Methane in Tanks

[Aqua Pro Builder]

It suddenly come to my mind that our tanks may be releasing methane and would this a concern we should worry?


I want to know whether anyone here has done studies on methane release in our tanks? If so, can you share some info.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi
Monterey Aquarium did this Study which is the closest study I could find to your subject, apart from this I did not find yet anything specific of such studies however I'm very much interested in earth history and thus I try to read as much as possible about the subject. The closest I find of the subject you are bringing are the Anoxic Events which are one of possible causes for mass extinction events involved in the 5 Major Mass Extinction Events known, of which the Permian-Triassic mass extinction impresses me very much.
Further to this and again related with earth dynamics, there is the Arctic methane release
There's also this study from the University of Alaska Inhibition Experiments on Anaerobic Methane Oxidation

Accidents of DSB turning bad and releasing Hydrogen Sulphide to the water column do happen mostly due to poor management of the system and wrong DSB construction, poor water circulation and excessive bio load. Usually the sign is coral bleaching from the base upwards. LaMotte has a test kit for Hydrogen Sulfide and also Degassing Columns

What did bring this subject suddenly to your mind? What concerns you in detail? Would you kindly share it with us so that we might better look for possible answers and learn as well from them?

Cheers
Pedro Nuno

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

...
Usally the sing is coral bleaching from the base upwards
...
Cheers
Pedro Nuno

interesting findings.


What suddenly jumped start me was the construction at the back of my house. They are doing under ground water pipes now and I remembered they put a huge concrete construct that looks like a hub of pipes. What happen to the trapped gas and gas generated within the construct? I remember during my agriculture field survey and studies in the old days, I always test for methane when stale water are trapped. I also cooked with nature methane tape from frozen lake(very shallow, so not dangerous) back in Buffalo when I do surveys with native American Hunters. The native Americans are scared of what I was doing but I cannot start a fire with their techniques, so..... Then, I suddenly feel that our DSB is similar in construct(just smaller in scale) and may also create methane if not properly managed. I rethink the formulas of the C, N and H cycle, it looks like DSB can create methane too. Recently, I saw a pic of a tank exploded and was puzzling would there be a chance that methane is the culprit. I think electrical failure alone may not necessarily start a fire.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi
Well if I well understood the Hub pipe would be for pipe venting like this one suitable for sanitary and storm drains, waste and vent piping. Now this is in situations were methane concentration can build up to dangerous levels. In a tank normally there should not be such a hi load of organic wastes to build up such levels of dangerous methane, still...never the less, there is enough bio load to become a very serious problem leading to hydrogen sulphide formation and release with consequent redox level lowering and coral bleaching starting from the base...I witnessed such an event and it happened in a regular sand bed, simply my friend just remodeled the lay-out and disturbed significantly the sand bed which had accumulated enough organic waste to produce the problem, and it was fast...he lost many animals, still he recovered also very fast as in one week time he set up an entirely new tank and transfered a good number of the corals he had and managed to save.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno