Air bubbles all over reef tank

Hey all, I have a 55-gallon reef tank that is finally starting to look great....but I have noticed that sometimes I will come in and there will be "air bubbles" all over the tank....sometimes it is included with some of the algae, but then it will be on the back of the glass, where no algae looks to be present....dozens and dozens of them....I went in tonight and scrubbed it gently off....also, my water always tests perfectly, take it to different stores and test it....but I cannot keep fish or "critters" alive in it....my corals and coralline algae look great and I have had ONE fish live in it for about eight months....have the star polyps, mushrooms of varying kinds and they are spreading like wildfire and each looks stunning....a "plate" anemone that is gorgeous....right now, have had an pencil urchin for about two years, a pseudo chromis for about 8 months and everything else is gone....no fish or crabs live in it....have an electrical probe and all....use ro/di water....am I resigned to living with a stunningly beautiful tank with one fish?....thanks, Cindy

 

Hey Cindy,
It sounds like you the bubbles are Nitrate bubble. Usually they occur in newer tanks but I will assume your tank has been set up for at least 2 years?
How much LR do you have and have you added or subtracted any hardware lately?

Jason

 

Have you used and copper or other metal fittings in your plumbing? Where did you get the liverock? Some people poisen their liverock with chemical medication by accident then to get rid of it they will sell it on ebay. Not nice I know but im sure it happens. What type of filters equipment do you use? Are yo acclimating your livestock carefully with the drip method? Are you getting all your livestock from the same place?

Its hard to think that you cant keep hermit crabs...they are like roaches and will live through a nuclear holocost.....unless they are poisened by copper or something else.

Jay

Please post your tank specs for us to help you

 

or they grow too large for their shells and have no larger ones to move into.... :

 

Also , if things are not staying alive in your system, then it cannot 'test perfectly'. Don't you test your own water? What does the LFS test for and what are the results...

Here is my recommended list of 'bare essential' tests

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Alkalinity, Calcium.

Additionally,
Iodine, Oxygen, Phosphate

Have you tested for the entire first set? What are the results...

 

Also , if things are not staying alive in your system, then it cannot 'test perfectly'. Don't you test your own water? What does the LFS test for and what are the results...

Here is my recommended list of 'bare essential' tests

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Alkalinity, Calcium.

Additionally,
Iodine, Oxygen, Phosphate

Have you tested for the entire first set? What are the results...

 

Okay, what I mean by saying that it tests perfectly is I take water samples to two different salt-water stores and they both say that everything is in the normal range....I don't test at home....I bought all my live rock from the first store and just recently added some more live rock from a 150-gallon reef aquarium that I had just bought....I have had so much trouble keeping fish and critters alive in the smaller, 55-gallon aquarium, that I am going to set up the 150-gallon aquarium as a fish with live rock only....that aquarium is doing great, by the way....I dumped all the old sand that was in it and added all new live sand when I set it up....back to my 55-gallon one, I haven't added any hardware lately, just the live rock....I have a 20-gallon aquarium that I use as a refugium and have mangroves growing in it....and some other small plants....but my 55-gallon one is stunning, except it has one pink fish, and all the air bubbles that have like a thick skin on them....they aren't bubble algae, because I do have them and they are a bright green....but the corals and anemones are beautiful....thanks for taking the time to try and help....I try to read everything I can....Cindy

 

On my 55-gallon, have two power heads running with an emporer filter....have a protein skimmer and have two other power heads that run water to and back from the refugium....have bought lights in May, am pretty sure they are the VHO compact....metal housing with two light bulbs that are joined at the end in a U-shape....store told me I needed them for the reef tank I am establishing....or rather, trying....use ro/di water....bought a water test kit today, for salt-water and my specs are PH 8.0-8.2....ammonia, nitrate and nitrites are ZERO....they matched perfectly with the slide colors for zero....my salinity I try to keep at about .25....my water temps stay around 78-80*....but I have such a hard time with critters in this tank, that my family calls it the "kill tank"....yikes....Cindy

 

Sorry to disagree with Jason , but I think the little air bubbles may simply be oxygen from the algae. Even if the algae on the glass is so sparce as to be unnoticable, you can still see the bubbles. (Does nitrate (NO3-) bubble?)
NO3 + 2H+ => NO2 + H2O
As for why everything seems to die while the anemone and coral are still alive, I haven't a clue.

 

Are they micro bubbles from the sump/skimmer?