DSB releasing bubbles?

[willis87]

why is my DSB relesing bubbles? its almost constant, like they are always coming to the surface and floating up. The DSB is about 4 months old and it is beneath a 40 gal reef with abou five fish and mostly soft corals. All parems are reasonable. I also just switched to a nova extreme pro and this is when it started happening.

[willis87]

(releasing)

[SeaMac2]

Denitrification...those are bubbles of nitrogen gas, assuming the DSB is functioning correctly.

Chris

[JaredWaites]

They aren't necessarily nitrogen bubbles...more than likely they are Hydrogen Sulfide gas.

Its normal for this to happen.

[tbittner]

Sounds like it's working the way it's supposed too. Just curious, what are your nitrate and phosphate readings?

[greenbean36191]

I wouldn't assume they are N2 or H2S (especially not the latter). If you have hydrogen sulfide forming in your sand then you have a problem. If it's bubbling out then you have a huge problem. A properly functioning DSB will form nitrogen and you often see it as bubbles under the sand, but it's not that common to actually see the nitrogen bubbles coming from the sand. Usually the bubbles people see are oxygen bubbles formed by photosynthesis from the algae and cyanobacteria that are ubiquitous in the sand. The easiest way to prove to yourself that they're O2 is to watch during different periods in the lighting cycle. The bubbling should increase as the day goes on and the water gets more saturated with O2 and then at night there should be very little bubbling.

[SeaMac2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12455647#post12455647 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
I wouldn't assume they are N2 or H2S (especially not the latter). If you have hydrogen sulfide forming in your sand then you have a problem. If it's bubbling out then you have a huge problem. A properly functioning DSB will form nitrogen and you often see it as bubbles under the sand, but it's not that common to actually see the nitrogen bubbles coming from the sand. Usually the bubbles people see are oxygen bubbles formed by photosynthesis from the algae and cyanobacteria that are ubiquitous in the sand. The easiest way to prove to yourself that they're O2 is to watch during different periods in the lighting cycle. The bubbling should increase as the day goes on and the water gets more saturated with O2 and then at night there should be very little bubbling.


greenbean makes a good point here, but since the OP didn't mention an algae or cyanobacteria problem, I discounted that as the source...I definitely had a bubble problem in my prior tank when I was having cyanobacteria issues.

Also, noting that the bubbles increased after increasing your lighting intensity lends more support to the idea that the bubbles are oxygen coming from photosynthetic algae in/on your sandbed.

I also agree that H2S is much less likely...as stated above, a properly functioning DSB doesn't produce much if any H2S, and if is bubbling out into the tank, your tank would be less than happy.

[billsreef]

You don't need to have an algae problem to have a rather high abundance of algae on the grains of sand that are photosynthesizing. Surprisingly light will penetrate about an inch down into the sand, that's a lot of surface area to grow algae ;)

[willis87]

i actually am having an algae and cyano problem right now. So yes i guess they are bubbles of O2 because they do increase as the light cycle progresses. Its much worse now than when i started this post. The surface of the dsb is becoming a dark reddish mat riddled with bubbles (O2) According to greenbean. Anyway, how do i stop this its super unsightly and is creating bubble buildup and scum on my water surface. So far i have lowered my temp to 77 from 79 and removed a 10,000k day bulb from my new nova extreme pro. This problem also started to surface about a week and a half after installing the new light.

[JaredWaites]

It sounds to me like should increase your flow. Cyanobacteria doesn't thrive in a higher water flow, but rather stagnant area's with low flow.

[SeaMac2]

Increase your water flow, water changes with RO water that is nitrate and phosphate free, and siphon out the mat of cyanobacteria with each water change, perhaps running some GFO to get your phosphate levels down.

The lighting itself isn't the problem...increasing the intensity revealed the underlying problem, excess nutrients/phosphate/nitrate.

[Jenisiz]

Also cut back on your feedings. Also are you adding any additives to your water?