimmers, carbon reactors, GFO etc.

Anything that you dose.

How do you feed, what do you feed and how often etc?

Water changes... do you use RO/DI or not, how often do you do them, how much do you change etc.
 
Temp 79
Salinity 1.026
Ca 480
Mg dont know
Alk 9 to 10
Nitrates 0
I have t-5 lighting, the bulbs are fairly new 4 to 6 months, I have 3 power heads for flow 2 1200 and 1 400. I feed every other day. My tank is a 55 gallon and I running a skimmer in my refugium and passive carbon on the return pump.
I've had dino before, the red stuff but its been months and this stuff the micro bubbles are sticking to is brownish long hairs. I'll post more pictures of the tank when the antinic come on. The sand bed is clean from any algea, its mostly on the back wall and live rock on top.
Thanks
Jamie
 
I think your right, I just came across this article and the picture looks very close to whats going on in my tank.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php
 
@jrstheone wrote:
Temp 79 Salinity 1.026 Ca 480 Mg dont know Alk 9 to 10 Nitrates 0 I have t-5 lighting said:
Your parms look fine... except the unknown Mg number. Its probably okay with a cal number like that, but it would be good to get a solid number. Whats your pH run??

T-5's should be replaced every 8-9 months, your on the backend of their lifespan, but not to the point where they should be creating problems.

If it is dinos, this will need to be a multi-prong approach.. I'll see if I can find the last thread dealing with these as it had a lot of information and things to do to help.
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Ok, so I think Im on to the problem now. First I've shut down my lights, moonlights only thing on now for the next 24 to 36 hours. Then I'm going to lower my time on the lights. My schedule has been the antinic come on at eight then daylights come on at twelve then off at seven then the antinic go off at ten. Should I stick with that schedule? All help is appreciated.
Thanks
Jamie
 
@jrstheone wrote:
Ok said:
That's the first step, lights out period. Hold off on water changes too until it clears up as water changes have been reported to fuel them. Adjust your skimmer to skim wetter during that time.

The lighting schedule should be fine either way, 7 hours of full light should not be a problem and actinics add very little and should not encourage any algae growth. I'm not sure of their impact on bacterial growth however or dinos in particular.
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One more question, I need to raise my ph which always runs about 8.2 if not higher in the middle of the day to 8.4 to 8.6 while I'm battling this outbreak. From what Ive read this will help me. I need an inexpensive solution.
Jamie
 
@jrstheone wrote:
One more question said:
You're welcome, Dinos and AEFW are two of the most frustrating things to deal with so hang in there.

I'd hold off on that and see if you get lucky with your lights out attempt. 8.2 is just fine and taking it up .2 or .4 points takes some work. If it doesn't work, then that would be the next step. You could start researching or planning how to do that.. I would suggest dripping kalk, have you done that before?

Just a word of advice on the expectations. I have never had dinos thank god, but reading about others experience with them, be prepared for multiple attempts at getting rid of them. Some get lucky and the first thing they try works, others go through the wringer working it out.

@tangalone wrote:
Always a step ahead DaveJ...your on it! Wink said:
Wasn't that a Beastie Boy song???
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DaveJ, no I have never drip kalk, and right now I'm reading as much as I can asorb about dinoflagellates. What is lime water? One more thing, I have a 30 gallon refugium full of caulerpa and the lights on it run 24/7 is that going to be a problem ?
 
@jrstheone wrote:
DaveJ said:
Lime water and kalk are the same thing. Well if you end up trying that, we can deal with the how to and risks involved with that then.

I'm mixed on the refuge. On one hand leaving it on will help keep your pH up and oxygenate the water a bit while still pulling nutrients out of the water. The flip side is the fuge may well harbor some dinos that could spread back into the display if you get it clear with the lights out.

Anyone else have an opinion on that one?? I would probably leave it on and once the lights out were completed for the display, turn around and do it to the fuge. Problem is with the type of algae you have going lights out may trigger it going sexual on you.

Tell you what, leave it in and lights on in the fuge, but trim it well now. Once the display has completed lights out, turn the fuge light off for a few days after trimming a bit too. Maybe that will stimulate enough growth to keep it from going sexual. Just keep an eye on it when you do that and if you see it turning white or translucent, pull it out before it dissolves.
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13 hours with no lights, I'm getting antcy. lol Whenever Dallas North Aquarium opens I'll go get some buffer, I check the ph this morning @ 8:00 and its sitting around 8.2. Thats pretty good so far.
Jamie
 
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