The Puffer Forum

i had the same problem in my freshwater tank (very overstocked at the time) and i found increaseing surface aggitaion got rid of it, if you made the powerhead blow water across the surface so the outlet is inline with the surface so its half breaking it and blowing across the tank then it should do the job

This isn't harmful to the tank or add bio-load does it?

Totally harmless.

I alsway thought it lessened the surfaces ability to 'breathe'.

Well, my puffies seem fine. If it worsens or doesn't got away, I'll get that Fluval attachment.

A heavy biofilm on the surface does cut air exchange significantly, but that may or mau not be an issue.

The water is flowing really well. Like I said, I have three different things creating their own current... But still it doesn't go away...

For my own knowledge, how does all this 'air exchange' in a tank work?

its exactly the same as osmosis in the lung, oxygen and CO2 go through the water surface which is like the membrane (the water tention) till the water and air are of equal concentrations. so if you do have the surface as you do (swirling but not being disturbed properly then you have a smaller surface area than if it was churned up by a filter outlet or an air pump

the film thickens the "membrane" slowing the rate of diffusion down (have a search for Fick's Law for more information)

BTW, the only tank I have issues w/that is my BW tank. I used to use the same salt for that as my SW tanks but now use a more $$$ salt for my reefs.

So, making sure before I get this, should the Fluval attachment work to clean this membrane off?

The way a surface skimmer works, is it draws the water from the very surface rather than from the water column. This should eliminate the surface film, or at least mix it in with the water column if the filter can't trap all of it.

Surface skimmer being the Fluval attachment, or being like a SW tank skimmer?

the fluval attachment is a surface skimmer, as in, it skims the surface of the water.

A SW protein skimmer is very different. Many SW tank setups use a surface skimming box or drain to skim the surface of the water to feed the sump/skimmer though.

Many FW tanks use surface skimming overflow boxes to feed their sumps as well. That technic (unlike foam fractionation) is not water specific.

I got the skimmer and it works excellently! I only have a couple of questions:

1. It pulls in a tiny bit of air sometimes, never a lot, but enough to make that little swishing noise about once every long while. (Been on for an hour, happened when I put it on, but not since...) Is this ok for my filter? (I'm assuming yes, but being safe)

2. Does it matter that less water is being sucked in from near the bottom and more from the top? I have a really strong current in there, but still, now half the water going into the Fluval is from the surface and half from about mid-way down the tank.

Here are some clips of the results :21:

Before :



After (about 5-10 minutes) :