Microbubbles...

[fishbait]

For those of you who offered advice a couple days ago on my dying torch (thank you, but its still going downhill), I throw out another question: how deadly are microbubbles? And could they be the cause of my dying corals?

While at the LFS today we were brainstorming and the guy mentioned microbubbles being harmful. Then I realized I had seen lots of these in our tank, in fact the powerheads seem to be frequently collecting and spewing these out. I figured out they are coming up from the return line coming out of the sump, and think I might have found a likely air leak spot as well. That will be tomorrrow's project to fix; however has anyone else had experience with microbubbles killing stuff? Can corals recover after the problem is corrected?

[Delphinus]

Not really. They're more of a visual nuisance than anything.

[fishbait]

I've read that a buildup of microbubbles on the undersides of coral can start necrosis and eventually kill the whole coral.... anyone agree with this or seen it happen?

[honkey sauce]

micro bubbles irritate the coral never allowing full polyp extension

[Der_Iron_Chef]

But seriously, what kind of microbubbles are we talking about here?! Is it like a horror film for corals? Or just irritating to look at? I doubt that microbubbles could or would cause the decline of an otherwise perfectly healthy coral....unless it were extreme.

[fishbait]

Well there aren't a huge amount.. and I'm actually not convinced they're sticking on the corals either. I fiddled with the system today and I think I reduced the bubbles, though they're not gone... they're coming from my sump pump, or from somewhere in that return line.

[Johnny Reefer]

I was wondering about microbubbles recently too, as I'm getting them from my canister filter. I did a search here on Canreef, but couldn't find an answer, one way or the other. I did another search elsewhere (Google? I forget.). Anyway, I found this: (Myth #14).
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.php

Cheers,