clear bubbles on the live rock
- Thread starter dszpeed04
- Start date
rcdude1990
Active Member
i got snails for the brown hair algea but about those white bubbles, im not a pro so u might wanna wait for other replies, u wouldnt happen to have those air stones in a SW tank would u?
rcdude1990
Active Member
wats inside ur tank now?
any corals?
how long r the light on for?
any corals?
how long r the light on for?
dszpeed04
New Member
is a 55 gallon(main tank) after the sump and refugium is about 75g , there are two ocellaris clown fish(just got them) and blue yellow tail dampsel and one green cromis, also one decorator crab one emeral crab two scarlet hermits, like 10 blue hermits a bunch of pyramid snails, some turbo snails , a big green feather duster, ofcourse the live rock, some mushroom corals , big leather corals,fire shrimp, 2 skunk cleaner shrimps, 3 pepermint shrimps , i think thats all probably not.....lol and some other stuff that i eirther did not buy or can't describe.....
rcdude1990
Active Member
o wow lol umm im not sure wat to tell u lol
i think ur snails or mayb the crabs would eat it but if u want take a turkey baster and slowly bast it away but mayb wait for a few more replies since ive only been in this hobby for 2 months lol
i think ur snails or mayb the crabs would eat it but if u want take a turkey baster and slowly bast it away but mayb wait for a few more replies since ive only been in this hobby for 2 months lol
hatessushi
Active Member
I used to get bubbles on my live rock and anywhere else the algea was growing. Algea produces oxygen so that's why you have bubbles.
only
New Member
I am having the same problem.just bought a 300 watt MH light system. Started using purple up.... BYE BYE green algae and hello purple and red algae. The only problem now is that I have bubbles everywhere. Is this bad or good? Also my nitrates are spiking and I am changing 5 gallons of water every other day in a 50 gallon tank!
murph
Active Member
Unfourtantly from my experience these bubbles on the sand bed are usually indicative of the beginnings of cyano growth. Can you give use a reading for your alk level?
Cyanobacteria is the nasty slimy purple stuff you may have seen growing on sand beds in other systems and can be a common occurrence in young tanks like yours. It is not particularly bad for the system unless it gets out of hand and or there is a large die off of it when antibiotic type products are used to kill it all at once.
For now I would just wait and see if the tell tail slimy purple patches appear on your sand bed to know for sure this is what the problem is. If so manual removal can be accomplished by syphoning it off the sand be or using a turkey baster to suck it up.
For long term prevention there are two key factors IMO. Aggressive skimming and alk level. To accomplish aggressive skimming simply purchase a unit rated for well over the gallon capacity of your tank. I would recommend a Coralife SS 220 or an ASM equivalent brand.
I would also recommend the use of a kalk drip to raise alk and PH levels. Google kalkwasser for some good articles on how to mix and drip. My system using a quality salt mix without a kalk drip will typically run 8.2 PH and normal alk. Cyano will grow in my tank under these conditions.
When I drip kalk these same levels will rise to PH 8.4 and alk high normal. Cyano will either stop growing or even begin to die off at these levels. Nothing in my tank seems to be adversely effected by these slightly elevated levels except the cyano and some of my corals actually seem to prefer these levels i.e my Xenia.
Other factors to consider are nitrate and phosphate levels shoot for nitrate 10 or lower and zero phosphates. Unfortuanately cyanobacteria is one of the oldest life forms on earth and if other conditions are favorable can grow in systems where even these levels are optimal or even testing zero.
Flow and lighting are other often mentioned factors but IMO have little to do with it unless flow is vary low, meaning under 10x per hour and lighting is extended to more the twelve hours.
If you do find yourself in a battle with cyano don't fret, you are not alone by any means. I have been on the verge of removing corals from my tank and cutting lighting hours and intensity in the belief that the intense light levels necessary for coral keeping was insuring the presence of cyano. Just as I am about to do this cyano seems to subside. Maybe its just messing with my mind :joy:
Cyanobacteria is the nasty slimy purple stuff you may have seen growing on sand beds in other systems and can be a common occurrence in young tanks like yours. It is not particularly bad for the system unless it gets out of hand and or there is a large die off of it when antibiotic type products are used to kill it all at once.
For now I would just wait and see if the tell tail slimy purple patches appear on your sand bed to know for sure this is what the problem is. If so manual removal can be accomplished by syphoning it off the sand be or using a turkey baster to suck it up.
For long term prevention there are two key factors IMO. Aggressive skimming and alk level. To accomplish aggressive skimming simply purchase a unit rated for well over the gallon capacity of your tank. I would recommend a Coralife SS 220 or an ASM equivalent brand.
I would also recommend the use of a kalk drip to raise alk and PH levels. Google kalkwasser for some good articles on how to mix and drip. My system using a quality salt mix without a kalk drip will typically run 8.2 PH and normal alk. Cyano will grow in my tank under these conditions.
When I drip kalk these same levels will rise to PH 8.4 and alk high normal. Cyano will either stop growing or even begin to die off at these levels. Nothing in my tank seems to be adversely effected by these slightly elevated levels except the cyano and some of my corals actually seem to prefer these levels i.e my Xenia.
Other factors to consider are nitrate and phosphate levels shoot for nitrate 10 or lower and zero phosphates. Unfortuanately cyanobacteria is one of the oldest life forms on earth and if other conditions are favorable can grow in systems where even these levels are optimal or even testing zero.
Flow and lighting are other often mentioned factors but IMO have little to do with it unless flow is vary low, meaning under 10x per hour and lighting is extended to more the twelve hours.
If you do find yourself in a battle with cyano don't fret, you are not alone by any means. I have been on the verge of removing corals from my tank and cutting lighting hours and intensity in the belief that the intense light levels necessary for coral keeping was insuring the presence of cyano. Just as I am about to do this cyano seems to subside. Maybe its just messing with my mind :joy:
uberlink
Active Member
I agree with the other posts saying that this is probably a precursor to a cyanobacteria outbreak. I have found the best ways to get rid of or prevent cyano are:
(1) Underfeed--meaning, reduce your feeding to the minimum necessary for everybody in your tank to stay alive. You'd be surprised how little they'll live on.
(2) Reduce light--if you're running 12 hours a day, drop it back to maybe 10. Or if you have both MH and another kind of lights, just run the MH for a part of the day (like 4-6 hours mid-day) and run the remaining lights according to their normal schedule.
(3) Frequent water changes.--a 10% weekly water change will keep nutrients from building up in your water.
As another post mentioned, you can use a turkey baster to break some of it loose and suck it out of there. But you'll only combat the symptoms by getting at the underlying problem: you're giving it too much to grow on (i.e. food and light).
Best of luck with it.
(1) Underfeed--meaning, reduce your feeding to the minimum necessary for everybody in your tank to stay alive. You'd be surprised how little they'll live on.
(2) Reduce light--if you're running 12 hours a day, drop it back to maybe 10. Or if you have both MH and another kind of lights, just run the MH for a part of the day (like 4-6 hours mid-day) and run the remaining lights according to their normal schedule.
(3) Frequent water changes.--a 10% weekly water change will keep nutrients from building up in your water.
As another post mentioned, you can use a turkey baster to break some of it loose and suck it out of there. But you'll only combat the symptoms by getting at the underlying problem: you're giving it too much to grow on (i.e. food and light).
Best of luck with it.
uberlink
Active Member
More likely cyanobacteria, which is similar to algae but not actually a type of algae. It's not especially harmful, but it really can get everywhere--even growing over corals and sessile invertebrates. I'd drop the morning run of the MH lights, cut back to feeding every other day, and be sure to do a 10% water change each week for a while. See if that takes care of it. And I'd probably also suggest sucking as much of the purple stuff out as possible when you do water changes.
Best of luck with it. You'll probably be able to clear it up in a month or so.
Best of luck with it. You'll probably be able to clear it up in a month or so.