Film on water surface

[JAWSIII]

Hi All, I have a 65 mixed reef that’s been up and running for about 3 months. I have a Aquaclear 110 , Fluval 407 canister and a Reef Octopus classic 90 HOB. All water parameters are good according to the API spin digital test at my LFS. All livestock and corals are doing well. I feed once per day and do a %35 water change once per month.

I have had a nagging film on the waters surface that I cannot seem to get rid of. Is this normal?

I thought that the skimmer would help to break up and remove. I KNOW THAT A PROTEIN SKIMMERS JOB IS TO REMOVE ORGANICS OUT OF THE WATER COLOMN AND THAT MOST DONT ACTUALLY SKIM THE WATER SURFACE!! But the classic 90 has such an intake that does actually skim the water as it feeds into the refraction chamber. I’ve taken a pic looking up from mid tank the red line shows the skim line as it’s being pushed by my wave makers and the green circle is the intake for skimmer. Even though the skimmer intake is in direct contact with the film it never seems to go away.

any ideas???

 

[Daddy-o]

We had the same issue. We pointed our powerheads more towards the surface and it seemed to help.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Triple.T]

What's the flow like in your tank?

 

[SaltISlife]

Not enough flow in the tank. Its a protien layer. All tanks get that. Especially if flow is stagnant.

Get stronger power heads. And or aim the ones you have to the top.

Create alot of turbulent flow on the aurface.

This will help with oxygen too

 

[ichthyogeek]

The skimmer pump might not be functioning fast enough to actually draw the film into the skimmer. Does it do the whole whirlpool thing, where you see the water start to dip and form a little whirlpool in the intake? If not, it's probably skimming the top layer of the water and not the topmost layer, where all of the proteins are meshing together.

I encounter a similar phenomenon when changing water in tanks that don't have skimmers in them. I'll point the gravel vacuum up towards the top of the tank, but unless part of the vacuum is out of the water to facilitate skimming of the topmost layer, most of the water entering the vac tends to be water from right below the surface.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Turbulent flow never helped for me but this solved my issue.

EHEIM skim350

EHEIM skim350 – the micro- surface skimmer for smaller aquariums up to 350 l. Simple, quick and flexible to use. Ready to use immediately. In…

eheim.com

You can either leave the sponge in to collect the protein or remove it and have it put back into the water column.

 

[Qasimja]

I had the same problem I just increased the surface agitation

 

[JAWSIII]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Special shout out to Icthyogeek. Your suggestion cleared it up in seconds!! I dropped the water level just a bit until the “whirlpool “ formed in the skimmer intake and viola! The film is gone.

thanks again

 

[Glass Algae]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Special shout out to Icthyogeek. Your suggestion cleared it up in seconds!! I dropped the water level just a bit until the “whirlpool “ formed in the skimmer intake and viola! The film is gone.

thanks again

Glad you got that figured out! Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Glass Algae]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Special shout out to Icthyogeek. Your suggestion cleared it up in seconds!! I dropped the water level just a bit until the “whirlpool “ formed in the skimmer intake and viola! The film is gone.

thanks again

Glad you got that figured out! Welcome to R2R!!