Rising Air Bubbles

[maxijaza82]

I have a 55g Reef tank with running a berlin style with a tunze skimmer and two no. koralia pumps and internal filter with floss carbon and purigen. I seem always to have bubbles in the tank and now at the minute I have bubbles rising from the sand and bringing bits of sand with them and dropping them back on the corals. Any ideas is it the skimmer causing these or flow issues. thanks in advance.

[DLANDINO]

How old is this setup?

[maxijaza82]

its about six weeks old, the tank is fully cycled, after a bit of research it is nitrogen gas, am i correct, how long will this last should i do anything

[crvz]

it could be nitrogen gas, but it may be something else. If a bubble is bringing up sand with it, I wouldnt be surprised if you cyano, dinoflagellates, etc.

[KJAhp098]

I used to have the same problem. I had bubbles coming from both the sand and the liverock. I think it was because the lighting was too intense and the bacteria on the sand and liverock would die off causing bubbles. Try decreasing your photo period and slowly acclimating. HTH

[maxijaza82]

if they bateria are dying off beecause of intense lighting is this not very bad, could the tank cycle again. What photo period on the main lighting (250w mh) should I go back to. On for 10 hours at min with the 2x36w antnic on for 2 hours more. Is there any way to tell which it is. At the glass I can see it in the substrate but I can also see them on the undersides of the live rock

[DLANDINO]

I was going to guess some type of die off as well. How is your flow, I see you have Koralia powerheads but the actual number got cut off in your original posting? How many gph of flow are you getting? This being a new tank you are going to go through several phases of these types of things. Whether they by nitrogen bubbles, cyano, other algae growths they will likely come your way. Take it slow, test test test your water, then test it again, keep up with your water changes and ride out each storm. I had many issues like this one in my 8 month old tank and with each one I thought it would be the end of the world for me but with time and patience I have been successful.

As far as your photo period, what are you keeping in the tank? How many corals and what types? SPS, LPS, softies... This will help you determine what the proper photo period should be. In my tank, I have a mix of all of the above and am running 300 watts halides, no actinics. They are on from 2pm-9pm every day and once per month or so I plunge the tank into darkness for 2 days.

Not sure on if the tank can or will cycle again but I am sure that someone will chime in. It is a good question. I would guess that if it is in the process of another mini cycle that something has changed in the tank. Addition of new rock, sand, etc.