Nano Bubble Injection

[soapy]

I was just browsing through another website:

https://reefbuilders.com/2016/01/16/...ely-different/ scroll halfway down.

and came across an interesting idea, nano bubble injection. The idea is to flood the tank with nano bubbles in an effort to turn the whole tank into a sort of skimmer in order to float junk into the overflow and on to the skimmer, promote oxygen/co2 transfer and ion exchange and somehow encourage stable PH on the counter evening cycle.

What do you guys think?

Here are the links from the page for your convenience:

https://www.facebook.com/15117056990...type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/15117056990...type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/15117056990...type=3&theater

[albert_dao]

Thought that's what skimmers were for... My knee-jerk reaction is it seems gimmicky.

[soapy]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Thought that's what skimmers were for... My knee-jerk reaction is it seems gimmicky.

Really? The skimmer can only skim things that get to it, this looks like it might be one way to help move that stuff on into the skimmer or macro fuge or ATS.

Enjoy a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2SmBIZVd0Y

[albert_dao]

Again, I'd argue it seems gimmicky. Skimmers skim what they get at. This concept has a finality --- The skimmer. Excuse my lack of enthusiasm, but the whole "promote oxygen/co2 transfer and ion exchange and somehow encourage stable PH on the counter evening cycle" screams of overselling. If this were a thing, the skimmer is already doing it. I don't see how this adds to what good water movement isn't already doing. Moreover, let's give it the benefit of the doubt and say it IS doing this stuff - still seems like diminishing returns.

The vid seems like a cheeky poke at me...

[Ryanerickson]

Micro bubbles in tank stick to everything including rock and glass this is a horrible idea.

[soapy]

So we know how a skimmer works, tiny bubbles are generated which use surface tension and electrical attraction to attract proteins and oils and then lift them to the top of the skimmer where the bubbles burst and deposit the proteins. That attraction and buoyancy is what is lifting those nasties. In the display tank we use water movement to move detritus from settling among other purposes. You can do a pretty good job of moving detritus around and lots of it is pushed into the overflow and on down to the skimmer. But some of the heavier stuff has a tendency to tumble around on the bottom and in lower flow areas. Have you ever watched a copepod molt tumble around in the water column for 10 minutes and finally get lodged somewhere in the rocks? The idea of lifting this heavier stuff using the extra buoyancy of micro bubbles I believe has merit. Instead of over cranking your pumps and pounding your corals with extra high flow instead buoyancy could do some of the work to lift that junk over the weir? Makes sense to me.

Are bubbles bad for fish and corals? This has been debated and I believe it has mostly been shown to be false. Especially for reef crest and upper reef species. Perhaps some of the deep water corals may be affected by bubbles? Probably sponges? So if you were to blast your tank with bubbles I would suggest putting those animals in areas of lower flow or away from where the bubbles are going. Pretty much the same way we put low flow loving corals in low flow, high light lovers in high light, etc. Fringing reefs get pounded by bubbles most days it is a one hundred percent natural occurrence. I would be surprised if they were not accustomed to it and in fact adapted for it.

So I happened to have a limewood bubbler so I've done a few tests now. I stuck it under the front edge of a return pump in my sump. Visible bubbles were filling about half the tank. The fish didn't seem to care much. In fact I have a Tang that follows me around the glass since I often hand feed him. So I stood behind the end with most of the bubbles and the tang came and hung out in the bubbles looking for a hand out. As for the corals there was at least one interesting reaction, a purple acro immediately slimed up and shedded a layer. Somewhere on one of those links I read this often happens. Is it a bad reaction by the coral or is it a natural occurrence where the corals is just shedding the yuck? It raises a lot of questions for me. Most corals seemed happy and more extended, however one big Meteor Shower colony the was directly in the path of the bubble flow closed up during the bubbles.

As for cleaning the gunk out of the display I am convinced something is going on. The first time I shut down the bubbles there was a visible protein film on the surface of the water on the less active side of the tank. In that spot there is a bit of an eddy current in one corner and it takes longer for that surface water to escape down the overflow. Some of this no doubt was the slime layer coming off the acro. I suspect lots of other junk in there too. As for the claims by Elegant Corals of nano bubbles lifting or fixing dinos and cyano? Would need to see lots of people report this to believe it.

Ok so now the bad news. When the bubbles hit the surface they pop. So if you ran this a lot you would start to see salt creep issues for sure. Most of the bigger bubbles pop in the overflow which is good. How bad salt creep would get is the question for me that remains. As for bubbles sticking to everything? The tank looked pretty much normal within 5 minutes of shutting the air down, the odd bubble was trapped here and there. I cant tell you how long it takes the bigger bubbles to dissolve, work keeps calling. I am pretty certain if you ran this for a couple hours in the evening in the morning you would see no evidence.

Is this bubble idea good, bad or indifferent? I cant say. Is it worth testing? Hell yeah.