surface water

[alanmarian]

Anybody have any tricks on keeping the surface water clear? I have a thin film of skum ont water surface and I'd like to clear it up so my PC's can do a better job of lighting the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

the best way is to have some form of surface skimming, such as a overflow box. Keeping feeding to minimum also help you by limit the amount of additional lipid/protein film from entering into the tank.

 

[Entacmaea]

Overflow box and surface skimming as Reef Box mentioned are the best ways, also make sure you have good circulation and at least some flow breaking the water's surface.

Another thing, I am always puzzled by calls for reducing feeding or stopping feeding altogether. You should feed the tank as much as you need to for heathly specimens, which in most cases, is quite a lot. Feeding should rarely be curtailed to solve a problem, as it is most likely going to affect the health of organisms. Increasing nutrient export, skimming, fuge, etc. is the better option. I don't advocate over feeding of course, but underfeeding can start a slow decline in organism health and long-term potential survival, even though the glass might be clean...

 

[Anonymous]

I have had this happen to me in tanks that were run without a sump.

Aiming a powerhead at the surface water to keep the film broken up helps.

Also, I would occasionally turn off all the pumps, and wick the film off by gently dragging a paper towel accross the water's surface.

Having a really good skimmer will help keep that stuff out of your water too.

Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Overflow box and surface skimming as Reef Box mentioned are the best ways, also make sure you have good circulation and at least some flow breaking the water's surface.

Another thing, I am always puzzled by calls for reducing feeding or stopping feeding altogether. You should feed the tank as much as you need to for heathly specimens, which in most cases, is quite a lot. Feeding should rarely be curtailed to solve a problem, as it is most likely going to affect the health of organisms. Increasing nutrient export, skimming, fuge, etc. is the better option. I don't advocate over feeding of course, but underfeeding can start a slow decline in organism health and long-term potential survival, even though the glass might be clean...

I am confident to say that the ratio of reefer overfeed then underfeed is a lot more than 5:1. There is just not a lot of research for dietritist (SP?) other than those by salemen and marketers.

However, I must admit that the nutrient level in natural reef is much hgher than most tank, but you really need to be aware of the type of nutrient we are talking about here. I suggest those interested look into dissolved organic compounds(DOC), particulates, and microorganisms such as phytoplankton, bacteria, etc. in oceanographic and biology literatures.

 

[Anonymous]

A surface film is extremely common on newly setup tanks. For the reasons stated above. And the increased surface circulation, and surface skimming are effective ways to clean it up. As the tank matures the conditions for that film will lessen and the film does go away.

An unusual method of combating it is to use surface feeding fish such as mollys. They make very short work of the film.

 

[alanmarian]

Thanks all who replied. I tried the trick Laura D advised with the papertowel and it worked great. I have a remora pro but I dont have the overflow box for it.

 

[Anonymous]

glad it worked. And it will probably return in a couple of days IME

 

[Anonymous]

Newspaper works too. I would be concerned about bleaching agents used in the paper towel, but maybe that's just me being paranoid.


ck, is that you?

 

[SnowManSnow]

If you have a HOB skimmer there are attachments that cause your pump to pull from the surface more.

Just an idea.

B

 

[alanmarian]

Thanks SnowManSnow, I'm going to buy a overflw box made for my remora pro.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks SnowManSnow, I'm going to buy a overflw box made for my remora pro.

I bought the overflow for my Remora. It works very well but the water needs to drop into the box at least 3/4" to clear the surface in my 29g. You have to keep a close eye on the water level in the tank as these boxes don't hold much water and the pump can run dry.These boxes are rather bulky as well.

 

[alanmarian]

Thanks Andy H. Your not the first I heard say that the boxes were kind of a pain. Maybe I'll just keep trying the papertowel trick for now.

 

[HClH2OFish]

There is also an overflow you can buy and DIY it into your current pump setup.
Do a google search for 'surface skimmer'
They run about $10-12...I've got one in one of my tanks and it works great....

 

[Jolieve]

alanmarian the overflow box you are talking about for the remora pro is what remora calls a bubble trap. That should help you find what you are looking for.

This next tidbit really depends on the overall length of your tank, but I found that the draw down from the remora wasn't enough to clear the entire surface of my 75. I'm not saying it won't help, it will, but if you have a 48" long tank like I do, you'll likely still need the paper towel trick for half of the tank.

Thanks for posting that trick Laura. That'll help me out a lot with my nano, where I don't have any skimming.

J.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I am glad the paper towell helped some folks.

I had a 20 gallon with no overflow and a terrible skimmer, and I had to do that every once in a while to keep the top clear.