Bubbles on my new lr, what to do.?

tax lady

Member
got bubbles on my new pieces of lr . Also a purpleish and some greenish color on there. First thought it was starting of coraline..but no. What to do?? My tank is a disaster anyway, but now this...
will get my params in a minute.
 

tax lady

Member
o k here they are
25 (I think )nitrates
0 nitites
0 ammonia
8.0 p h
140 calcium
11.5 kh
4.5 alk
Anybody can help./??
 

meowzer

Moderator
can you get a pic?.....do you know what green bubble algae looks like? google that...are they hard bubbles...
 

tax lady

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3137647
can you get a pic?.....do you know what green bubble algae looks like? google that...are they hard bubbles...
No they are not hard, just looks and feels like air bubbles. They are not colored like the pic in google either. they are translucent. Any ideas?
 

tax lady

Member
definitely hard, but don't think its coraline cause havn't had the rock that long. I am so upset. Its the first thing I bought at this new place I went to, and it also had some things on rocks ,can't remember the name, but look like small anenomes. And I do not want to get any ps cause my tank is not stable enough now. i can't keep anything alive but my lta anenome, goby and clowns.
 

tax lady

Member
Did everyone go to bed or what???
I need help here. What can I do about this?
I am going out of town in a couple of days but will only be gone about 3 or 4 days. This stuff may get worse..???? What to do?
 

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by Tax lady
http:///forum/post/3137723
Did everyone go to bed or what???
I need help here. What can I do about this?
I am going out of town in a couple of days but will only be gone about 3 or 4 days. This stuff may get worse..???? What to do?
For now, I'd do a massive water change, 25 is too high of a level for nitrates IMO. I can't really tell from the pics, but it almost looks like maybe the live rock was not fully cured? It sounds like it's either one of two things:
Nitrogen air bubbles being released by the LR, or more specifically the bacteria living in the LR.
A diatom bloom in the works, not uncommon if adding LR. Water change, and if you have time for chemicals before you go out of town: Coralife Marine Tank Clarifier and/or Prime.
Just curious, how is your circulation and how often do you do water changes?
 

tax lady

Member
24 gal aquapod,so filter is built in. Don't remember how big.
I have been doing water changes about every week. I just can't get the nitrates down. I have had lots of invertebrates die and have not found out what my problem is.
What do they have to do to cure the lr?
I do have some Prime on hand. what will that do? I was going to take it back to lfs. the help there was telling me he uses tap water and just adds prime. but I won't do that so was going to return it. I don't get into town that often so havn't done it yet.
 

tax lady

Member
Need to get some sleep now if I don't get any more replys in the next 10 minutes or so.
Hope that tomorrow I can see some good help and info here on my problem.

Oh, I can't change the water again caus I do not have any more salt water, or ro water left.
 

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by Tax lady
http:///forum/post/3137738
24 gal aquapod,so filter is built in. Don't remember how big.
I have been doing water changes about every week. I just can't get the nitrates down. I have had lots of invertebrates die and have not found out what my problem is.
What do they have to do to cure the lr?
I do have some Prime on hand. what will that do? I was going to take it back to lfs. the help there was telling me he uses tap water and just adds prime. but I won't do that so was going to return it. I don't get into town that often so havn't done it yet.
Prime will help lower levels, specifically nitrite and ammonia, which lead to nitrate. it claims to "detoxify nitrite and nitrate." You should add prime with every water change, that will definitely help, but is not a cure.
Invertebrates dying is definitely a problem. How do you add your water changes and what are you salt levels before and after water changes? Many invertebrates are intolerant to quick changes in salinity.
Also, if you're only using the stock filtration on the tank, try adding Chemi-Pure, it can go right in the sump built into the back of your tank and SWF has it on sale this week. That will definitely help keep levels down.
One more question, since you have fish, do you run a protein skimmer?
Since you're going out of town, I'd add Prime tonight and again tomorrow before you leave. GL!
and Yeah, I definitely would not use tap water with just Prime added to it, that's suicide!
 

tax lady

Member
No protein skimmers.
Salt levels were low previously and got them up now. Don't know exactly before and after water changes.But the inverts just did not survive as well as lots of other corals like frogspawn, brain, etc. This has been an ongoing problem.
Do you have any other info on the bubbles and what I can do about it? I will go and add prime. Do not have the other and not time to go to town before I leave.
 

btldreef

Moderator
If there are fish in the tank, you need to get a protein skimmer in order to keep nitrate levels down.
With some water changes, the addition of a CUC and prime, you should be able to get the diatom bloom under control.
The Marine Tank Clarifier was the thing that got rid of ours for good.
Every time you add fish, water or rock you should be adding Prime.
IMO do some larger water changes, add prime and a CUC and get a skimmer and you should be able to keep the nitrates under control, which will control the diatoms.
The salt level needs to stay consistent or inverts will die, which can include corals.
 

tax lady

Member
did a 5 gallon water change this morning and added some prime. Seems like nitrates went down some. Seems to be reading about 25. I really can't tell. the lfs told me that you put the container over the colors and when you can't see one anymore its that reading, so if I went by that it would be 10. Can't believe that though case the color was still pretty purple.
Dont' know anything about a skimmer, don't know where it would fit in tank cause it is an aquapod which has all the built in stuff. Anyway I will put some more prime in tomorrow morning before I leave. Hope that will help.
Thanks for all the help you have been.
Btw the bubbles were gone, I thought, today when i changed the water, but saw them tonight.
 

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3138493
You might have to carefully siphon the bubbles w/o breaking them
WHY ARE you adding prime????
Prime will help detox nitrites and ammonia and nitrates. She had it, so why not use it to help a little. We use it with every water change and almost always have low, close to zero readings on nitrate. We're extremely obsessive with keeping our tank clean, but it definitely does help, 2 of the 3 LFS's by me and a lot of our friends in the hobby also add Prime as a safe measure.
 
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