Bubbles

[tombsc]

When I cleaned my tank yesterday, I vacuumed the sand as usual and lots of bubbles came out and got sucked up the syphon tube...is this really bad ?
Would snails help ?
Would more plants help?
help!

[SCMurphy]

Is anything dieing? Did you smell rotten eggs? If not, you are fine, it was probably methane and nitrogen.

More plants is always better!

Err "More plants are always better!" No. The event singular "more plants" should be modified by the singular present of the verb "to be", "is". Ok I had it right.
:roll: I wonder where this one is going.

[Buck]

Sean ya killin me man... :lol: I hate arguing with myself too...

Bubbles eh ?
Is this a newly setup tank? It sounds like trapped pockets of air from the sand when you setup the tank. This is not good though because it may be a sign that you are using to much sand or too fine a sand in proportion. I did this once myself and 2 months later I hit a huge pocket of air in a corner where the sand was too thick...it was from when I poured the sand into the tank, no debris in it and no mulm so it was just O2. I would think that over that much time it would dissipate but it didnt. :shock:
More plants will definately benefit the tank by their roots preventing any pockets from forming in the substrate.
For now just take a dowel or a stick and gently stir it into the sand through-out the rest of the tank bottom to release any other air pockets.

One other thing... how the heck do you vacuum your sand ?
You should only hover the vac over the top lifting the loose debris, dont you loose a lot of sand through the hose ?

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Aren't some gases only partially soluble in water? Nitrogen, for example, will become saturated in water fairly quickly at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. So if there are pockets of air down there, the O2, CO2 and a few other gases will diffuse into the water eventually, but some will remain.

Unless the bubbles stank, then you might be talking about Hydrogen Sulfide?

[SCMurphy]

Originally Posted by GulfCoastAquarian

Aren't some gases only partially soluble in water? Nitrogen, for example, will become saturated in water fairly quickly at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. So if there are pockets of air down there, the O2, CO2 and a few other gases will diffuse into the water eventually, but some will remain.

Unless the bubbles stank, then you might be talking about Hydrogen Sulfide?

Yes, and I'm pretty sure Nitrogen isn't soluble at all, partial pressure is the only thing keeping Nitrogen in solution. Diffusion is hindered by the substrate itself, when gasses build up under the substrate it's a possible sign of stagnation. Not that these bubbles are positively due to that, as Buck pointed out.

[Buck]

It was the strangest thing I ever seen, the dang bubble even scared me it was so big. The sand was very clean as the tank was only 7 or 8 weeks old at the time and when I went to put a plant in that corner it just rolled out over my hand... LOL
Now that left me wondering what caused it but found nothing in that corner but pure sand. No buried leaves rotting, no mulm pockets, nothing there but fine white sand.

My only guess is that it was a pocket of trapped o2 from filling the tank. But... I would think that no matter what the gas content was, it would dissipate if it wasn't being "created" by any conditions... :roll:

I dunno... Im no scientist, just a guy who loves his tanks.. LOL

[tombsc]

Wow - thanks for all the quick replies..
The tank has been set up for about 18 months, but began it's tranformation into a planted tank about 3 months ago.
The air bubbles didn't smell, not noticably anyway, the plants seem to be doing ok. The reason I vacuumed so heavily was me being lazy - there was a stump left from what was a pygmy chain sword before my clowns 'clicked' it all away, instead of pulling it out I decided to suck it out ! When I saw the gas escape I tried a few more areas and got the same result.
Thanks for the comments, it seems that I wont need a complete strip down to replace the sand with something more appropriate.
I'm still waiting to find a overtank T5 PC luminare in BLACK as opposed to silver (listen up, manufacturers) to match my tank. Once I get more light I can hopefully plant some foreground plants to help keep the sand healthy.
Thanks all..
Tom