1000's of Micro Bubbles

[beamer]

I have just fininshed doing a water change of around 35-40 gls

I have thousands of tiny bubbles coming into the main tank from the return.

My skimmer seems to be extra foamy (white) almost as though soap was in it, however the return portion of the sump has no bubbles. Just the over flow portion of the sump but especially the skimmer.

I don't think I had any soap on my hands or arms from earlier. Even if I had I think it would have been washed off when I was cleaning out the skimmer and sump sponge this morning. I spent a lot of time rinsing both. They seemed to be extra dirty. The only thing I think of that I did differently was that I used tap water to rinse things out when I ususally rinse with ro. Surely that wouldn't make a differenc.

What do Ya'll think? I have just put in a bag of carbon in the sump. I don't know if that will help any or not.

Cindy

[beamer]

I just looked at my overflow and as the water from the main tank is entering the overflow it is creating a lot of clear bubbles. I've never noticed this before. The bubbles there are larger than what's coming out into the main tank.

Please help me out!

Cindy

[Birdlady]

Sometimes, when my return pump is a little shy of water it creates temporary vortexes, sucking in air and chopping it up real fine and sending it right into the tank. I try to keep at least 2 -3 inches of water above the return pump. Don't know if that helps.

[beamer]

Thanks birdlady!

I think you jinxed me yesterday when you said there is always something. Thanks again.!

I figure the next question is about the water chemistry so here it is. Pretty much normal for my tank.

[quote author=birdlady linHi der!
Water level is the same. If anything at all is different there appears to be a little less water in the tank. It is usually hitting right at or under the plastic rim and is maybe 1/4 of an in. below ithe rim.

How would I know if the return pump is sucking air or not? It is a Gen=X 4 external pump. Everything sounds the same.

The only thing I added was a buffer to my new salt water because my pH runs on the low side. But I've been using it. I may have used an extra tsp of it. But that is it.

I just did my chemistry but its about the same as it was yesterday.

Temp 80
pH 8.0
Amonia 0
Salinity 1.023-4
Nitrite 0.1, maybe a little less
Nitrate <50 (The same as it was last nite when I tested it- before water change.)
Phosphate 1.5-2
Alkalinity 12.1 (Acutally a little higher than before the water change 11.5)
Calcium 500+ (Higher than yesterday 490)

I use Salifert tests. On the calcium I used the whole syringe plus about 3-4 drops before I got the change in color that I needed.

I use Oceanic salt.

I use Ro/Di water

The skimmer looks like it has a thicker foam in the tower, about an inch. It never is that depth. It hasn't reached the cup yet.

I just looked at my ailing red brain and it actually looks better now than what it has in several weeks.

With the over flow it does appear that more water is leaving on one side of the overflow box than it is on the other and it has a little more of a waterfall sound and like I said it creates clear bubbles but larger ones than those that are in the tank from the return.

I know my nitrates and phosphates are high and will remain high until I am able to change out my sand bed.

Is there any other info I can give you?

Thanks, Cindy

[Birdlady]

Ignore what I said.....Ihave a submersible return, not external, therefore it would not apply......

I didn't say it's always something!!!!!! No jinxes here!!!

[gamma]

What's wrong w/ your sandbed?

[Birdlady]

Hi Gamma,

Here is the thread for Beamer's sandbed issues....pretty long .
Short short version, she bought a whole system that was already setup for a while, they moved it and she reused the sandbed....Phosphates and Nitrates went bonkers on her.....

[beamer]

Very good birdlady!

Just wanted to say that my bubble problem has taken care of itself. I don't know what the deal was but I had never seen so many bubbles and got a little concerned.Once my skimmer kicked in the bubbles seemed to slowly vanish. Thanks for the support!

Cindy

[gamma]

what are you using as a buffer? I have my pH on the low side as well 8.0. It is on the low end, but it's still ok. I've had problems getting my pH up, so I've just maintained it where it is and everything looks great.

As far as your nitrate/phosphate issue, how often are you doing water changes?

[JohnO]

[quote author=beamer link=board=Newbie;num=1093456084;start=0#7 date=08/25/04 at 20:17:01]Very good birdlady!

Just wanted to say that my bubble problem has taken care of itself. I don't know what the deal was but I had never seen so many bubbles and got a little concerned.Once my skimmer kicked in the bubbles seemed to slowly vanish. Thanks for the support!

Cindy[/quote]

Cindy,

Is it possible that what you were seeing wasn't in fact air bubbles? Just referring to the High Calcium topic, could it have been a small amount of Calcium precipatating in your tank?

John