Flow - Am I doing it right?

[skylar12590]

Hello Reefer!

Question for anyone willing to lend some advice! So I have a 6 month old 20 gallon reef setup that has been doing pretty great so far. I have noticed just in the last two weeks since adding in a new HOB filter that I am getting some bubbles that are forming at the top left side of the tank. This part of the top doesn’t really get much flow, the bubbles seem to accumulate up there. I am sure this is due to the micro bubbles that the new filter is now creating. I was wondering if I were to move one of the wave makers I have to the other side of the tank in the area that doesn’t get much flow....would this help out with the removal of the bubbles? It would get more surface agitation there? Or I could add another smaller wave maker instead? The euphilya corals I have seem to like the current setup I have running and would hate to make any big changes and upset them. Take a look at the pictures. I have circled in yellow the two wave makers as well as where the HOB filter is located.

P.s - Don’t mind the coral plugs. Stupid snails keep pushing them over. Going to find a more permanent home for them soon.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It looks like you have a bit of 'film' on the water surface as well as the bubbles. I wouldn't worry at all about the bubbles. But you need to have some more surface agitation to break up the film and oxygenate the water.

Two possible solutions. Best would be to add either a HOB skimmer or an in-tank skimmer. I have a 16g anemone breeding tank with a HOB filter and a Tunze in-tank skimmer. I was very suspicious of the skimmer when I won it in a contest here at R2R. I would probably have bought a HOB skimmer eventually. But to my pleasant surprise, this skimmer works quite well! Your other possibility is a powerhead or wavemaker aimed toward the surface. This would break up the film and with luck, the HOB filter would remove some of it. BTW, I took a filter sock and cut it so I had a piece I could put under the sponge in the HOB filter and it cleans the water WAY better than it did before.

Good luck.