Lots of Bubbles Rising

So I have had my filter and powerhead off for a few minutes while I was feeding my fish, and I noticed lots and lots of tiny air bubbles rising from the sand bed and off the rocks. This has me worried since I've let the tank sit now for about 2 hours and the bubbles still haven't showed signs of slowing down. They keep rising from different parts of the sand and rocks.

Can someone explain to me what's happening?

 

I'm confused... What are the bubbles coming from? Like is it from a filter or power head or skimmer or are they from a biological source?
If they are continuous and from a biological source then I would suspect dinoflagellates.

 

they are definitely coming off the sand and the rock

ps- just took another look at my sand bed and it is completely covered in bubbles, so are a few of the rocks but the sand bed is looking crazy - its really strange and i hope its not harmful

how would Dinoflagellate be air bubbles? I'm hoping it's just Co2 and not something more harmful

 

is it a DSB?

 

not really, maybe 2 - 2.5"

here's a reg ol pic of my tank, dont really have the photo capabilities to capture the bubbles



ps- here is a quote i found on an old thread about basically the same topic

"mine started doing the same thing a few months ago..from what i understand..it means that your sand bed is "working"..i have also heard that the bubbles are toxic..i like to think that it means my sand bed is working!"

 

here's a pic - sry for dirty glass

 

here's a pic - sry for dirty glass

 

ok so your sand bed is not toxic and it will never become toxic (at least with respect to hydrogen sulfide). The second the hydrogen sulfide comes into contact with oxygen rich water it is reduced to regular old inert sulfate.

Now I am not seeing the bubbles that your talking about but I can only suspect that if it is from the sand then it is gaseous nitrogen and other bi-products from bacteria breaking down junk. But this is highly unlikely to produce large amounts of bubbles, so I am still sticking with dinoflagellates. What is your pH of the tank?
The dinos will undergo photosynthesis and will create so much O2 that it will actually bubble off of their biofilms and structures very rapidly. Google dinoflagellates and see if that is what you have.

 

I assume you're correct on this matter -- I really can't find anything about Dinoflagellates releasing bubbles. I keep telling myself if the tank gets nuked because of these bubbles, I'll just turn it into a mantis tank. Something about having a creature that causes you to be afraid of putting your hand in your tank is enticing. But unless these bubbles do not crash my tank, I will never be getting one of those little hellspawns!

 

the bubbles mean your sand bed is starting to work if they are clear there's nothing to worry about, don't vaccum this will destroy what you have working for you the bubbles will soon go away just make sure you have water movement at the top to help release the gas.