Microbubbles and no skimmate... Mmm, skimmer op. f'  10/1/08
Good Afternoon,
<Hi there>
First and foremost, I would like to thank you, Mr. Fenner, and the WWM Crew for taking the time to answer all of the questions and for building such an informative site. I will apologize for the length of this letter beforehand. I have a couple problems. First, my skimmer is producing nothing other than a green tea colored liquid;
<Mmm... either needs adjustment or is "just" not a very efficient make/model>
secondly, I have a large amount of microbubbles or microparticles that are making the tank cloudy.
<No fun>
I have a 125-gallon tank that I started in January of this year. I added 175 pounds of live rock and a ½-inch of fine aragonite sand. This is where I made the first of several mistakes. I knew the rock needed to cure and had planned to do so in the tank. I placed the rock in the tank with a CPR Bak-Pak 2 Skimmer, three powerheads and an Emperor 400 BIO-Wheel. I obviously did not understand the difference between curing and cycling.
<Yikes! What a mess>
I failed to do water changes and the ammonia level climbed off the charts. At the highest possible placement of the collection cup, the skimmer failed to produce anything other than the tea colored liquid. I am sure you can imagine what happened, no living creatures on the live rock from the ammonia. The live rock had a lot of coralline (which bleached), but I never experienced the foul odor during curing that I have read about here.
<You're fortunate t/here>
The tank completed its cycle in about three weeks. I had all the undesirable effects, such as the diatom bloom. I had initially used tap water to fill the tank, which I now realize was another mistake. I eventually developed the dreaded Cyanobacteria. I added an RO system, and it had little effect on the Cyanobacteria. I had my water tested by a water quality firm and found that the tap water contained 600 ppm of total dissolve solids.
<We actually have more here in most of San Diego... and call our source water "liquid rock">
The RO water contained 30 ppm
<Mmmm>
so I added a DI filter to the system and lowered the TDS to 0. The CPR skimmer has never made much skimmate and as earlier mentioned, it was nothing other than a tea color. I finally defeated the Cyanobacteria problem with a great deal of water changes.
<You must be getting the ahms of AhnoldS!>
I had also read that dripping Kalkwasser with an IV would precipitate the phosphates, which I believe that I have, but have always tested zero. I believed the skimmer was producing the microbubbles, so I upgraded to an AquaC Remora Pro with a bubble trap,
<Ah! Very good>
but I continue to have little skimmate production. I have even talked with Steve at AquaC; he suggested that maybe the bioload was too light.
<A possibility>
I have now had another outbreak with Cyanobacteria. I know there is a lot of organic matter in the water,
<But... "something" missing>
since the Emperor filter cartridges become extremely dirty in a short amount of time. I have also dripped Kalkwasser over several days to raise the pH to 8.6 to precipitate the phosphates. I have now added a poly filter along with Chemi-Pure.
<Worth trying>
The Cyanobacteria is still present and I siphon it out every few days. I will disappear within an hour of "lights-out" and come back vigorously within an hour of "lights on." I know this is not light dependant and is a result of high organics in the water. I also have a green algae that grows on the back glass (not sure if it is also related to the Cyanobacteria or not) but its texture appears to be more slime-like. The coralline grows well on the rocks but when it forms on the glass, it grows to the size of a dime, then develops a small hole in the middle, and completely disappears within a few days.
The microbubbles are not only very aesthetically displeasing but as you are quite aware can be dangerous to the livestock. I have tested the equipment that I have by have shutting everything off for 12 hours, but there continues to be microbubbles or microparticles in the water column, they never settle out or rise to the top. Sometimes it almost appears that they are coming from the substrate and appear to get worse the longer the lights are on.
<Yes... I know of the sort of thing you are experiencing... and a safe, easy "cure">
Again, I apologize for the length but I am out of things to try. I also placed a HOB magnum with a micro cartridge and ran this for a month to make sure it was not just particulate matter and it appeared that this made no difference either. Not sure if this matters or not but in the beginning I had to add massive amounts of calcium because it kept dropping into the 250 range, I was also adding Purple up.
<Mmmm>
After reading on your site, I stopped all the supplements other than Kent Super Buffer for my water. The calcium has remained steady in the 400 range with no additives for several months now. I am just wondering are these microbubbles the bi-product of the Cyanobacteria or some other type of bacterial infection. Up until about two weeks ago, my pH fluctuated to the extremes 8.1 to 8.6 it was as if the BGA was controlling this to its own satisfaction.
<Good guess>
Calcium and DKH remained at acceptable levels and pH would be 8.1 one day and 8.6 the next with no additives. I first thought it was the pH meter, which is a pinpoint, but after having it checked and calibrated there was no problem with the equipment.
125-gallon aquarium (not drilled)
pH 8.1 to 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
DKH 11
Calcium 400
Temperature 79 (very stable)
Phosphates 0 (tank and RO water)
Lights PC (4) 96 watt (on for 12 hrs)
(3) Powerheads
AquaC Skimmer (Rio 1400)
UV (used for 1 month with no results so I removed)
Emperor BIO-Wheel (change filters weekly)
I have added phosphate remover and ChemiPure in the last month
I use no additives other than Kent Superbuffer for make-up water
I have done 10-gallon water changes weekly. I also only feed Ocean Nutrition flakes and seaweed for the Tangs. I am positive I am not overfeeding.
Livestock
(1) Yellow Hawaiian Tang
(1) Flame Hawkfish
(2) True Percula Clowns
(3) Green Chromis
(1) Watchman Goby
(1) Sailfin Blenny
(1) Foxface
(1) Kole Tang
(2) Brittle Stars
(3) Firefish Gobies
(2) Cleaner Shrimp
(1) Flame Scallop (came with cleaner crew)
Pulsating Xenia (grown to three separate large colonies)
(1) Frogspawn (3 heads)
Several mushrooms
Several button polyps
(1) White Pom Pom Xenia
Cleaner crew mixed snails and hermits
Thanks for all your assistance,
Roger
<Now... I am going to try my best at an effort of sleight of hand here... suggesting actions w/o much (or any really) explanation of causative mechanisms. IF you will try adding a bit (abundance of a lacking essential nutrient) of carbon here... in the form of ethanol (Vodka will do) or "simple" sugar (pentoses, hexoses), you will very likely find a "miraculous" turning about of your system... Either a half ounce of the C2H5OH... OR a couple grams of the sugar (dissolved in some water), every other day for three, four treatments... And please do write me back in a week or so and we'll chat re... Not to be or appear disingenuous, I don't want/intend to encourage others carte blanche to try this. Your situation however... is apropos. Bob Fenner>

Re: fighting conch, algal contr., and wet-dry conv. to live sump... Adjusting skimmer, macroalgae light f'   9/11/08
Mr. Fenner,
<Chris>
When you mentioned water quality mal-influencing skimmer function and needing adjustment to raise the water level in the contact chamber, does this mean: the water quality is poor, or that the skimmer itself needs adjustment?
<Perhaps a bit of both; definitely the latter>
I tested the water yesterday...salinity 1.024, ph 8.2, nitrate was high (20ppm), ammonia, nitrite, phosphate were all zero. The pump attached to the skimmer has a water flow dial on it...is this what you meant by adjusting to raise water level in contact chamber?
<Yes>
I read the skimmer manual section pertaining to the water flow dial, and I'm embarrassed to say I'm still confused whether it will push more froth into the cup by increasing the flow (turning knob counterclockwise), or vice versa.
<Just try going both directions... Usually opening the valve is turning left/counter-clockwise...>
The last question in my previous email pertained to my keeping macroalgae in the display tank...is the existing light (120W total) sufficient to keep the macroalgae happy in the display tank (72L X 18W X 22H) with 100 lbs or so live rock, and 1-2 inch deep live sand substrate?
<Mmm, likely so... there is a huge span of "useful" to optimal quality and quantity of light per species, Division of algae... with much photo-adaptation>
They're on a timer, approximately 8 hrs per day. This was my first large marine tank, so I contracted with a local aquarium maintenance company to plan and install the system (equipment, lighting, hard plumbing, etc.), hoping to watch the owner work and ask enough questions so that I'd be more comfortable on my own for future systems.
<Good practice>
At the time, I saw a Berlin skimmer online review that was consistent with your comment (that it wasn't the best choice), but I relied on this person's expertise, since he said he had personal experience with this brand skimmer. It was also his opinion that since this was not going to be a reef tank, 2 standard fluorescent fixtures (housing two 50/50 bulbs each) was all I needed.
<Mmm, short-sighted in my opinion... I urge folks to aim at likely upgrade scenarios... in the hope, knowledge that they may well "graduate" to other types of systems in time>
Thanks,
Chris S.
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>