Tank filling with bubbles at the top?

[SauceyReef]

I have this experimental mangrove lagoon I’ve had up for 4-5 months. Some tanks cycle goes well others just do not! I’ve added nothing in the tank but a clean up crew. Today I woke up to tons of bubbles forming at the top of the tank..

Could this be a bacteria bloom? Not sure what would cause this randomly.

 

[Timfish]

Yup, my guess is something died and you don't have good surface pull to the overflow. FWIW the microbial stuff are in constant flux even if we can't see any obvious changes so this may have started days or weeks ago. I would make a loose role of paper towels a few inches longer than the width of the tank and slowly go from one end of the tank to the other end to remove the foam.

 

[ReefEco]

Agree more surface agitation might be the ticket, but it also could be exactly what is causing the foam - essentially your tank is acting like a skimmer right now with excess organics (likely bacteria given there is little else in the tank) causing foam in the tank. If you have a skimmer on the tank, I'd wet skim to remove the bacteria/organics, and TimFish's suggestion for removing the foam is a good one as well...

 

[SauceyReef]

Yup, my guess is something died and you don't have good surface pull to the overflow. FWIW the microbial stuff are in constant flux even if we can't see any obvious changes so this may have started days or weeks ago. I would make a loose role of paper towels a few inches longer than the width of the tank and slowly go from one end of the tank to the other end to remove the foam.

Well the thing is I have not added anything in the tank for many months. It is a waterbox 15.2 peninsula. The overflow waterfall to chamber 1 seems decent, but I have a powerhead breaking surface for extra agitation and oxygen.

I moved some Kalerpa to the front of the tank to the back chamber with a fuge light last week. Maybe I am having some die off or something. I will remove the foam when I get home.

 

[SauceyReef]

I scooped it all out and an hour later all the foam is back

 

[ReefEco]

Is the water clear otherwise? How is the caulerpa looking?

 

[SauceyReef]

Is the water clear otherwise? How is the caulerpa looking?

I checked with the fuge light and all the caulerpa is rotting/dying. That must explain the foam. I wonder what happened.. I used the exact same fuge light in my other tank that grows caulerpa/chaeto like a weed.

This tank has been acting quite mysterious since I set it up.

 

[Hans-Werner]

A bacterial bloom would cloud the water.

For sure it is organics, some kind of slime or the like, + air. Maybe the mangrove roots excrete some kind of slime, many roots do.

 

[welsher7]

Where is the powerhead in relation to the water's surface and could it be drawing in air?

 

[Timfish]

Well the thing is I have not added anything in the tank for many months. It is a waterbox 15.2 peninsula. The overflow waterfall to chamber 1 seems decent, but I have a powerhead breaking surface for extra agitation and oxygen.

I moved some Kalerpa to the front of the tank to the back chamber with a fuge light last week. Maybe I am having some die off or something. I will remove the foam when I get home.

The microbial processes in reef systems are dynamic even without a change in routine or maintenance. The calurpa certainly does explain the foaming. Besides removing the foam I'd try water changes with water and maybe a few pieces of rock from your other system. I'd suggest reading Aquabiomics article if you haven't already:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

Here's some good videos by researchers looking at what's happening on reefs with microbial stuff and nutrients:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


BActeria and Sponges


Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)


Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

 

[SauceyReef]

The microbial processes in reef systems are dynamic even without a change in routine or maintenance. The calurpa certainly does explain the foaming. Besides removing the foam I'd try water changes with water and maybe a few pieces of rock from your other system. I'd suggest reading Aquabiomics article if you haven't already:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

Here's some good videos by researchers looking at what's happening on reefs with microbial stuff and nutrients:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


BActeria and Sponges


Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)


Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

Awesome - thank you! The thing is this tank has been setup for like 5 months now lol. I used liverock AND water from my other system the fluval evo (feel free to follow its tank progression on my build thread). Could the caulerpa have died from a nutrient bottom out even with excess light? Maybe there was some bacterial bloom that just concentrated on the macro algae for some reason? I am only feeding the tank like once a week seeing I only have hermits/snails + microfauna

 

[Hans-Werner]

Maybe there was some bacterial bloom that just concentrated on the macro algae for some reason?

More likely a gamete release that made the Caulerpa bleach and collaps.

 

[SauceyReef]

More likely a gamete release that made the Caulerpa bleach and collaps.

I have never heard of this before. Going to look into it shortly.

 

[Hans-Werner]

I have never heard of this before

From time to time Caulerpa algae release gametes. In fact parts or even the complete algae form gametes, I mean completely, the algae are like tubes filled with gametes then. When the gametes are released the water gets a bit cloudy and from the affected parts or the complete algae only empty white tubes remain which finally decay.

 

[SauceyReef]

From time to time Caulerpa algae release gametes. In fact parts or even the complete algae form gametes, I mean completely, the algae are like tubes filled with gametes then. When the gametes are released the water gets a bit cloudy and from the affected parts or the complete algae only empty white tubes remain which finally decay.

Thank you for the explanation. I really am ignorant to how Caulerpa works. Would the gametes create a visible change of the Caulerpa? I did notice it was sending out some different looking chutes. This could really explain what happened seeing the only thing in the tank is the Caulerpa, it died off very quickly, and yes the water last week was very cloudy. Than all of a sudden the caulerpa has been rapidly dying with this foam coming up on the top of the water.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Caulerpa can also go sexual if it’s fading / nutrient deprived

 

[Karen00]

Apologies if this has been asked but did you check ammonia and nitrate levels? I heard an ammonia spike can cause this in freshwater systems. You mentioned your macro was dying. Aside from ammonia I had this happen with my saltwater tank when the flow through my filter became backed up so water wasn't moving fast enough. The bubbles/foam weren't quite as bad as this.

 

[SauceyReef]

Apologies if this has been asked but did you check ammonia and nitrate levels? I heard an ammonia spike can cause this in freshwater systems. You mentioned your macro was dying. Aside from ammonia I had this happen with my saltwater tank when the flow through my filter became backed up so water wasn't moving fast enough. The bubbles/foam weren't quite as bad as this.

When ammonia tests 0 after a tanks cycle I typically never test again unless I see the start of a large die off of the inhabitants in the tank or something very wrong. This tank is 5months in and nothing was in the tank to die to cause a ammonia spike. All the flow has been consistent. I have just been having a bad hair algae problem the past few months which is often normal the first year of establishment. Even if hypothetically there was a small ammonia spike from the Caulerpa die off (which I don't think is possible) the hermit crabs or Mangroves would probably be affected.

I forgot to mention I do have three thriving Mangroves in this tank. Part of my algae problem I think is dealing with a tank with very strong color spectrums + extra grow lights on top for the mangroves.

 

[Karen00]

When ammonia tests 0 after a tanks cycle I typically never test again unless I see the start of a large die off of the inhabitants in the tank or something very wrong. This tank is 5months in and nothing was in the tank to die to cause a ammonia spike. All the flow has been consistent. I have just been having a bad hair algae problem the past few months which is often normal the first year of establishment. Even if hypothetically there was a small ammonia spike from the Caulerpa die off (which I don't think is possible) the hermit crabs or Mangroves would probably be affected.

I forgot to mention I do have three thriving Mangroves in this tank. Part of my algae problem I think is dealing with a tank with very strong color spectrums + extra grow lights on top for the mangroves.

I don't think the mangroves would be affected from stuff I have read about them (I kept them for about 4 yrs) but yes the inverts would. Is something potentially blocking flow?

 

[SauceyReef]

I don't think the mangroves would be affected from stuff I have read about them (I kept them for about 4 yrs) but yes the inverts would. Is something potentially blocking flow?

All the flow and hermits are fine so assuming no ammonia problem.