nitrogen bubbles!!!

keitho

Member
it's taken forever, but the denitrifying bacteria in my DSB are finally up to speed and doing their job. not only can i see small bubbles between the sand and the acrylic, from time to time i also see larger releases of gas from the sandbed, and just when i was starting to think i was doing something wrong! anyway, i just wanted to share with everyone ;)
 

keitho

Member
also, my tests indicate that the nitrates have fallen from 15ppm to <10ppm. in fact, on my test kit, it's really hard to tell the difference between 5 and 10 ppm, so the actual reading may be closer to 5ppm. regardless, i really don't care as long as it's going in the right direction!!
 

miner

Member
How long did it take to get the bubbles ?? I just set up a dsb last week. Nothing yet, but expecting to see something soon.
 

keitho

Member
actually, i would say it took me about 8-10 weeks, but that was because i had a crushed coral/sand substrate, then i added 40 lbs of live sand. about two weeks later, i added another 40 lbs of live sand, so it probably took me longer since i didn't have enough depth at the beginning. hope this helps...
 

miner

Member
Thanks for the info. I will have to be more patient !!!
I have 4 to 5 in. of sand and was thinking of getting even more. I will wait and see. Thanks again
;)
 

joetst2

Member
I have 160 lbs of Aragonite live sand in my 125 gallon tall tank (60 in. long) I have only had the sand in there two weeks and I started seeing bubbles in the sand. I thought they were created by my returns possibly creating micro bubbles or something. I don't think my tank meets the classic DSB specs so it's very interesting to see that I have tons of bubbles in the sand....they are visible against the acrylic sides of the tank. Cool!! ;)
 

keitho

Member
i would guess it's possible that it could happen as i have read that live rock harbors not only nitrifying, but denitrifying bacteria as well. i don't know to what extent this growth could occur, but anything is certainly possible. the only other explanation is that air bubbles could be trapped under the rock and collect in spaces until the bubble gets so large it can make its way out of the crevasses. the last thought may be that the bubbles are being produced by algae either photosynthesizing or respiring, but i kind of doubt that. anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens over the long run. hope this helps...
 

burnnspy

Active Member
There is a difference between air bubbles and nitrogen bubbles.
Nitrogen bubbles form from within the sand bed and escape from the sand bed.
Air bubbles are usually from power filters and powerheads causing the diffusion of thousands of tiny air bubbles into water that accumulate on the LR surfaces.
Both are usually harmless, but some inverts can be sesnitive to the micro-air bubbles.
BurnNSpy
 
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