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Old 05-03-2018, 04:09 AM   #537
Aro77
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Join Date: Jun 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasLim View Post
Hi all, I have a freaking experience last night- All my fish almost died due to a thick layer of oil film covering the surface of the water. Though I have a strong air pump, it doesn’t seems to help to break up the oil film layer. There were lots of protein bubbles too and all the fishes were restless and gulping heavily...

Yesterday I fed my fishes in the morning and discovered a filter pump was down. So I went Nanyang to get a new filter pump and decided to replace the pump and overhaul my filter media together with 40% water change (I regretted doing these).
After all these were done, I discovered the other filter pump also broke down suddenly. Thinking that out of 2 filter pumps, only 1 down and the other new pump was running, I decided to wait till next day to buy another filter pump for replacement. I knew that the filtering will not be strong as only one pump was running....

At night around 11+pm, I suddenly have a weird feeling and decided to go out and take a look at my pond. To my horror, I discovered the thick oil film and protein bubbles on the surface of the pond. I checked and confirmed that the filter pump was still running and the air pump was also running well... however the overflow was not working well as the only filter pump was not strong enough to pull the water down from the surface.... I saw eaten kunning fish being spit out and that might have caused the thick oil film and protein bubbles.

I quickly release the water valve to remove the high water level from the tank to the level that it was near to the overflow inlet level. I also removed the wire mesh of the overflow inlet and let flow into the overflow inlet without any obstruction... only then the overflow started to draw the oil film in.... I also removed the kunning fish from the pond...

After a while, all the oil film and protein bubbles were ‘suck’ in by the overflow inlet, and things were finally back to normal...

Lesson learnt:
1. Try to avoid NOVA filter. I have bought 3 or 4 replacement filter pumps to date... If I have a chance to change, I will try other brand.

2. Never water change after heavy feeding. Important!

3. Must have 2 smaller filter pumps instead of 1 strong pump. If 1 broke down, at least we still have another one running.

4. Must make sure to get a good air pump. I think I am lucky that I got myself a good and durable air pump. I think it is the strong air pump that had kept the fish alive till my rescue. Else with the thick oil film layer, the fish should have been dead. I will recommend to get a HiBlow air pump. It is still doing well after all these years.

5. Must make sure there is a overflow filter to remove the oil film and protein bubbles... I think this is important.

I hope the above could help any bros that are building and setting up a tank/pond... I am really lucky to see my fish still alive 😬
i have the same experience with nova pumps, i have 5 spoilt ones which are still in my storeroom. About 3 years ago, i gave up using these and moved to Amphi by ocean free and Tsurumi, so far all ok and quite good, i also have 3 sets of extra pumps inside my storeroom now, especially for those who have multiple tanks and also costly fishes, having extra set of airpumps and water pumps and other essentials is a must and these have come in useful for me, more times than i can count.
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