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RE: substrate heater question
> Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 15:36:45 -0500
> From: lauramark <lauramark at home_com>
> Subject: Substrate Heater Question
>
> This is my first time using a substrate heater. It's been set
> up for 3 weeks. Heavily planted and a 4 inch depth of Flourite.
>
> The question I have is, is it normal to once and a while see
> a big bubble float up from the substrate. And when I planted
> the set up a week ago, every time I would dig a hole for a
> plant, bubbles come flying up. TIA
If your tank has only been set up for three weeks and uses a 100% Flourite
substrate, I doubt that there is a problem that you need worry about.
Bubbles that would cause someone to worry would be more likely to come from
a substrate with had a large organic load that was decomposing, but there is
nothing organic in Floruite to worry about and the tank hasn't been running
long enough for detritus or excess food to have caused the sorts of problems
which could lead to this type of decomposition.
I also doubt that your substrate heater is doing anything wrong.
It is quite common, when filling up a tank, for air to get trapped in the
substrate - short of stirring through the substrate while the tank is
filling, it probably happens in most tanks and can't be avoided. This
trapped air will escape as bubbles for a few days or a few weeks. You noted
that when you distrubed the gravel to place plants that bubbles escaped. I
wouldn't worry about it.
James Purchase
Toronto