Itzgana Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 Hi, I am a little concerned that the bubbles rising from the sand could be a problem . What seems to be happening is that as the bubbles start to appear on the surface over a few days the sand seems to get lifted from the bottom in small lumps that have turned a dark brownblack color ? Could anyone shed some light on why this is happening. Thanks Itzgana Specs 12G FULL BOW 70W 1000K MH Link to comment
dickie52 Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 What kind of water pump are you running? Link to comment
Itzgana Posted November 13, 2003 Author Share Posted November 13, 2003 I am running two eheim pumps as an alternative to powerheads, Do you think that the water movment could be insufficient for the tank ? They are not the most powerfull of pumps (the smallest pumps eheim supply) Link to comment
palaegic Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 Brand new setup? Some air pockets are normal and will dissipate as the system settles in. However, if the sandbed is deep, and is actively generating bubbles that are foul smelling, you may have some issues. Link to comment
onthefly Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 Bubbles in sand are not necessarily a bad thing.....what worries me is the color. Like palaegic eluded to, if your sand bed is deep, you could simply have some anaerobic bacteria taking NO3, getting their oxygen from it and releasing nitrogen. If there is a rotten egg smell, then instead of nitrogen (which has no odor), you tank is releasing hydrogen sulfide....not good! That means you have a large amount of material/nutrients decomposing in the sand bed. But the dark brown/black color is what I'd worry about......As a long time DSB advocate.......I'm stumped ?? Link to comment
Itzgana Posted November 14, 2003 Author Share Posted November 14, 2003 Cheers for the feedback, I have very little sand on the bottom now, I had a good inch and a bit ,but in trying to get rid the tank of the above said problem i have reduced the depth to less than half an inch. It just seems like all the small bubbles are not being moved from the sand surface so when the numbers are large it seems to lift whole sections of the sand (The size of a 50 pence )up to the surface only to be dumped down the overflow to the small sump. The bubbles do not have any odour as i have checked when they reach the surface. Thanks Itzgana Link to comment
jasontatro Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Sounds totally normal to me. Just the bacteria in the sand doing it's thing. Same exact thing happened in my tank. The brown stuff is probably diatoms. Given it time it should pass in a few days or so. Link to comment
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