air pockets in sand bed

[new reefer in michigan]

My dsb has air pockets in it. What does this mean? Is it o.k. to stir up the sand to release these pockets or should I leave them alone?

 

[imow]

DO NOT STIR UP THE SANDBED. (Yes I am yelling) The air pockets are naturally occurring in DSB's (someone else chime in here, are they Sulfur Dioxide??) and are part of the filtering processes.

 

[Marcosreef]

Pretty sure what your seeing is Nitrogen Gas. (Nitrogen Cycle). This is good. I'd probably not disturb the bubbles... Just let em' be. Happy Reefkeeping!

 

[qcumber]

I had my DSB for slighlty more than a week, and I am already seeing pockets of air!

Could this possibly a denitrification process?

 

[eodjj]

Don't worry about the bubbles, Yes they are part of the denitrification process and this means that it is starting to work! The Nitrogen bubbles are the end product from the anaerobic bacteria breaking down the nitrates in the tank.
JJ

 

[howie099]

I means it is all good, they will be in smaller amounts as time passes on. Your sand bed is starting to work.

 

[monkeyboy]

Bubbles in the sand bed are not a bad thing at all. I'd be curious though if anyone has actually tested the gas bubbles that we see (not sure how that would be done), because it may be just co2 from any of the usual algae that grow in between the glass and sand. Either way, no prob!

 

[pez]

I would think that if the pockets were sulphur dioxide, you would also see the typical black bands around the pockets. The bubbles are probably trapped air from the initial install or nitrogen from the denitrification process.

-Tom