Micro bubbles good for reefs???

[RW09903]

I came across this thread where micro bubbles are infused into reef tanks as part of daily maintenance. I am curious to get your opinions about it... also considering possible affects to fish.

 

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/micro-scrubbing-bubbles.224373/

 

[DCReefer1964]

I think it would be better to use a form of reactor to introduce micro bubbles which would increase dissolved Oxygen levels. That said your skimmer does the same thing if your intake comes from outside. My .02

[RW09903]

Another article/blog about this concept

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/air-bubbles-to-improve-reef-water-chemistry

 

 

[monkiboy]

here's a good one from mike:

https://reefbuilders.com/2016/07/09/nano-bubbles-in-the-reef-aquarium/

[davelin315]

Interesting proposition, but the basis for this sounds like you irritate the corals and fish so that they slime up and that makes them healthier. Slime and shedding of the slime coat is really, at least in my opinion, a defensive measure and a factor of growth. Encouraging this in animals is like doing a daily exfoliation on your skin. You might look bright and shiny but are you driving your body to grow epidermal cells at too fast a rate? I would think you would want these animals to shed their slime coating when they want versus requiring them to do it constantly.

 

Also, anecdotally, many of the comments stated that it is akin to turning your tank into a skimmer. If you ever look in your skimmer there are certainly going to be some animals in there but I have never known my skimmer to be a popular place for animals to thrive. I get all kinds of critters in the pipes, in the display, in the sump, in the overflows, and in reactors that are just filtering water, but none of these animals willingly colonize the skimmer so my thought is they do not like microbubbles and are trying to avoid them.

[davelin315]

Also, seems like people doing this are also monitoring their tanks more closely than they did in the past and ensuring that they are tweaking everything including flow in the tank to ensure that the bubbles are effective. Could this just be a factor of paying more attention to your tank?