johnsmb Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 I am in the process of setting up a 40B tank. In the meantime I have a simple 15 gallon tank with about 20 pounds of liverock and some corals. It has been up for about 3 months or so. No skimmer, no sump, no fish. It has a lot of bubbles in the tank. All the time. There is a small amount of red hair type algae on the back wall - but there is no algae on the rocks at all. No slime type of algae. The bubbles seem to form mainly on the underside of the rock and then eventually release and then float up to the top of the tank. There is constantly a lot of bubbles floating up to the surface. What is this? Something bad? There are some nitrates present, probably because I am only using RO water while I wait for my ro/di unit..... Beth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Scott Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 If my memory serves me right now, the gas bubbles you are seeing are a byproduct of the bacteria (that you carefully cultivated) in your sand bed. The rock is probably just trapping the gas and collecting larger bubbles for you to notice. Of coarse I could be completely wrong and off base. JM2C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trautman Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 the idea is that the bacteria take the NO3, and break it down to NO2, and then break it down into N(gas) and O2(aka oxygen gas) like LC said, this minor reaction which is most likely hard to notice normally is taking place and the gasses are pocketing under your rocks hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Scott Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Trautman, Put it better than I did. If you look at the sand bed you will see pockets in it. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 That red hair algae is most likely cyno bacteria, it could get really bad really quick. A lot of new tanks get cyno though so I wouldn't over react, just keep an eye on it and if you notice it really starting to take off you will want to do something; because it can cover everything in your tank. definitely google cyno bacteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Trautman did a great job explaining it. Your Nitrate is breaking down into oxygen and nitrogen and then gasing out of the tank. Or at least that is hopefully what is causing it, There are some nuisance algaes that will also bubble badly but it doesn't sound like that is the case here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmb Posted November 2, 2010 Author Share Posted November 2, 2010 thanks for the replies. There is no sandbed in this little tank. But there is nitrates present. When I switch to the bigger tank I am hoping to do 100% water change with ro/di water and hopefully that will take care of the nitrates. The bubbles are annoying, but sounds like they are harmless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 thanks for the replies. There is no sandbed in this little tank. But there is nitrates present. When I switch to the bigger tank I am hoping to do 100% water change with ro/di water and hopefully that will take care of the nitrates. The bubbles are annoying' date=' but sounds like they are harmless.[/quote'] If your looking to not go through a complete cycle again I would suggest taking some of your old water over to the new tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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