Loaches Online Forum

My weather loach tank is almost finished, have strong surface water agitation and also large external filter outlet. I now seem to have foamy bubbles forming on the surface round the edge. Is this a problem or just the agitation of the water. There are no fish in it at the moment.

The first thing I test for when I see bubbles that linger a little longer than they should is ammonia.
Bubbles that form and pop right away should not be a problem. You could adjust the filter, power head, water level or something, then these bubbles would not form (or would be greatly reduced).
But the foamy sort of bubbles are linked to something in the water. Could be proteins and related materials, perhaps oils from your skin when you were handling the equipment and decor in the tank, but check the ammonia. Almost always this is from the break down of organic matter that has protein in it.
If there is no livestock in the tank this is a great time to do the fishless cycle, and you want the ammonia in there. It is encouraging the beneficial bacteria.

I've never done a fishless cyle so am not familiar with the procedure, I usually start with a portion of mature media from another tank and slowly build from that, this time I was going to give that "ATM Colony" a try.

Yesterday I did about 25% water change which reduced the bubbles a lot, I noticed that the inside glass felt slimey. I have just tested for ammonia and there is none.

Sea water enthousiasts have protein skimmers, using foam to separate the protein from the water.

Although this does not work properly in sweet water - one needs very tiny bubbles, which are instable in sweetweater, but stabel i nseawater, in order to get this foam. BUT proteins can produce a foam, and proteins might, further, ahdere to solid surfaces, such as glass, leaving a slimey layer.

In case the layer is proteins, I would refrain from feeding the fishes for a week, clean the hard surfaces with a hard brush - obviously no soap - and change a lot of water.

However, if the layer is proteins indeed, I would also wonder whether the protein - ammonia - nitrite - nitrate system is still working.

Bas Pels: There are no fish in the tank yet. I dont think the Ammoni9a, Nitrite, Nitrate has started working yet.

Sorry for missing that. Perhaps someting you used decorating did contain the proteins

The only things I have added new are plants glued to driftwood and some slate, a large slate cave and some pieces of slate silliconed together,
I have added some carbon to the filter, don't know if it will help but feeling disheartened at the thought of stripping it all down.

When I first set up my tank I got some bubbles forming at the sides but they cleared up by themselves after a week or so, apparently without causing any harm.

Yes they are definitely dissipating so it is tempting to just carry on and ignore them, just don't want to harm the fish.