Film on water surface

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 6, 2016

Hey guys, so my 10g tank that's recently been set up (August 14th 2016) is doing awesome, my ammonia and nitrites are down and my nitrates are getting lower, it seems to be doing really good except for one thing. I can't really figure it out but I have like a really thin whitish film on the water surface, I did a big modification on my power head to agitate the surface but it only keeps the film away where it directly hits the surface, I'm not sure if it's related but I also had a white sorta powder on a lot of the surfaces inside the tank (I think it was either salt or calcium) but I cleaned it all off with my hand scrubber a couple times and it hasn't come back since. But this film is still here and it breaks up when you break the surface but covers again in about a minute. I was just wondering if anyone knew what it might be.

I had a full hood with a t5 at first, but now I have a thin homemade led bar over it so the tank is completely topless now.

(Hopefully you can kinda see what I'm talking about haha)

AZDesertRat · Sep 6, 2016

Float a paper towel or sheet of clean newspaper on the surface and it will soak it up like a sponge.

AdamNC · Sep 6, 2016

Something like this may interest you.

https://oceanboxdesigns.com/product/aquaclear-ac70-surface-skimmer/

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 6, 2016

AZDesertRat said:
Float a paper towel or sheet of clean newspaper on the surface and it will soak it up like a sponge.

Thanks, I'll have to try that

AdamNC said:
Something like this may interest you.

https://oceanboxdesigns.com/product/aquaclear-ac70-surface-skimmer/

That thing looks awesome, I have the aquaclear hob so this thing looks like it would be perfect

just as soon as I can get enough money xD

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 6, 2016

Did either of you guys have an idea of what it is btw? I'm just really curious about it Haha

jsker · Sep 6, 2016

It is just stuff from your house collecting. Dust, oil from cooking for example. I had it to and then pointed my pumps/power heads to break the surface tension and mix it up so the filter, filters it

melypr1985 · Sep 6, 2016

It's junk from the tank and house that is floating on the surface. Having an overflow that skims the surface of the water will help remove that. The rest of it can be taken care of by a powerhead pointed at the surface. This film of "yuk" can get in the way of popper gas exchange.

4FordFamily · Sep 6, 2016

I always point a powerhead up and turn up the skimmer!

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 6, 2016

I tried aiming the power head at the surface to try to break it up the other day but sadly it didn't seem to work

it just clears it out of where it directly hits the surface so I have a sort of round shape where it's clear and the rest is still covered. I even pointed it up so far that it looked like it was boiling but it didn't work so now I just have it back to a normal surface movement

NanaReefer · Sep 7, 2016

You definitely need an overflow box. The oily substance is protein. I had a friend make me one. You could make a simple one yourself for a few dollars.

jrose323 · Sep 7, 2016

NanaReefer is correct. Most of the film is proteins which is common in most aquariums. This is one of the main purposes of overflow boxes as it skims the surface to allow your filtration to remove the proteins. A HOB works, but a protein skimmer (hence its name) is the most effective way to remove the proteins in the water column and on the surface. They have nano skimmers available, I would suggest looking into one to compliment your HOB.

ReeferMaddness843 · Sep 7, 2016

I added one of these for my hob on my 20 long. Never looked back. It's a cheap fix to a simple problem. You can just add some floss to the hob and change regularly. I'm very hands on so I do it daily to every other day.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-A240-Surface-Skimmer/dp/B000256CGY
I did have to engineer a joint between the hob and skimmer though. I also run an aquaclear

ReeferMaddness843 · Sep 7, 2016

Reeltree · Sep 7, 2016

Saltybumfuzzle said:
Hey guys, so my 10g tank that's recently been set up (August 14th 2016) is doing awesome, my ammonia and nitrites are down and my nitrates are getting lower, it seems to be doing really good except for one thing. I can't really figure it out but I have like a really thin whitish film on the water surface, I did a big modification on my power head to agitate the surface but it only keeps the film away where it directly hits the surface, I'm not sure if it's related but I also had a white sorta powder on a lot of the surfaces inside the tank (I think it was either salt or calcium) but I cleaned it all off with my hand scrubber a couple times and it hasn't come back since. But this film is still here and it breaks up when you break the surface but covers again in about a minute. I was just wondering if anyone knew what it might be.
I had a full hood with a t5 at first, but now I have a thin homemade led bar over it so the tank is completely topless now. (Hopefully you can kinda see what I'm talking about haha)

I had someone tell me that the food he sold me had to be rinsed before feeding or it would leave a film on top of the water, just an idea

NanaReefer · Sep 7, 2016

Reeltree said:
I had someone tell me that the food he sold me had to be rinsed before feeding or it would leave a film on top of the water, just an idea

Again proteins...which are oils...which float [emoji2]

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 8, 2016

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I kinda figured that's what the stuff on top was, but that's freaking cool haha, so it's pretty much just an overflow right? I might have to buy that or make one haha

ReeferMaddness843 said:

NanaReefer · Sep 8, 2016

I tried the paper towel trick, it did not work. It absorbed water quicker then the oily substance-lol. Pointing a power head at the surface does nothing but move the stuff around, it's still there. Only sure way to remove it is by surface skimming.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Saltybumfuzzle · Sep 8, 2016

NanaReefer said:
I tried the paper towel trick, it did not work. It absorbed water quicker then the oily substance-lol. Pointing a power head at the surface does nothing but move the stuff around, it's still there. Only sure way to remove it is by surface skimming.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Yeah I mean the paper towel was a good idea, it just didn't really work

but I'm definitely gonna make or buy that thing, I really like the box one that adamNC posted but this one is a lot cheaper and this is kind of a "budget reef" xD haha since I don't have a bunch of money right now haha

ReeferMaddness843 · Sep 8, 2016

It has an adjustable knob on top so it will pull from mid tank as well as skim surface. I had to play around a bit with the setting, but once dialed in, worked like a dream for what I needed