Carebearcatz Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Just a few minutes ago my small black clownfish who I've had for at least 8 months jumped out of my tank. Luckily I was standing right there when he jumped. In the last couple of weeks he's been nipping at the top of the water. I also had a number of fish die on me in recent months. Most Recently, my tank has developed a "biofilm" on top of it. I'm very worried that my oxygen level may be low because of this and was wondering what to do. (I put a bubbler in until I figure out a better long term solution). Here's a bit about my tank: I have an older 14 gallon biocube that I bought used. It's open top with a kessil 350. I'm running the stock pump (I've been seriously considering upgrading it but don't know with what, recommendations greatly appreciated) with nothing but heater in overflow compartment. A few months ago tried running the smallest powerhead I could find (the koralia nano 265gph) for a few hours/day and all my beloved ricordeas promptly melted. I'm considering putting a fan on the edge of the tank to hopefully agitate the surface water without agitating my coral. Let me know if you think that this a good idea or likely to work. I've had this tank running for almost a year and all my coral are currently looking fabulous (from my first neon green lavender tipped acro which I've had from about 6 weeks to my zoas, montis, acans and ricordeas,ect). I do 20% water changes once a week on average and use a water bottle auto-topoff. I don't dose. My salinity is at 1.026. Tank temperature is 78 degrees. I have two tiny clownfish (black and orange) both under 1". I feed pellets daily and frozen brine/mysis 1 to 2x/week. Let me know if you need any more information. Thanks for any advice/feedback. --Jill Additionally, Fish are not displaying any signs of ich and were carefully tank-transferred before they were introduced to the tank. Link to comment
najluni15 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I think you need more water flow especially with sps. You can probably upgrade to a Maxijet pump. I would also add a small powerhead in the display to agitate and oxygenate the water. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Hmm thats odd. My clowns sometimes nip at the water surface, but thats just when I am near the tank. You do a lot of water changes, so I think the jumper might just be random; it got scared or nipped and jumped. Some people put a clear mesh on the top of their tanks to avoid just this. While reading your description, a few issues pop up. Obviously your corals are doing well, but here are the issues I see. The biofilm implies that the water level in the rear chambers is too high. If the water level was lower, the film would be broken up by the overflow. You don't know your water parameters beyond temp and salinity? If all the Ricordia melted, theres probably a TON of bad stuff in the water from their bodies. How is the phosphate? nitrate? 265 GPH is not sufficient for the tank. You need to upgrade the pump if you want to avoid using a powerhead. Link to comment
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