soap bubbles

Question
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Followup To
Question -
   I have had my aquarium for nearly 2 years, and recently replaced the water with tap water. I put in Aquasafe, but for some reason whenever water coming from my filter hits the water surface, soap bubbles form. After a couple hours, about one- quarter of the surface is covered with soap. My tap water is very hard. Is there a product that will help, and if so, what is it and where can I get it? Thanks for your time and help!
Answer -
Hi Darrick,
Aquasafe is one of the few water conditioners that bubbles when the surface is agitated and has been added to the water. This won't last forever and eventually the bubbles will dissapaite. Aquasafe is not a bad conditioner overall, it's a very good one in that it neutralizes more harmful chemicals than most other brands.

You shouldn't have to worry about your hard water. Because fish are very adaptable and messing with the water chemistry does much more harm in stressing the poor fish out with flucuations in pH and hardness ranges. Just leave it alone. Very likely, if your petstores are local, the fish for sale there are already well-adapted to your local water chemistry and there is no harm in leaving it the way it is.

Well, I hope this helps! Your bubbles should eventually dissapaite with time--maybe several hours. Otherwise it's normal for this to happen with Aquasafe.

Best wishes and feel free to email me with anymore questions or concerns you may have..

Happy fishkeepin'
Karen~

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Karen,

  Thank you so much for your quick reply. The bubbles have been present on the water's surface for 2-3 weeks, and in the past week have gotten worse, to where it covers one-quarter of the surface. Will the soap bubbles still dissipate after this length of time? Thanks again!

         Darrick

Answer
Dear Darrick,
Hmm.. Usually they dissipate after a couple of days but if you have too much surface agitation--such as a airstone--which can make the bubbles that much worse and keep them going. You may be best off switching water conditioners.

Another common cause for very large masses of bubbles that never pop can mean your water has a high level of organic compounds dissolved in the water.This is due to excess proteins in the water coating the bubbles and making them stronger where they will not normally pop. And along with the bubbling water conditioner, and possibility of high organic dissolved wastes in your aquarium, you can have quite "soapy" water. Your best bet is to do a good size water change of at least a 1/3 or more--you may try the Aquasafe again, but to avoid so much foaming, you may have better luck switching conditioners.

Well, I hope this helps!
Best wishes And happy fishkeeping!
Karen~