9 month anniversary and strange things!

[NewbieSeth]

Hi all! Thanks to all of you in this community, I would say my first 9 months with my aquarium have been an overall success! I wanted to first share pictures of my tank and some of my fish and corals. Let me know what you guys think. I'm proud of it but definitely ready to upgrade to a MUCH larger tank already! Lol

Second part of this post is about 3 strange things going on with my tank. The first is that I have noticed I am getting a mucus like film on the surface of my water. Every couple of days I have to get out the net and skim it off the surface. From other posts I have seen they suggest it is protein buildup and just to agitate the surface. My tank has tons of surface agitation so I don't get how to fix this. Do I need a better skimmer?

Second strange thing is that my bubble coral (second to last pic) has just stopped inflating and even appears to be receding up the skeleton. Literally nothing has changed in the 4 months I have had him. Same livestock, same water params, same lighting, same flow. Any ideas?

And the last weird thing and the last picture is this strange growth on my one rock. It's white or tan colored and almost looks like a tunicate colony. Very stringy with like a mat on the rocks. And right in front of it about once a week I have a big glob of it in the sand that I manually remove. what the heck is this thing and should I remove it?

Thanks again for all your help in the past and for help on any of these 3 issues. Or just on how you think my tank looks!
Cheers, Seth

 

[Bunnee911]

What do you feed, and how much?
Do you have a protein skimmer?

I have used a paper towel floated on a still aquarium to soak up residue.

 

[NewbieSeth]

I feed flake most days. Enough that it's gone within 30 seconds and a couple of pellets on the bottom for my mandarin. He eats those up within 15 mins. And maybe once a week I feed frozen mysis but the fish don't seem to care about it that much. Mostly for the corals. And yes, same protein skimmer I've had the whole time. Turned it a little more "wet" today to see if that helps

 

[Bunnee911]

Hmmm... /puts fingers in mouth and whistles for the #reefsquad

 

[melypr1985]

. The first is that I have noticed I am getting a mucus like film on the surface of my water. Every couple of days I have to get out the net and skim it off the surface. From other posts I have seen they suggest it is protein buildup and just to agitate the surface. My tank has tons of surface agitation so I don't get how to fix this. Do I need a better skimmer?

do you have an overflow? The surface agitation would help but it would help even more if you had an overflow to get that scum down to the sump and let it get filtered out there. I also think the flakes are part of the problem. They break down so quickly .

 

[NewbieSeth]

No overflow. Didn't know enough about sumps and all that when I started this tank. I did add a HOB refugium but I don't have room for a sump. Wish I had an overflow and sump but I already know exactly how I'll build my next tank. Lol and I would agree with the flakes but literally within a minute every flake is gone. I feed fairly light. Enough that everyone gets enough to eat but it's gone quickly

 

[melypr1985]

No overflow. Didn't know enough about sumps and all that when I started this tank. I did add a HOB refugium but I don't have room for a sump. Wish I had an overflow and sump but I already know exactly how I'll build my next tank. Lol and I would agree with the flakes but literally within a minute every flake is gone. I feed fairly light. Enough that everyone gets enough to eat but it's gone quickly

I would suggest switching foods - try a frozen option like mysis- or at a minimum switch to pellets. Just see if it helps. It can't hurt and the mysis will add to your fish's health in the long term.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Agreed. Happy fish happy poop happy coral.
What skimmer do you have?
What lights an the no and Po if you please.
The thingy is a bit too blue for me to see.

Does the gorg move a lot in the flow?

 

[Sabellafella]

Hi all! Thanks to all of you in this community, I would say my first 9 months with my aquarium have been an overall success! I wanted to first share pictures of my tank and some of my fish and corals. Let me know what you guys think. I'm proud of it but definitely ready to upgrade to a MUCH larger tank already! Lol

Second part of this post is about 3 strange things going on with my tank. The first is that I have noticed I am getting a mucus like film on the surface of my water. Every couple of days I have to get out the net and skim it off the surface. From other posts I have seen they suggest it is protein buildup and just to agitate the surface. My tank has tons of surface agitation so I don't get how to fix this. Do I need a better skimmer?

Second strange thing is that my bubble coral (second to last pic) has just stopped inflating and even appears to be receding up the skeleton. Literally nothing has changed in the 4 months I have had him. Same livestock, same water params, same lighting, same flow. Any ideas?

And the last weird thing and the last picture is this strange growth on my one rock. It's white or tan colored and almost looks like a tunicate colony. Very stringy with like a mat on the rocks. And right in front of it about once a week I have a big glob of it in the sand that I manually remove. what the heck is this thing and should I remove it?

Thanks again for all your help in the past and for help on any of these 3 issues. Or just on how you think my tank looks!
Cheers, Seth

Are you feeding any fatty foods? Pe mysis?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Had the same problem on my 20Long as was using a HOB. No matter how much surface agitation it never fixed it. I snagged one of these and never looked back. Hooked right up to my HOB filter. (I run floss, sponge, and carbon in my HOB) floss changed every other day, sponge rinsed in RODI every water change.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-A240-Surface-Skimmer/dp/B000256CGY

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Had the same problem on my 20Long as was using a HOB. No matter how much surface agitation it never fixed it. I snagged one of these and never looked back. Hooked right up to my HOB filter. (I run floss, sponge, and carbon in my HOB) floss changed every other day, sponge rinsed in RODI every water change.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-A240-Surface-Skimmer/dp/B000256CGY

Like that twice.
You can make an overflow box for a lot of the hob skimmers too. Parts made in USA on eBay

 

[NewbieSeth]

Alright I'll try to hit each question here. I do feed mysis at least once a week. The fish don't seem to like it. Some spit it right out. The skimmer is kinda cheap. It's a coralife rated for twice my tank size but it's done me well up till recently. I'm using one AI prime. I want another one but it's hard to find room to mount it. Working on that. No<10 pro I have no idea. Need to get a test kit. Gorg sways back and forth. Enough to blow crap off it. And as far as an overflow goes... I don't use a filter. Just HOB fuge and skimmer. I'll post a pic

 

[NewbieSeth]