Foaming at filter sock and Fresh Prawn Cycling question

[nicreef]

Hi,

1. i am using filter socks for the first time and noticed a lot of foam today when i reached the office. Replace it to a new filter sock (bigger) but 3 hours later i see foam coming out liao. is this normal?

ps: new tank that is being cycled added in sand on monday.

2. how many prawn should i throw in? used my expired reef nutrition actipods on monday (half bottle) but today ammonia still 0 (salifert) 1 (api) so went to buy market prawn. Aunty say minimum $2 thus i am left with a lot of spares. threw in about 8 prawns liao still have 10+ left. should i throw more (would it be beneficial??) or i throw too much liao haha

ps: tank is 4 x 2 x 1 total water volume around 260. old media i am using from my old tank (that has just recovered from a crash) is some sand that i put in sump, 2 tray of crush corals and 2 filter wool from canister.

[tropic]

should just dump in 1-2 prawns and let things work slowly out till the prawn disappear. your filter sock shouldn't have foam coming out unless its your skimmer

[nicreef]

should just dump in 1-2 prawns and let things work slowly out till the prawn disappear. your filter sock shouldn't have foam coming out unless its your skimmer

hmm....nope skimmer is not on....

this is how the foam is like

looks like i got to go digging for the prawns tomorrow =(

[tropic]

got any air coming in from within your pipes? try removing the socks and see any change? worst case change the water.

[nicreef]

got any air coming in from within your pipes? try removing the socks and see any change? worst case change the water.

.

nope dont think got air from pipe. tank was running fine for last few days but than again the water is also the same haha

just changed ok for a few hours but i am seeing the foam building up again.

new socks

[starfish123]

read that too much ammonia may cause bubbles... not very sure myself never experience b4... if this is the case then it should disappear within a few days

[starfish123]

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/white-foamy-bubbles-on-top-of-tank-water-levels-in-tank-ar...-536724.html

post 3

[resser]

It's dissolved organics. It's normal. That's how skimmers work. As long as there is turbulence that creates air bubbles in saltwater with a lot of dissolved organics, the bubble will foam and the head stays quite a while.

If you want fast cycle, make sure your water surface is agitated for air exchange, stagnant water lack oxygen, bacteria don't grow that fast without oxygen.

[kraken]

for faster cycling, try dosing bacteria, mine cycled in 2 weeks and yes, 8 prawns are a little bit too excessive!!!! If you can, higher water temperature aids in cycling speed too.

[nicreef]

read that too much ammonia may cause bubbles... not very sure myself never experience b4... if this is the case then it should disappear within a few days

hopefully that is the case...probably is my salifert kit spoil liao haha bought it around 4 months back.

It's dissolved organics. It's normal. That's how skimmers work. As long as there is turbulence that creates air bubbles in saltwater with a lot of dissolved organics, the bubble will foam and the head stays quite a while.

If you want fast cycle, make sure your water surface is agitated for air exchange, stagnant water lack oxygen, bacteria don't grow that fast without oxygen.

definatelty not skimmer since i dint on it.

water surface is agitated. waevmaker wp is too powerful for my tank so i am blowing upwards.

for faster cycling, try dosing bacteria, mine cycled in 2 weeks and yes, 8 prawns are a little bit too excessive!!!! If you can, higher water temperature aids in cycling speed too.

lol okok going to remove some. Yup dosing bacteria i got from henry. used it for my previous tank and found it good.

Luckily my chiller is not on yet. water at room temp

[domvonn]

Bro I think too much prawn . Did u deshell the prawn ?

[nicreef]

Bro I think too much prawn . Did u deshell the prawn ?

Removed 3-4 pieces that I could find. Yup.

[resser]

Bro,

I didn't say anything about your skimmer ley.

I am saying, in saltwater, with a lot of dissolved organics and even little water turbulence that creates small bubbles, the DOC will stick to the bubble, making bubble shell tougher to burst. That's why you are seeing foam. I also say, skimmer works on that principle.

If water in your overflow pipe hits your filter sock mixing with air, it makes bubbles, and with DOC, makes foam.

If you want to stop foaming, stop making bubbles.

[nicreef]

Bro,

I didn't say anything about your skimmer ley.

I am saying, in saltwater, with a lot of dissolved organics and even little water turbulence that creates small bubbles, the DOC will stick to the bubble, making bubble shell tougher to burst. That's why you are seeing foam. I also say, skimmer works on that principle.

If water in your overflow pipe hits your filter sock mixing with air, it makes bubbles, and with DOC, makes foam.

If you want to stop foaming, stop making bubbles.

Ahh ic sry misunderstood. Hmm is this why skimmer goes berserk when u use epoxy in the water?

Also glad nothing is wrong with the water or such (was one of my main worries since this is the first time I did the water on my own instead of purchasing)

[kraken]

as i said before, you should have ask iwarna to deliver the DI water to you......

[Gouldian]

I think your sand was not wash properly, if you have washed the sand you will not have some much bubbles.

[MarcoVan]

Agree with Gouldian.

Good chance your sand is not washed or just too many dirt in your tank causing clogs in your filter sock.

Nth to do with DOC, skimmer foaming etc etc. those are not related to your problem imo.

[MarcoVan]

Ahh ic sry misunderstood. Hmm is this why skimmer goes berserk when u use epoxy in the water?

Also glad nothing is wrong with the water or such (was one of my main worries since this is the first time I did the water on my own instead of purchasing)

Epoxy upon reaction releases chemicals. That's why.

Nth too toxic. but a water change is advisable else you'll lose alot of water through the berserk skimming.

[angel fish]

Bro I think too much prawn . Did u deshell the prawn ?

Agreed definitely foaming caused by too much protein fat coming from 8 pcs raw prawns being thrown in.

Don't believe then anybody can try feed some prawns to their fishes & watch their skimmer foaming profusely.

[nicreef]

Hi,

thanks for your feedback.

seems like it is a combination of everything...

1. i dint wash sand (read from some comments in RC that washing removes all the goodies in the sand) changed filter sock 5 times...haiz..

2. too much prawn (50-50 on this coz the foaming started before i added prawn but i did add my expired reef nutrition actipods too before that). Removed most of the prawns that i can visually see except for 2.

i have removed the socks for now too. probably just going to let the tank run finish its natural cycle than do the water change. than on skimmer and add back socks and see how.

[domvonn]

Does the water smells ?

[nicreef]

Does the water smells ?

nope not really. just normal seawater smell.

[nicreef]

hmm still foaming...looks like not sock problem...

prolly what bro resser says:

"It's dissolved organics. It's normal. That's how skimmers work. As long as there is turbulence that creates air bubbles in saltwater with a lot of dissolved organics, the bubble will foam and the head stays quite a while."

if so that means my pipe got a lot of air going in??? since the pipe leads down to the water directly.

[resser]

Cleaning up the foam painful wah. Your return chamber looks like a big skimmer. Three things you can do, your choice:

1) Turn on skimmer and dry skim. A few million potential bacterial growth no worries lah, haha. Saves some pain, you are removing the foam by hand, use the skimmer instead.

2) If you are running ceramic bacterial housing (BioHomme or Bacterial King), pipe your return pump back into the sump's overflow chamber. This way, your water is mostly laminar (smooth flow), so no bubble making. Nothing goes to display. If you depend purely on rocks in display tank to house bacteria then don't do this. Also, put a small wave making device (pump also can) hitting sump's water surface.

3) Not advertising but, try 1 drop of Polyp Lab Genesis and Fuel daily for 2-3 days. Done. Those bacteria strains eat protein like siow from experience. My prawn literally disintergrated within 4 days, and cycle done, as compared to 3 weeks long time ago.

Your overflow pipe has a lot of air, design issue, it's mostly ok unless you don't like the noise and bubbles.

Best of luck.

[nicreef]

Cleaning up the foam painful wah. Your return chamber looks like a big skimmer. Three things you can do, your choice:

ya man worried coz i just dose bacteria and henry did specifically said i have to off my skimmer when i dose it. scared this will prolong cycling.

1) Turn on skimmer and dry skim. A few million potential bacterial growth no worries lah, haha. Saves some pain.

What is dry skim ar? sry abit nooby

2) If you are running ceramic bacterial housing (BioHomme or Bacterial King), pipe your return pump back into the sump's overflow chamber. This way, your water is mostly laminar (smooth flow), so no bubble making. Nothing goes to display. If you depend purely on rocks in display tank to house bacteria then don't do this. Also, put a small wave making device (pump also can) hitting sump's water surface.

will add my spare wave maker for mixing salt to the sump.

3) Not advertising but, try 1 drop of Polyp Lab Genesis and Fuel daily for 2-3 days. Done. Those bacteria strains eat protein like siow from experience. My prawn literally disintergrated within 4 days, and cycle done, as compared to 3 weeks long time ago.

i do intend to get the full series. probably heading down to get it tomorrow in this case

Your overflow pipe has a lot of air, design issue, it's mostly ok unless you don't like the noise and bubbles.

yup already feed back to tank maker initially because of the sound but i told him no hurries that time coz there no bubble issues. waiting for my lights to arrive than he do the changes for me.