running gfo - air bubbles?

[monkiboy]

i recently started running GFO to help get my phosphates down to 0ppm.

about a day later i notice air bubbles/pockets seemingly coming from the sand bed and live rock.

would this be the phosphate being "released" from these surfaces and escaping into the water column for munching by the GFO in my reactor?

i've otherwise never seen these air pockets/bubbles before. they do not move and are all on surfaces.

here's a photo for reference - the silver dots. it seems they have come from within as i have never had this many gaping holes in my sand bed.

any ideas?

 

[Cheeser]

im guessing its your live sand turning nitrates into nitrogen. im curious to see what others have to say.

 

[Waddi]

Yep Cheeser is right. Nitrogen gas from your Nitrates breaking down.

 

[Bifferwine]

I'm not too sure about that... Conversion to nitrogen gas requires an anaerobic environment, which occurs at least 6 inches below the top of the substrate (that's the purpose of a DSB).

I'm more inclined to think it's the beginning of an algae bloom (when algae photosynthesize, they release oxygen, which can appear as gas bubbles in the tank). That's why cyano usually has gas bubbles trapped inside the algae.

 

[monkiboy]

my nitrates read at 0ppm and phosphates at 0.01ppm last night on my hanna checkers.

i think i am included to think that bifferwine is correct as now two days later i have a bloom or "outbreak" of hair algae.

i don't know what could have caused this. the only changes i've made are to add the GFO (BRS high capacity) to the reactor and begin using it. i know some treatments and substances make things worse or a bloom prior to full effect. is this the case with most GFO?

it seems to get uglier by the hour and it's a very dark brown almost golden hair algae. my tank looks like poop. :sad:

gonna do a 50% water change tonight and see what happens tomorrow.

any ideas or comments or suggestions?

 

[monkiboy]

here's some of the algae grossness going on...just did a 40% water change hopefully tomorrow things look better...

 

[bjohanson1234]

How long has the tank been running? Do you test the newly mixed water for nitrate and phosphates? Do you use RO water?

It is possible that your rocks and sand are leeching out nitrates and phosphates fueling the algae. Just keep up waters changes and it will eventually get better. It will not happen over night. It will take months to fully leech out.

 

[monkiboy]

the tank has been running for about four years. yes, i run tests every two weeks and every day the last week because of this. nitrates are at 0ppm and phosphates at 0.05ppm in the DT and both zero in freshwater and salt mixed containers. i use RO/DI water, yes.

i do (my automatic water change system) does 30% changes every week that's why i'm a bit befuddled why the sudden effect with the only change being the new GFO.

i did notice that half of the GFO wasn't tumbling just now so i increased the flow rate. i think i read that if the GFO gets solid, that it can create a bloom.

thank you all for your help!

 

[Ted]

Not meaning to sound stupid but if the tank is established and has been running fine with good levels why did you add a GFO? Was there a algae issue before because of phosphates?

 

[Jmck]

That first photo did look like Cyano to me. Did you accidently stir your sandbed somehow ?

 

[monkiboy]

thanks for the input and questions - it all helps!

Not meaning to sound stupid but if the tank is established and has been running fine with good levels why did you add a GFO? Was there a algae issue before because of phosphates?

there was a much much smaller GHA issue and i was running an upflow algae scrubber that worked OK and i took it down because it was annoying for maintenance and causing a ton of salt creep.

since i got rid of that, i replaced it with a reactor i had laying around and some high capacity GFO from BRS.

That first photo did look like Cyano to me. Did you accidently stir your sandbed somehow ?

definitely no cyano. unfortunately, i've very familiar with it in various shapes and colors. the coco worm is red and coralline underneath which makes the GHA on it look slightly purple/red like cyano.

i did get a bit of a section of the sandbed about a week ago when cleaning the front glass with the magnetic cleaner. about a foot length along the bottom of the tank but just the very tippy top of the surface of the sand bed.

would that cause something like this?

i know folks who regularly sift their sand bed to get all the crap into the water column small sections at a time. although, i never do so mine would likely have a lot of waste in it that perhaps got into the water column and created a bloom of GHA?

i dont know. thanks for your input!

 

[Bifferwine]

I can't say why you suddenly got this algae when things were going well and you didn't change anything except add the reactor. Who knows!! Hopefully you get over it soon, though. :dunno: