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[fishinsouthga]

so my 2nd tank has been up and cycled for about 3 years now its about 150 gallons of total water with sump etc.... i have about 2 inches of sand in the display and mostly reef rubble and probably 1/2 of sand for the pods to live with in the sump, i have about 100 or so pounds of live rock (i like school fishes on top) recently i have notices little micro bubbles on the rocks and sand bed and if a hermit or gobby or something runs accrose the sand the bubbles are release, or if i move a powerhead or change the flow. whats might cause this? the rocks and sand seem to reproduce these rather fast. i disconneced my sump and shut off my return to make sure i didn't have a pump blow bubbles in the tank but in 24 hours they were back.

 

[Anonymous]

So, you turned off your pumps and ruled out the pump shooting bubbles in the tank but they are still there eh?

A very light coating of slime algae (cyanobacteria) can trap bubbles, does it look like there is a soft brownish or reddish layer on yoru rocks and sand?

Any chance you can get a photo of this phenomena?

 

[cindre2000]

I had this when I was cycling my 30 cube. I noticed when I blew all the bubbles off in the evening, they would not "regrow" until sometime the next day. This points to algea. As a result, i just dropped back on the lighting a bit and got some more algae nibblers.

Have you replaced your bulbs recently?