Bubbles comming up from substrate??

Ok here is the story. About 2 weeks ago I moved everything from my 55 to my new 150. I put 40lbs of new agronite on the bottom of my 150 then after thoroughly rinsing out my old sand I placed it over the new sand. I don’t have that much ln the tank just what I had in the 55 but I only have 2 fish in the tank. Small bubbles have formed in the sand and are pebbling up to the top of the tank. I checked my nitrate, nitrite and ammonia and all are either 0 or close to 0 . Should I be worried about the bubbles? There is some algae starting to grow on the sand, its not taking over yet but its starting to change the color of the sand. And advise?

 

I believe the bubbles are Nitrogen and are a byproduct of the ammonia/waste cycle. They are normally found in new tanks that are cycling or just completed cycling, but can also pop up if you have new uncycled sand.

I'm sure someone will explain this further...but for now, no, you don't have to worry about the bubbles. They are normal.

 

The bubbles are CO2, and are the last stage of the nitrogen cycle (nitrates get converted to CO2). They are typical of a younger and/or cycling tank.

 

One thing I would like to add to the comments above is

I experienced this myself when I did my recent tank swap, it lasted about 7 - 10 days (new dry argonite sand added old sand thrown away) and the only negative was that some of the bubbles where so big, they where able to lift the fine grain sand and carry it around the tank, until the bubble popped and then the sand dropped back down

thus my daily maintenance included wafting over my leather finger corals and other larger corals to clear of the sand particles that had settled on them

It is the 0.1 - 1.5mm sized grains I used - with larger grain sizes this may not have occured

as stated - 7 - 10 days later it stopped

Steve

 

I agree its completely normal. My scooter blenny finds the bubbles once in awhile still.

 

Thanks, I'm glad I dont have to worry.