Foamy bubbles on water surface?

[The Fish Tank Hobbyist]

Hey everyone,

So this aquarium deal is killing me! LOL

Advice requested:

Saturday I did a medium sized water change on my 10 gallon nano reef.

I also added PhosGuard for the first time Sunday morning.

Sunday, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

Yesterday (Monday) evening, I noticed weird foamy bubbles on the water surface.

It was not a heavy amount of foam - but enough I took notice.

Is that anything PhosGuard is known for after running for a couple of days? I have it in a mesh bag close to the output of my hob filter.

Lastly, I started to wonder if there was any chance I had not cleaned soap off my hands enough at some point? And I remembered a diy filter cup thing I made that I recently cleaned up. It's something I use during water changes to keep water circulating while I turn off main pumps etc. I run it with some filter floss in the cup just to catch any debris during the water change.

I would find it hard to believe it is soap because I did rinse this thing thoroughly when cleaning.

However, I suppose there could be a trace amount of soap that was left on it?

The fish seem to be doing fine and eating good.

As mentioned, the only other change is adding the PhosGuard for the first time.

This a.m. ((Tuesday)) the fish seem to be doing fine and the bubbles and foam are less. Still a few left over but nothing like yesterday evening?

Just in case, I changed out an additional 2 gallons of water this morning really quick before heading to work.

Oh, I just thought of two other things of note.

I forgot above - Saturday I also made a second change - I did drop the water level a smidge. Less than a quarter of an inch for the float switch I have installed. But again no foam was noted Sunday.

Also - no protein skimmer

If you wood like to familiarize with my set up - here is a short video of what it looks like.

Note - this video is not a video of the foam I am experiencing - it's only a video of what my tank looks like and for reference of my set up only. The video was taken this past summer after my initial set up (2 minutes in length)



Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks - Josh

 

[reef lover]

Phosgaurd wouldnt make it bubbly, cloudy if it wasnt rinsed.
I bet there was residual soap...next time i would just rinse...or bleach rinse and dry.

 

[foxt]

The foam might actually be protein. Watching your video, I notice in the shots of the water's surface very slight bubbles floating around and disappearing. At that time, you didn't have enough waste in the water to create a more persistent foam. Now you do. Not sure if it was related to your phosguard, more likely related to the drop in water level, which is providing more agitation of the water and thus more foam production.

 

[Arthurfarris]

I’m a new betta fish owner and I’m concerned about the bubbles in my tank. I could see some bubble nests in the water or attached to the plants in my aquarium. There are even situations where I see debris on the bubble nests. So, to get rid of bubbles in my fish tank, I switched from an air-powered filter to an electrical-powered filter. This type of filter runs very smoothly and quietly without causing any bubbles in the water.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

As someone already mentioned the foam is organic compounds residing at the water, air interface which in your tank is at the surface. What you have is a natural protein skimmer. If you have ever been to the beach you may have noticed foam washing up on the shore. Same exact concept.
I would recommend you get a protein skimmer because it will do the same thing but much more efficiently. Also with a protein skimmer (and at the beach) the organic compounds exit the water and do not add to the bio load. In your tank, there is really no good exit route.

 

[Arthurfarris]

I’m a new betta fish owner and I’m concerned about the bubbles in my tank. I could see some bubble nests in the water or attached to the plants in my aquarium. There are even situations where I see debris on the bubble nests. So, to get rid of bubbles in my fish tank, I switched from an air-powered filter to an electrical-powered filter. This type of filter runs very smoothly and quietly without causing any bubbles in the water.

Knowing how to get rid of bubbles helped me restore the ecosystem that was in my tank.