bubbles.........

[fishes2889]

hey guys and gals,

I have been getting bubbles on my rocks every single day the past 2 weeks. Its extremely annoying and it just wont go away. I scrub them off everyday along with some brown algae. I just dont know where the source of the problem is. I tested my water....no problems with phosphate or anything. I just keep seeing these bubbles on my rocks!!! lol
If anyone has any suggestions please respond. =)

Steve

 

[fishes2889]

nope. Its a 10g tank with a AC70 HOB filter and a AC20 PH. I dont see bubbles flying around everywhere............

Steve

 

[Azurel]

Is there a beginning of a slightly red film growing in places? I had a silicates issue and caused a diatom bloom and the diatoms would released oxygen bubbles in to the tank. When it got real bad the film would trap bubbles and through out the day I would see bubbles being released....I say just by chance go have your water checked for silicates....When I had my problem I had 2-4ppm.

 

[gflat65]

Or flow. I have 'cured' cyano with more flow, but there were likely other unlying causes that were corrected, also.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I use a UV sterilizer to control unwanted algae growth.
:(
Laurie

 

[surfn]

i had a UV sterilizer hooked up to my planted tank. it proved for amazing results. the water was crystal clear.

i've been meaning to hook it up to my reef, but the bulb went out a long time ago, and its kind of a pain to plumb together and get the siphon going through. granted, its nothing fancy, i think it was a pond sterilizer actually.

if i got one for my reef i'd get on of those turbo twist uv's.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

You can get a Jebo brand sterilizer, 13 watts, on EBay for fairly cheap, under $60. Had no probs with mine, and it did everything I needed it to in the tank. Came with its own pump, also.

Took care of the cyano first, but also took care of valonia sp? (green bubble algae) and some beginnings of hair algae that came in on frags right after. I should have said that in the first post- sometimes my nouth and brain don't communicate right before my mouth opens... :lol:

:D
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I guess you would have to since there is no pump with it? Which means it would be a PITA if you wanted to not use it all the time- you would have to redo the tubing each time, right? To take it off, and put it on?

:D
Laurie

 

[twon8]

they are hooked up inline, usually via a dedicated pipe of the main return or a seperate pump. gph flow has a lot to do with the effectiveness,

you could have a ball valve on it or just turn the bulb off if you didn't want to use it all the time.

 

[fishes2889]

i dont thinki can put a uv on a 10g tank. And the thing is that i have over 400 gph of flow. so that cant be the problem. and i have never seen tests for silicates before. more info would be nice. And the tank has been set up since june 24th so its about a month and 17 days old. Ihave added several things since i have last been on here in the tank.........
Stocking list-
yellow watchman goby
baby true perc
spotted mandarin
Corals-
4 or 5 different zoa colonies
a cm large montipora =)
ricordia polyp
brown buttons
inverts-
lost count of how many hermits......about 15 or so
snails is around 4
sandsifting star
assorted sifting snails also
and about 25-30lbs of LR
and question or concerns are welcome.......=)

Steve

 

[fishes2889]

o yea and there is 80watts of PC lighting on it...............

Steve

 

[Azurel]

That's quite a bit of stock for a tank that is a month or so old...Get rid of the sand sifting star it will starve in quick order in a 10 gallon. They also remove all micro fauna in the sand that is or are beneficial to you and the husbandry of your tank. It's my personal opinion that they are one of the worst sold creatures for reef tanks that LFS sell to people. You would be better off with more sand sifting snails. A mandarin is quite a bad fish also for a 10 gallon unless you work your butt off to get it to eat frozen foods. A 10 g with liverock wouldn't be able to grow enough pods itself for the mandarin to stay healthy and thrive......Frozen food is the only way toget that fish to live long in your set up.....Not trying to bust your nutz just letting you know concerns and things I have learned over the years. Your tank unless supplied with pre-cured rock is still going through it cycle I wouldn't be surprised if you don't get an algae bloom also at some point. It can actually take up to a year for a tank to truly cycle....I know most book and people will say noway it only takes 4-6 weeks or sooner if seeded. But what a lot of people don't realize is that there are things that happen long after the tanks water parameters have settled and the biological filter is set. There are many changes and things that happen in the first year that we don't a see nor test for as the micro fauna grows and levels off etc... these all have effects on our tanks that we cannot judge or equate to how our tanks will run in the present future.....Other then the few things I have said it sounds like a nice system...Keep us posted on it condition and show some pics....If you haven't already.

James

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Look at Randy Holmes Farley's reef chemistry page on RC. He has a study stickied there at the end of a post of oft read links that deals with silicates. Basically, some are needed in the tank to facilitate sponge growth (LOVE what the sponges do for my tank, imo) but as with anything, too much of a good thing can be bad. Trick is to keep the right levels.

:D
Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

I feed the mandarin every 3 days with live brine shrimp from my store that i work at. I put in about 20 or so each feeding and turn evrything off for about 5min until hes stopped eating. i do plan to have a very homemade breeders net so i can keep them all the time in the back filter but for right now hes eating pods and eating brine, which is pretty amazing. I saw him at the lfs and i asked if he was eating frozen or live and she said hes been eating brine for the past week. So it was a pretty good buy for 15$ and he was eating other things except for pods. And do you really think sandsifting stars are that bad? And no my rock is over 7 months old from when i lived up in Pennsylvannia. Its aged and got coraline all over it. But thats besides the point. I know its a little overstoked fish wise but for right now its ok. I will probably get rid of the clown soon because he just doesnt look right in a 10g. Id rather just stick with inverts and the two gobies and lots of corals. I added a very small cleaner shrimp to my tank yesterday. Im still having a little problem with algae but its not outof control though. Other than the algae and the minimal bubbles now my only worry is that i went a little too fast with this tank. I should have set the rock in there for a month and not let anythin gin it but sailas and some hermits. I will see how it goes in the next couple weeks......

Steve

 

[fishes2889]

i just setup a 5.5g as a frag tank and when its fully cycled in about 3weeks or so what do you guys think about me putting the baby perc in it for the bio-load in the 10g to go down somewhat?

Its just a thought......

Steve

 

[Azurel]

If you want any micro-fauna in your sand bed you won't want the starfish.....They can wipe clean a sand bed of inverts in short order, and that is the stuff you want to keep your sand bed cleaned up and alive....It's just my opinion though, I have talked to many people that have had them and don't have any life in the sand bed so they actually have to hide mysis and stuff in the sand bed hoping they would get something to eat. The smallest of these tank were a 55 gallon....Like I said it's just my opinion bud. Only you know the condition of your tank and it's intricacies.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

i just setup a 5.5g as a frag tank and when its fully cycled in about 3weeks or so what do you guys think about me putting the baby perc in it for the bio-load in the 10g to go down somewhat?

Its just a thought......

Steve

It would definately help the bioload. Is the ammonia 0 with the clown in there? I guess I mean, if the tank is handling it ok, there shouldn't be a rush I would think.

About the whole starfish thing, I was reading that with some interest. I have a few DDB brittle stars in my tank that do well, along with a mandarin that I have had for quite a while. Everybody's tank is different though- might depend on how hungry they are I guess. My sand bed isn't totally clean of inverts, but prolly does have less than other sand beds who have nothing hunting in them, like Az was saying. The only real caustion I would give is stay far, far away from green brittle stars or other aggressive stars like Chocolate chips, especially. The like to gobble up fish. :D

Life is happy!
Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

well the ammonia and the nitrites checked out in the 5.5g so i put the perc in there. I know i might get some spikes but i want the 10g to heal from its algae problems. And i also added this redslime and cyano bacteria remover. I forgot what it was called though. I have seen progress since i removed the perc and added the remover. I have also taking my corals to my store to keep them in there until the 10g goes through its little cycle. All is weel right now so i will keep you updated. =)

Steve