Bubbles, bubbles everywhere.............

[steveoutlaw]

Ok, so everything looks to be thriving in my tank. The SPS have their polyps out and are showing nice color, and the LPS and softies are plump as can be. What I've noticed is that I have a ton of bubbles coming out of the sand be and forming on the rocks. I've seen a number of other tanks that don't seem to do this. Just wondering if this is normal or do I have something going on?

[MBVette]

Did you maybe out the sand in after the water? So some bubbles are just trapped in the sand bed?

[John]

Nitrogen cycle

[steveoutlaw]

Did you maybe out the sand in after the water? So some bubbles are just trapped in the sand bed?

 

Nope. The tank has been up and running for months and the sand went in before the water.

 

Nitrogen cycle

 

What causes it and what do oI have to look out for?

[John]

It's a good thing...

[steveoutlaw]

I hope so!!

[Steve175]

It's a good thing...

 

Not convinced. I be tempted to add some flow if it were me.

[steveoutlaw]

Not convinced. I be tempted to add some flow if it were me.

 

Got tons of flow........more than I probably should have for some of my stuff to thrive so I'm not concerned about that.

[Marc Weaver]

To elaborate on what John said, I always read that the bacteria in the sand bed convert nitrate into nitrogen gas, but this happens in the anaerobic sections at the bottom of a deep sand bed. When I had a shallow sand bed, bubbles were usually accompanied by something bad, such as cyano or dinoflagellates.

[steveoutlaw]

That's the wierd thing. I don't have any cyano or anything to go with it.

[Origami]

To elaborate on what John said, I always read that the bacteria in the sand bed convert nitrate into nitrogen gas, but this happens in the anaerobic sections at the bottom of a deep sand bed. When I had a shallow sand bed, bubbles were usually accompanied by something bad, such as cyano or dinoflagellates.

While it happens in the anaerobic sections, the gas produced can rise and be visible, if it doesn't go into solution. I've not seen it myself, but have read that people do observe bubbles from time to time. Like others here, more often when we see bubbles, they're larger and associated with cyano or dinos. In each case, though, you see the film that traps the air bubble. If it's nitrogen then there will be no film.

 

Steve, this is interesting. Can you get a couple of pictures and post them here. One should be a close up if possible. Are the bubbles fairly uniform in size and distribution across the sand bed.

 

If this is a recent installation of sand and rock, it might also just be micropockets of air that are being forced out of the sand. Aragonite can be pretty porous at the microscopic level. It would just be unusual that you'd see bubble like this being forced out.

[Integral9]

There are 2 ways to get bubbles from the sand bed that I know of.

 

1) Nitrogen cycle: Nitrates --> Nitrite --> Nitrogen

 

2) Methane gas: Caused by rotted / decaying animal or plant matter. Essentially as the matter decays it releases methane which bubbles up. This is more common in nature though, and not in our aquariums. If this was happening in your tank, you would probably have a huge nitrate problem and it might smell like someone farted next to your tank.

[wade]

More likely H2S if other than normal respiration gases (not methane in marine environment as sulfate reduction happens first) - but then you'd smell rotten eggs.

 

My guess is its just due to respiration by algae and bacteria. I would second the flow comment. "Too much flow" only counts if it is laminar flow. But, I would guess the system is just fine.

[steveoutlaw]

I'll try to get a video of it. Bubbles will just float up from the sand bed. The sand has been in the tank for over 6 months so I don't think it's stuff trapped in it. Plus, I had sure an Orange Shoulder tang in the tank that made sure that the sand was regularly stirred up.