Thin film ontop of the water in aquarium.

This is a newly set up 55g system - only about 2 months old including the cycle. I have a 1200 maxi jet powerhead, a hang on the back skimmer and a reaction canister filter, all rated higher then 55g. There seems to be a thin film of silt or dust ontop of the water in the aquarium on the opposite side of the powerhead, the skimmer doesn't touch it and it doesn't seem to be bothering any of the inhabitants. (Fuzzy Dwarf, Devil Damsel, Domino Damsel, Purple Reef Lobster and the Cleaner Shrimp) Any idea what this is?

 

You arent skimming the surface of the water. If you had a system with an overflow, the top surface of the water would be spilling into your filter. With the HOB, the water from below the surface is being skimmed / filtered but not the very top. Get some more turbulence at the surface to break up the film. Get larger powerheads and put it high in the tank. Also a maxijet 1200 in a 55 will not be moving very much water. You will likely need a few larger powerheads.

 

How would buying a second maxi jet 1200 and pointing them directly at each other work out?

 

That would be fine. I'm not sure if that's enough flow, though. Are you planning on putting corals in the tank?

 

Not in the near future - Just getting my feet wet with fowlr, Maybe in the future but not anytime soon.

 

Then it should be okay. You may need to add a couple of small ones, though. I would try out the second Maxijet first and see how it goes from there. I would also place it towards the top

 

My current maxi jet is placed half way from the top pointed at the surface of the water - Is that alright?

 

That should be fine. Just make sure to get some flow all around the tank, to help avoid future algae/cyanobacteria problems

 

I ran my 55 for well over a year with two mj 1200's in the far corners pointed towards the front center and aimed up with a little koralia 425 in the middle,full softie/lps reef and they worked fine with plenty of flow and surface agitation for what I was keeping.

 

If you are running a canister filter you can just add a surface skimmer to the intake valve cleans all the crap off the surface and very easy to set up and it does not cost much.