Does anyone still use the nano bubble scrubbing method in your tank?

ItouchedThebutt · Sep 25, 2018

Just recently found a lot of year old videos of this meathod, putting nano bubbles to kinda scrub your tank clean when lights are off and was wondering if anyone still practices this in there tank and what are you thoughts on it?

ItouchedThebutt · Sep 25, 2018

Bump.

Rabe · Jan 25, 2019

I don't think anyone really uses 'nano' bubble scrubbing as the method of creating them is more than just an air-stone and a return pump.

But I run an air-stone in my sump, under my return pump for a an hour or so every few days. I really like it because it does help me keep the tank clean. But it doesn't replace anything I have or do. It'll clean up the water column quite nicely, but it doesn't do much more. So, what I do is turn it on and then use my turkey baster to blast the detrius on the sand, rock and also blast the corals.

ItouchedThebutt · Jan 25, 2019

Yeah I know it's not a end all cure all, but it seems to be a efficant way of removing detritus build up on and in the rock work. Just all the videos and topics I read about it are over years old. Didnt know if anyone still used it today and if it's worth it really even being as cheap as it is to set up.

TrPPnN · Jul 1, 2019

If you check on youtube, there are a lot of people posting about it and how and why they are using it.

The point of posting the methodology is to debunk the whole "Bubbles Kill Coral and Fish" which just isn't true.

reefpizza · Dec 23, 2020

Bump! Someone still using?

Daniel@R2R · Dec 23, 2020

I know this got really popular a while back. Haven't heard much about it lately, but I think folks are still doing it. I'll be interested to follow along.

Anubisxii · Dec 23, 2020

What is this bubble method you speak of. Is the idea literally to just put like an airline into your return and shoot a ton of bubbles into your display tank?

Davey-Jones’-Locker · Dec 23, 2020

This may sound dumb but it seems be the same theory is a skimmer. I’m interested in trying it though

josvanmeer · Dec 23, 2020

Anubisxii said:
What is this bubble method you speak of. Is the idea literally to just put like an airline into your return and shoot a ton of bubbles into your display tank?

Basically. It results in scrubbing every surface of your tank. Coincidentally I did something similar to my new tank this week while breaking in the skimmer. It does seem to have good effect, and might help clean corals as well.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 23, 2020

TrPPnN said:
If you check on youtube, there are a lot of people posting about it and how and why they are using it.

The point of posting the methodology is to debunk the whole "Bubbles Kill Coral and Fish" which just isn't true.

My point in posting about it endlessly is to debunk some of the wildly inaccurate claims about how and why it might be beneficial. lol

Any claim that starts with the term nano should likely be ignored since folks are not making nanobubbles in a reef tank.

Aeration? Sure, there is "ordinary" aeration, like a skimmer or airstone.

Binding of organics to the air/water interface? Sure, like a preskimmer.

Weird nanobubble effects like are reported in the scientific literature by scientists who devise highly sophisticated ways to make actual nanobubbles? Not likely.

tvan · Dec 23, 2020

Wouldn't a nanobubble injecter cause a ph swing??? Nanobubble injecter, yep I said it, must be a new thing I haven't invented yet.....

$300.00 plus tax, has a red flashing light so you know them nanos ARE being added... If you don't think it's working, wait... um two or three years. Non-refundable. I also have a bridge barely used...
P.S. First question is real.

Casket_Case · Dec 23, 2020

I’m gonna try this. The only thing I’d potentially worry about is air sensitive things exempli gratia sponges, gorgoniana, et cetera. To clarify you want your tank to turn WHITE with bubbles right?
Further thought, wouldn’t this happen in natural reefs sometime at low tide? A higher concentration of bubbles potentially making corals slime and helping to remove detritus and such from rock?

HuduVudu · Dec 23, 2020

I use this method. I recently removed my skimmer because it is stripping my water of nutrients. Problem is, and why I put the skimmer on in the first place, was that my tank has terrible gas exchange. My tank is a small 20 gallon breeder and I have no way to surface skim and my prefered method of circulation I can not achieve without tearing the tank down. I use the bubbles to remove the surface scum on the water to facilitate better gas exchange. It is working well so far.

I basicly have a pump that pulls in air that sits near the surface of the water. I use my Apex to turn it on for two minutes 10 times per day. I only run it once in the afternoon. Most of my other times are at night.

Doctorgori · Dec 23, 2020

well it works on shower walls , lol

sfin52 · Dec 23, 2020

@Frigus Reef here you go

Reefs and Geeks · Dec 23, 2020

I've done this before while trying to battle dinos a while back. I don't know if it did anything as I did it with a combination of other things. One thing I know for sure it did was make my diningroom smell like a fish tank with all of the air bubbles in the tank. Otherwise, I assume that the small bubbles may help bring suspended particles of detritus up to the surface to be skimmed out. Does it actually do that? I have no idea. I'd give it a try, but my wife didn't appreciate it last time I did it. Otherwise, you could also theorize that if using CO2 scubbed air, that the contact with water directly in your tank could bring your pH up (or CO2 concentration down) better than a protein skimmer in the sump.