Micro Bubbles

[Eddie]

Don't say that too loud, somebody thinks micro bubbles don't exist! Lol


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[roclement]

Oh...I'll keep this figment of our imagination hush-hush...

Rodrigo

[joanr]

now Al, What the heck am I going to do with that example?? hello, ideas for dummies needed here

Jennie, if you purchase a 55gal storage tank, it's much easier to also get a submersible pump to get that water to the main tank. I always age water in winter here in Colorado, actually I age it all year long, there are always micro bubbles in my water, winter or summer. Many other benefits to storing water also, perfect temperature control, airating/aging also reduces levels of harmful chlorine, but don't throw away the bottle of Prime, it won't rid all.

[leslie]

I am really curious to see what your solution is as well. We built a sort of bubble trap out of 4" PVC pipe (based on Rod's coke bottle design) that looks pretty hideous. Our water comes straight from our plumbing. Our canister filter is connected to the house plumbing so new water flows into the tank via the canister return pipe. The return is connected to the bubble trap in the tank.

[Discus-Hans]

I'm not 100% sure (yes I'm getting old) and don't want to look it up.

It's not about the bubbles you see, it's the much smaller ones that can give your Discus "gas bubble disease"

Now, I'm not real pro filling your tank direct from the tap, but if you do keep the tube 4" to 6" above your water and let the water "fall" in the tank. It will reduce it a lot,

Hans

[nc0gnet0]

Stuff a two liter bottle with medium matala, run in over that, in one end out the other.

[leslie]

I am not familiar with matala. Can you tell me what the advantage of using matala is over some other type of medium coarse sponge? Thanks.

[goodoo]

I allways age it a bit, or for longer 1 to 48 hours. I try to agitate the water as much as I can when its going into the storage device. I usually do big changes so the longer its aged the better.

[MrCloudz]

I Knew I was going to have this problem before I came back to the hobby so I was just going tobite the bullet and age but after some experimentation I came up with the following spraybar. It has 1/16 holes and hangs on all my tanks. When it's hooked up to my 125 the water flys thru the air 18" in an arch then rolls down the rear glass. No bubbles. 1/8th holes degassed it about 75%. most of the lfs around here don't age and I have watched a few of them do water changes and they just let the water fall about 12" from a hose bib above the tank. Right from the tap. That would only only take away about 25% of my bubbles.

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9469/dsc01213i.jpg



I'm pretty sure when I was doing research I stumbled upon discusnyc fish room Fish "Rack" Overhaul thread. In it he said the following.

"Absolutely no ill effects whatsoever, i was like you when i first started, used to use prime. The only thing with using direct tap water is that you must let it degas first. For me letting the water enter above the water line is sufficient. A very hard learned lesson for me as a newbie was that i used to do water changes with a python and let the return water come in below the water line and wondering why my fish were all lying on their sides after a 70 percent water change. It all changed when i let the water out above the water line, and now i can literally do 99% water changes with no problems. Just to make sure my valuable stock is not affected by any chemical changes in my water supply, i will be putting in a carbon block filter to the supply line for the new fish room. This rack is going to be a prototype, and many improvements are going to be implemented in the new fish room.

Im sorry i didn't mean to imply that i was able to degas chlorine by adding water slowly above the water line. It only allows the atmospheric gasses such as nitrogen escape as they hit higher tempretures and lower pressure. Saving the fish from literally getting the "bends", which is very painful to watch. I have no trace chlorine or chloramine in my water, never tasted chlorine and verified by a water report. I would however like to insure my self in case was added in the future with the addition of a carbon block filter.

Regards,
Angel "


There is no way I could do a 90% WC with that method no matter how high I held the hose and we use the same water. The most I will do with the spray bar is 50%. I not sure if these people have poor water pressure or what. I would like to add That I use prime and keep my fx5 and over powered hydro v's going during water changes so that helps.

[strawberryblonde]

For anyone who uses a python system for water changes, I have a simple homemade solution to the micro bubble problem. I'll get a video of it in action during my WC tomorrow and upload it so you can see how well it works if you want.

My tap water has a horrid micro bubble issue. But for me, there simply is NO place to put an aging tank in my house. I tried the splash method and got lousy results. The bubbles were fewer and dissipated faster, but there were still far too many for me to feel comfortable.

So, I took a huge hunk of polyfiber (the bonded type with both coarse and finer weave), rolled it into a tube, folded over one end to make a big bulge and then stuffed it into the syphon end of the python (well, to be truthful it's an aqueon, not a python syphon).

The bulging part is at the end of the syphon and stuffed in fairly tightly. I then slid a filter sock over the syphon. I had a spare unused one from a battery operated "mini" gravel vacuum that I use on my tiny tanks. It fits snugly onto the syphon and is held in place with an elastic band.

I experimented with letting the water drop from about 12" above the water, but still had plenty of micro bubbles. I then tried only opening the syphon valve about halfway, which allowed a nice airy turbo action in the syphon just above the poly floss. That seemed to eliminate a lot more of the bubbles.

And then I set the syphon into the tank water for just a sec while I was plugging my heater and canister filter back in and bingo, when I looked back up at the tank, there were almost ZERO micro bubbles coming out of the syphon and into the water column. The few that did enter rose quickly to the top of the water and were dissipated!

By the time I walk the python hose back to the laundry room, the water column is crystal clear and has no visible micro bubbles at all. So about 3-4 minutes. No more cloudy tank or bubbles on my fish and plants.

SB

[Vee]

I'm not 100% sure (yes I'm getting old) and don't want to look it up.

It's not about the bubbles you see, it's the much smaller ones that can give your Discus "gas bubble disease"

Now, I'm not real pro filling your tank direct from the tap, but if you do keep the tube 4" to 6" above your water and let the water "fall" in the tank. It will reduce it a lot,

Hans

I put together a water return using PVC piping that is raised about 8 inches above water with an Aquaclear filter at the end to reduce bubbles. The fish no longer are stressed after a 75% water change.