microbubble problem, pls help

[goosen8r]

I have a cichlid tank that has been running for about 6 weeks and the fish are healthy, 29g, ph of 7.6, 78 degrees, ammonia and nitrate are 0, and there are millions of microbubbles everywhere. They have been there from 2 weeks from starting the tank. I have 6 medium cichlids and 2 plecostamus. Using 2 bio-wheel 200's and undergravel filter. The bubbles seem to come from nowhere. Is the tank just not fully cycled or is there some bacterial bloom or what? It doesn't seem to affect the fish at all. I also use aquarium salt, I heard that might help but it didn't. Thx for any help.

[Ricker]

They are on the glass right? if so just scrub them off it is just air all new tanks/or tanks that haven't had water in them for a long time get them. I had them I just scrub them off.

[shade2dope]

What is your nitrite reading?If you have a reading of 0 You tank is not cycled.Ammonia and nitrite eventually convert to nitrate.Are you sure you had a 0 Ammonia reading? Bubbles do come when first setting up a tank but in my exp. It only lasts about 24 hours.Maybe the bubbles are coming from under the ug.There could be pockets of air under there and are now making there way out.Iam not sure how salt would help with bubbles,I think someone was just trying to sell something to you.What kind of plecos do you have,many are not realy good for your setup like lets say a common pleco.On to the cichlids.Do you know what Sp. there are.There could be problems with haveing some kinds in there.Med.Could be anything. A 2 foot fish would like med. to a 4 foot shark.Get hat I am saying.

[Ricker]

What kind of bed do you have rock/sand. If sand and if sand is properly cleaned stir it up to release air bubbles. But before you d that take fish out. I did notice that air bubbles were getting on my tank after they were all gone then once i stirred up bed no more.

[goosen8r]

the bubbles are not on the glass, they are floating all around in the water. I released all the air in the undergravel filter when I put it in and made sure all the air was out of the gravel, because I had this problem before I put the undergravel in. If I shut off the filters, the bubbles just hang in suspension in the water,they hardly rise at all, hence the "microbubbles." The plecos are clown plecos and the cichlids are all african cichlids from the same store and are doing wonderful. We had this same problem before we decided to switch to cichlids, because the ph of our water would not go down enough for some of the tropical fish we had.

[Obsidian]

You are saying you have bubbles that never rise? Or are they bubbles that rise but are constantly being replaced, more like what would happen with an airstone?

[Ricker]

I had the same problem with my 3g saltwater turned out to be my filter. I turned flow down and bam it was fixed what kind of filter do you have. Power/canister etc...

[goosen8r]

i have 2 biowheel 200's. the bubbles are so small that the filter flow pushes them back down. if i shut the filters off, the larger ones go to the top, but most of the smaller ones just sit still. this morning was really bad, can hardly see the back of the tank. click to enlarge

[fishbguy]

if you can't see the back of the tank, it's hard to believe they are bubbles. Bubbles shouldn't cloud the water. I would think that it is a bacterial bloom from it being a new tank, and should go away in a matter of days.

[goosen8r]

the bubbles have been there since day one, hard to believe they'll go away in a few days.

[jones57742]

Folks:

Please excuse my simplicity here but as air is lighter than water if what goosen8r is observing is indeed air bubbles then the bubbles should be quickly rising to the surface but goosen8r has not indicated this phenomena.

Hence the synopsis of fbg or some variation thereof must be correct.

TR

[fishbguy]

That's another reason why I think they aren't bubbles...they aren't raising in the water column. Even if they were extremely tiny such as jones said, they would still be raising, just as long as they aren't attached to something. And, also, they would have to be raising, because if they were only attatched to stuff in the tank, the water wouldn't be cloudy.

[JustOneMore20]

Can you take a picture of the tank? I agree with the 2 above, if they were air bubbles, they should be rising to the surface unless they are stuck to the glass or decorations. If they aren't sticking and aren't rising, they have to be something else. But what? I have no idea.....

[goosen8r]

the picture is above, but it's hard to see because the "specks" i suppose we should call them now are moving around due to the filter current. however, if they are specks and not bubbles, then why aren't the filters filtering them? together the biowheels filter 200g an hour

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by goosen8r

the picture is above, but it's hard to see because the "specks" ... however, if they are specks and not bubbles, then why aren't the filters filtering them?

The picture did help and your question is very valid.

Have you tried "scooping up some" in a tea strainer or a tea strainer with a cheese cloth lining?

From the picture it appears that the horizontal locations of your intakes and discharges for the filtration are appropriate.

Have you considered moving the intakes to close proximity and raising them to near the surface of the tank as well as moving the discharges to near the bottom of the tank at the back corners and directing the flow horizontally toward the front of the tank?

goosen8r: Please note that I have never experienced this problem but I am trying to help based on other but not entirely dissimilar experience.

TR

[goosen8r]

i dont see what you mean jones. the intakes are at a fixed level, unless you remove the top intake portion, and the discharge is just a waterfall type thing that passes under the biowheel, it is completely fixed. all i can do is move the filters from side to side.

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by goosen8r

i dont see what you mean jones. the intakes are at a fixed level, unless you remove the top intake portion, and the discharge is just a waterfall type thing that passes under the biowheel, it is completely fixed. all i can do is move the filters from side to side.

goosen8r:

Please excuse me as I am not familiar with your filters (ie. no hands on experience) but only googled for and reviewed them.

TR

[Scuba Kid]

Jones, they're HOB filters.

From seeing microbubbles in my SW setups, I can say that they do seem to take a while to float to the surface. Try putting sponge or cloth over the outtakes of the filters and see if that makes a significant difference.

[goosen8r]

i put some water under a microscope tonight and there are little bity black bugs swimming around everywhere. not enough to make the specks or bubbles themselves, but maybe they are causing them?

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by Scuba Kid

Jones, they're HOB filters.

SK: Just humor here but "I know that", "I know that" as I reviewed them.

My experience has been with very rudimentary HOBs and I did not know but that higher end HOBs had some flexibility.

Originally Posted by goosen8r

i put some water under a microscope tonight and there are little bity black bugs swimming around everywhere. not enough to make the specks or bubbles themselves, but maybe they are causing them?

gs: you did good with the microscope thinking.

Do the black bugs have six legs or eight legs?

TR