Surface Film

[Cibo]

I noticed that there Is a surface film in my tank I have a overflow box but it dont seem as if the water is comming from the top of the water, an example of this would be if I put food in the tank it and it floats it will just sit on the top of the water? Is there somthing wrong with my over flow box? or am i doing somthing wrong?

thanks

 

[frank arriaga]

Seems like there isn't enough flow on top check your pump or return pipe

 

[D1J8Z]

im gonna say not enough water movement

 

[NYreefNoob]

agreed on flow, do you have any power heads ? if so aim one a little more towards the top of water

 

[DontXtripNfall]

Is surface film a bad thing? like if the oils and such don't get skimmed for a week will it have a neg effect?

 

[ming]

Besides its ugly, it prevents oxygen exchange, and its essentially skim which you're not removing from the tank which means dirtier water.

Also, aiming a powerhead at the surface of the water gives good flow to corals near the surface of the water, but if you have corals everywhere, you will need flow everywhere as well.

 

[Cibo]

I will aim the power head to the top should their be waves on the surface, I thought with the overflow that the water would pull from the top? what can i do to the return pipe? I have a mag 700gph pump i can see water moving down into the sump I removed the foam prefilter from pump (is that ok) it seems to me that the return is not strong the water comes from the sump to a chiller then up to the tank where it splits to each side of the return, I have a back flow valve on the pump as well as holes drilled at the water level to break the syphen.

is there a way to increase the pressure maybe a different type of end on the locline?

 

[FREEZE]

does your overflow box have a durso? if so, do you have a hole drilled in the cap? if so, perhaps the hole is too big and you pulling a lot of air and not pushing enough water through the drain. If you could post pictures it might be easier to troubleshoot. I also run a mag7 but went to one locline return because when I split it I felt there was not enough force coming out of the two returns.

 

[msharifa]

surface film

I was used to have this problem with my overflows in my 150g. However one day,I realized that the overflow strainers had horizontal lines on each of the strainer that seemed to be holding the edge of the film creating a Meniscus. I took my strainers out and broke (using a small wire clipper) every other slot to create uneven horizontal lines. No more film on the water.

 

[h20 freak]

Also blocks light

 

[boardryder]

I've seen the same thing. It's just a matter of getting the correct flow, which is tough. Just play around until you think you have it right.

 

[georgelc86]

Did you check your piping? Anything clogging the drain line?

 

[Cibo]

there is no clog as far as I can see the water is going down the over flow box but it is pulling water from the bottom of slot that is cut into it and the film is getting traped on top I was thinking of making the gap a little bigger with a razer by the top,

 

[Cibo]

I took a exato knife and broke the sharp edge on the overflow box and the seem to correct the problem