Clouds and bubbles?

[wolvex10]

Hi all,

I just put together a 28 gal bow front tank. I have about 35lbs of gravel (25 natural, 10 black) and several decorations.

I started by rinsing everything in tap water. Then put the gravel and one slate-like decoration in the tank. I added the following equipment:
100 Watt Neptune Heater
PowerHead filter with adequate turnover
digital thermometer
20 gal rated air pump
air wand for back of tank air wall effect

After I filled the tank, I added conditioner to remove chlorine.

All was well for 48 hours.

I then added two artificial plants and an artificial driftwood. These I rinsed and placed in the full tank. 10 hours later, my tank was a little hazy. now 50 hours later tank is a little more hazy, but also accumulating bubbles at the top of tank. If left alone, they will overflow the tank. AAAAHHHHHH!

I have cut the air pump off and no bubbles form. Any ideas?
My guesses are:
My arms were not clean enough, I had recently been sweating and had not rinsed adequately?
My air pump is ill?
God hates me?

 

[WyldFya]

You need a filter or powerhead that breaks the surface tension. With that, the bubbles will stay at a minimum. Without adequate surface agitation, the bubbles will form, and not pop easily.

 

[bigspizz]

You could try a couple gallons of distilled water.

 

[wolvex10]

Sorry, my bad. I meant I installed a power filter, not a power head filter.

When you say "breaks surface tension" what exactly do you mean? My bubbles from the air pump were definately breaking surface tension but my filter may not have been due to the water height in my tank. Is this a problem?

Also, what would I learn about the problem by adding distilled water?

 

[bigspizz]

If the foam is bieng caused buy dissolved food/any thing else, distilled water is pure. it will break the foams ability to to form. It is to pure to fill your whole tank up with just what some research told me to do to break up foam.

 

[wolvex10]

Thanks Bigspizz. I'll give it a try and let you know.

 

[bigspizz]

Good luck!