Tons of tiny bubbles in the water

[hawk82]

I dont know whats cause all these bubbles all in my tank. Ive turned off all my pump/wavemakers to let things settle, and its still happening. It just started a couple days ago and I thought it was just a puff of bubbles from the filter, and that it would clear up, but its not clearing. Its making my tank look cloudy just tons of tiny bubbles all over. Only in the water column, nothing on the sand/rocks. Some background info, tank is about 6 months old. I had dinos really bad 2 weeks ago, and I asked for help here. I was recommended a UV, and I must say it worked wonders clearing all the dinos up within 3 to 4 days. Since then everything was going well untill this bubble thing. My UV is a green killing machine, so I turned the powerhead on that off, thinking maybe it was causing the bubbles, no help. My skimmer is not running at the time, because from my understanding my dino outbreak was lack of nutrients. So no skimmer, and my other filter is just a ehiem 2215 I use to hold chemipurr/carbon ect..., Ive removed the chemical media also as my nitrates are still showing 0. I turned the ehiem off also thinking it was the cause of bubbles, still nothing. The other pump is a reef breeder rpm, and I even turned that off for a while, and still had the bubbles. So I dont where they are coming from! Im not sure what to check next. It just looks like the whole tank is "dusty" like when you stir up sand, but its not sand.

 

[Peace River]

Does it go away at night when the lights are off? Cloudy tanks usually come from micro bubbles from a skimmer/air leak in return plumbing, stirred up sand, or bacterial bloom.

 

[hawk82]

Tank looks clear as far as I can tell at night. Will have to check again tonight. With the lights on during the day, when you look at tank from across the room looks like the tank is cloudy from a far, but upon close inspection its all the tiny bubbles in the water column.

 

[Peace River]

It sounds like it may be a bacteria bloom.

 

[hawk82]

If its that, should be worried?

 

[Peace River]

If its that, should be worried?

No. It doesn't look great, but it will go away. Blooms are not uncommon during the first several months of setting up a tank so at 6 months this is not surprising. You may want to make sure that you are not overfeeding and your cut back on how long your lights are on. If it is a bacteria bloom the UV will actually help clear it up. Good luck!

 

[hawk82]

This morning it looks more like white specs all in the water column instead of bubbles. I left the canister filter off over night, skimmer is still off also. Should I just wait this out?

 

[Peace River]

This morning it looks more like white specs all in the water column instead of bubbles. I left the canister filter off over night, skimmer is still off also. Should I just wait this out?

Is it possible to get pictures? Based on what you have described I would turn your filtration on. How often do you clean your canister filter and when was the last time you cleaned it?

#reefsquad

 

[hawk82]

Its clean, like I said i only use it as a spot to put chemi pure or carbon. I removed all that last week when I was battling the dinos.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Do you dose? know your Alk and calcium numbers? May be precipitation..

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/

 

[hawk82]

No dosing. Tank is only 6 months or so old. No corals yet, just one fish, crabs and snails.

 

[Retro Reefer]

That article is still worth a read.. precipitate can also result from other things such as your salt mix being off or high PH or low magnesium.

 

[hawk82]

Just checked ph its about 8.0-8.1 I dont have an Alk or calcium test.

 

[eXact iDip®]

Just checked ph its about 8.0-8.1 I dont have an Alk or calcium test.

While there are many experts here that'll be better help in diagnosing the issue, we can offer our help with our test kit! Our Marine Starter Kit will help you keep all of your parameters in check. Check it out here! That way you'd be able to track your Alk and Calcium along with many others.

 

[hawk82]

Tonight its pretty cloudy, with some film on top of the water. Thinking it could be bacteria bloom? Should I do anything or just wait? Will it hurt my fish? Should I turn my skimmer back on?