Bubbles on glass?

[megatron8121]

Hi I have some bubbles on the back on the glass , Anyone know what this would be? I could get a picture if needed but they are pretty much just in the middle of the tank on the back only, they are also forming on a rock right in front of the glass.

 

[brentsreef]

Are they clear, or green? if theyre green it sounds like bubble algae

 

[Palting]

Are they gone at night, then slowly develop during the day? If so, then it's O2 produced by photosynthesis by the algae on the glass and rock.

 

[megatron8121]

No they look pretty clear. There is some brown algae behind the one rock and those are brown bubbles, but only where the algae is. I think that piece of rock is actually touching the glass, Is that why only that one area is covered in algae?

 

[megatron8121]

Are they gone at night, then slowly develop during the day? If so, then it's O2 produced by photosynthesis by the algae on the glass and rock.

If it's that then nothing to worry about?

 

[Palting]

If it's that then nothing to worry about?

Yes, unless your tank gets overrun with algae and consequently, bubbles. I had bubbles and turf algae on all my exposed rock in the past. Best turf algae eater I have are urchins. I have 2 black long spine ones. They cleared all the algae on all the rocks, and all the bubbles I had are gone.

 

[megatron8121]

Ok cool are they safe with Anenomes? I assume they'd be fine with everything else I have as it's all community fish. My wifes been wanting an urchin anyways.

 

[Palting]

Oh, yeah, urchins are safe in a reef community tank. If anything, they can get eaten by non-reef safe fish. Just make sure all your rock is solidly anchored, as urchins can and do have a tendency to move loose objects.

 

[Palting]

I can't seem to edit my posts. One more thing. Urchins also eat coralline, Dunno if that is a concern to you or not.

 

[megatron8121]

Ok cool thank you i'll try one! Sadly no fish stores other than petco within an hour of me so probably will have to wait a week till I venture out to get one. Although the Petcos here are pretty nice , just I've never seen an urchin at one.

 

[megatron8121]

I threw in a 950gph powerhead and aimed it towards it and the bubbles are gone. Is a 950gph and 550gph too much in a 29 gallon?

 

[Palting]

That's 51X the DT volume. It's okay if all you want to keep are SPS and your substrate is not being blown about. Softies are not going to like it much, neither will some LPS like Duncans. I have a 150 gallon mixed reef that is SPS dominant, with a flow about 46X DT volume. That's good since the tank is SPS dominant, but I have to be creative about where to put the softies and similar coral to buffer them from the flow.

If I were you, I wouldn't go with that amount of flow. As far as the bubbles, you still haven't told me if they go away at night and slowly come back during the day. If they do, I would just leave it be and let the tank mature. I'll see if I can find some of my old photos when my tank was young. There were bubbles EVERYWHERE!!

 

[megatron8121]

I only have a carpet anemone , no corals or anything. Just rock, fish, and the carpet. As for being there at night I'm not sure, the bubbles are gone off the rock now with the 950 in and I cleaned the back off with an algae scraper so its all gone currently. I also moved the rock off the glass where it was all forming. I'm probably going to be moving everything to one of my bigger tanks soon , where I currently rent the max size I can have is 29. Kind of sucks and limits my fish choices , but soon i'll have freedom again. When I moved in here I had to downsize from my 90 gallon and sold almost everything, but I plan on moving again soon and hopefully can put up a 120 or 150.

 

[megatron8121]

Yes they do go away at night and come during the day. I'm assuming the algae is diatoms correct? Tank has been up for just about a year and it's the first brown algae I've had. I haven't gotten to get an urchin yet but I plan on getting one ASAP. Here is a pic: http://hostingbytes.us/images/3/2011576.jpg (for some reason I can't space or enter on these forums, not sure why)

 

[megatron8121]

Sorry can't edit either, I just added the MH lighting and that's when the algae outbreak started. I'm assuming all is good though? My numbers are 0 except nitrates around 20, I do weekly water changes so it stays really low.

 

[Palting]

Ooof, that's a bad case of cyano, IMO. I would vacuum that out with a water change. Try to do more frequent water changes and try to get that nitrate down to 10 or less. Have you checked your phosphates?

MH is a good light, and unfortunately your algae and cyano are taking advantage of it. You can do lights out for a few days to kill some or most of the algae, then do a large water change to get rid of the phosphates and nitrates that are released. You can also look into other means of decreasing and keeping nitrate low for the long term: less feeding, shorter light period, refugium, algae turf scrubber, vinegar dosing, bio pellets, etc., etc.

It's not bad, not deadly, but it can look ugly if you don't control this.

 

[Mike J.]

Ooof, that's a bad case of cyano, IMO. I would vacuum that out with a water change. Try to do more frequent water changes and try to get that nitrate down to 10 or less. Have you checked your phosphates?

MH is a good light, and unfortunately your algae and cyano are taking advantage of it. You can do lights out for a few days to kill some or most of the algae, then do a large water change to get rid of the phosphates and nitrates that are released. You can also look into other means of decreasing and keeping nitrate low for the long term: less feeding, shorter light period, refugium, algae turf scrubber, vinegar dosing, bio pellets, etc., etc.

It's not bad, not deadly, but it can look ugly if you don't control this.

Yup, one glance and I thought bad case of Cyano. Don't blow it around it will spread it. Syphon it out when it is like that in the middle of the light cycle. It's not that hard to get under control with daily syphoning. Get a 3/8" hose and stick a 1/4" hard tube in it, syphon it out and replace the lost water with salt water.

 

[megatron8121]

Ok thanks I'll syphon it out when I do my water change today. I did get an urchin and he took care of some of it but not all yet. My nitrates are actually under 10 , I just tested them yesterday. I don't check phosphates regularly but i'll check those later on too. I use RO/DI water for changes and top off, everytime I've ever checked it they were never an issue.