Bubbles bad?

[567234ta]

Not quite understanding why bubbles are a bad thing in the water. Im building my own 40 gallon sump tank filter under a 150 gallon tank and have been reading as much as i can about it.

I read many ways to get rid of bubbles in the water like baffles and stuff but i dont understand why they are bad.
Im currently setting up a 150 gallon brackish tank, plan on running around 1.018 sg. for 4 puffers. I will be setting up my 215 salt tank this summer though which im really looking forward to having setup. This is my first time with saltwater, but ive been keeping koi for some time.

 

[ryan820]

Not quite understanding why bubbles are a bad thing in the water. Im building my own 40 gallon sump tank filter under a 150 gallon tank and have been reading as much as i can about it.

I read many ways to get rid of bubbles in the water like baffles and stuff but i dont understand why they are bad.
Im currently setting up a 150 gallon brackish tank, plan on running around 1.018 sg. for 4 puffers. I will be setting up my 215 salt tank this summer though which im really looking forward to having setup. This is my first time with saltwater, but ive been keeping koi for some time.

I don't know if there is a biological reason for why they might be bad but I can say aesthetically, if you compare a tank to one with micro bubbles and one without, the one without looks a lot better to me personally-- a lot better.

My Protein Skimmer (octopus 1000) puts loads of micro bubbles into my tank if the water level begins to get too low. I cannot stand them but I don't have an auto top off yet so it can go a week without having a gallon of fresh water put in and as the water level drops, more bubbles appear.

 

[duncantse]

Bubbles are more of an asthetic thing. IMO, they can't harm fish.

 

[567234ta]

Ah okay that makes sense. I was thinking maybe they promote some kinda bad algae or something but i couldn't find any info about it. Made me wonder if i should be running my wall of bubbles for my puffers LOL

 

[Tank Time]

As long as the bubbles don't cloud the tank and block the light for the coral you are ok. If it bothers you you can install bubble traps in your sump (which requires draining your sump and installing baffles). If its your skimmer creating the bubbles then you can try some foam around the outlet to reduce them. GL

 

[567234ta]

As long as the bubbles don't cloud the tank and block the light for the coral you are ok. If it bothers you you can install bubble traps in your sump (which requires draining your sump and installing baffles). If its your skimmer creating the bubbles then you can try some foam around the outlet to reduce them. GL

I haven't built the filter yet so i will add some baffles. Thanks

 

[jcw]

Apparently, microbubbles can cause problems depending how they are produced.

Microbubles from a protein skimmer, not a problem.

Air entrainment from a leak on the intake side of a return pump can cause nitrogen supersaturation and gill emboli.

I'm just regurgitating what smarter people than I have said. I don't know why it's not more commonly seen.

 

[MBMtech]

I'm getting light microbubbles from my return into my tank. I can't figure it out to stop them to save my life.....:furious:

 

[Mouse]

Bubbles = salt creep

 

[njjetfan]

I think the whole micro bubble thing is really overblown... There is no proof they affect any of organisms in the tank, but they are aesthetically unpleasing.

 

[rysher]

well, there's plenty of microbubbles when the waves hits the reef,,,,and i havent heard of a fish/corals dying cause of microbubbles in the reef.

 

[HanoverFist]

Can't they harm seahorses? Only reference I ever heard regarding bubbles and livestock.

 

[needmore-reef]

lots of bubble can irritate SPS corals, but will not harm any fish in fact many public aquariums have returns that produce lots of bubble just to help reduce co2.

micro bubbles can cause salt to build on everything.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

Apparently, microbubbles can cause problems depending how they are produced.

Microbubles from a protein skimmer, not a problem.

Air entrainment from a leak on the intake side of a return pump can cause nitrogen supersaturation and gill emboli.

I'm just regurgitating what smarter people than I have said. I don't know why it's not more commonly seen.

I was told many years ago by the most experience reefer I know that microbubbles can produce embolisms in fish that cannot escape them and are exposed to them long term.
Fish on a reef can escape them and do not get long term exposure to them.

Not to mention they look bad and cause salt creep as stated above.

 

[cloak]

I've gone out of my way to make sure my powerheads would inject a burst of bubbles into my tank every 15-20 seconds or so. I did this for months on end and didn't see any adverse effects from either fish or corals. Here's an avatar I used to use where you can really see this. This was way too many bubbles for my taste, but it was real easy to dial it down and make sure it would only come from one side.

 

[KafudaFish]

I have microbubbles in my tank and I don't have any issue with them.

But yes there has been research looking at the effects of microbubbles on fish especially at the larval stage.

The researchers saturated the water though.

Sorry I don't have a citation it has been a while since I read the paper.