layer on top of water, what is it

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
AUSAROW: i have no idea what you are talking about, the contraption that is.

i feed prawn with shell stuffed with pellets. and sinking carnivore pellets..
questions below:

Will the following cause this?

Feeding heavily
lack of aeration and surface disturbance

one person said i should add aeration, will try it, you mena aeration wiht BIGGER BUBBLES?\
I have veryvery fine bubbles in the tank right now, should i add an airstone with rougher holes to make the bubles more and bigger hence disturbing the surface more?

i change water at least 2 times per week, sometimes 3. water param is always good. just this protein film stuff.

Papers dont work
what works is when i shyphon water from the surface, put the hose hole close to the surfac3e and the suction creates a whirlpool and sucks it out. this clears it for 2 days, then appears again.
 
hi, nah the stuff isnt paper, its some cloth that attracts and captures oils as a scum. but its a short term solution anyway and only good for sucking up egg hatch out oils..not for an application that you need to replace all the time.

the foam plate method is where you take some tank foam, the stuff your tank sits on. say 4inch or 5 inch sqaure. cut a 2 inch circle out. from one edge of the square cut a triangle with the point of one angle cut just into the circle. if you stand the foam on its edge on the table it will look like a pyramid with a sun sitting on top.

you float this flat peice on top of the water in your tank .. have no airstone creating bubbles under it though. so stick your stone up the other end of the tank.
the surface must be fairly still so the circel wont let out oils.

this triangle shape acts like a surface wind funnel pushing oil into the circle. then you take an air tube, left open ended no stone, by using another piece of foam stuck over the triangle to hold the air line pointed toward the circle. use silicon or push in nails or matches or toothpicks.

now youve created a mini wind on the surface of the water and the surface oils will collect in the circle.
your air tube should send air at the point the triangle meets the circle that way no oil comes back out againt the wind.

yes it would be from the food and its not something a biological filter will deal with.

a foam fractionator is another name for a protein skimmer.
say you have a 3 inch pvc pipe, closed bottom. the water enters 3/4 the way up and flows downward in the tube against a violent force of upward bubbles from a stone with big air bubbles.
the bubbles take the oils and form a scummy bubbley mess at the top of the pipe. while the water exits down below the surface or near the bottom of the tube. leaving the top area stay there.

some of the models available use a pump and a venturi to force bubbles into the collumn/pipe. they are mainly designed for salt water use as th saltwater helps pull the crap out, but for oils in freshwater it works.

air bubble size etc, in your tank wont make much difference, the bigger the quicker the oils will form on the surface, but you dont want them in the water anyway so i go with good airation allways and work on a way to remove oils from the top.

if your real nifty drill a hole in your tank side rear and plumb so you can overflow surface oils to waste bucket when you do your water exchanges.
or further to that send that hose to another tub section or pipe as i said per foam fractionater.

you will find all oils will end up leaving the tank surface and go into the pvc pipe top. study a protein skimmer in your fish shop to see how they have an auto overflow design. but if you had a tap on the bottom of that pvc pipe you can just drain it out from there altogether and send a glass of water down it to make sure.
 
i mean that adding bigger bubbles or stones and higher volume airation will not pull it from your tank water. at best you could be dissolving it into the water for a short while till it builds again. it may look less still on the surface so you dont notice a film so much but its still there in your system. i see it forms again in two days time. you need something that will take it away more often..

you have a predator so they like protein. you dont need to change your feeding to have less protein. typically pellets have 8-12 percent fats and oils. but thats because common feeders do too. its just a dietary component.
 
Sounds like the fat oils from the beef heart. Add more surface agitation. I had the same problem, so I added 2 airstones (one in each back corner), and a powerhead. Never had the problem again.
 
i get the same film after feeding shrimp. It's more unsightly than harmful.
 
Its gone!

added two massive airstones, double pump, the turbulence on the surface has dissipated the film
now its gone

i only feed shrimp stuffed with hikari pellets, no beef
but its gone
thanks for the suggestion.... must admit, we have had some pretty inventive approaches to this, lucky the simplest one worked for me:D
thanks
 
yeah protein skimmers dont work any where near as well in salt but they still do pull some garbage out. i know cause i built a big one for a 5000 litre tank with a venturi. those airstone concurrent jobies dont do so much.

henward, its now in your water..
maybe you had very little bubbles breaking the surface before so it may be fine now but keep an eye out for strands of oils and fats building on your filter matts if you have any or the sides of filters areas that dont have the heavy bubbling action. if you find where it appears you can just swipe it out with your finger from time to time. maybe its just me that has had to find better ways to deal with this stuff..
ideally you would be good to have an overflow that does take the surface away from time to time. thats how i like to run my tanks. i have a storage tank that exchanges the water and the water runs from the surface to waste drain.
 
yeah, that would be ideal
but there is no way i can put them in ight now
eventually i will run all my tanks with over flow perhaps that has a high protein diet of occupants, the water changes should help reduce the proteins when i do one, the dissolved ones in the water will surely come out of the water changes.
i guess it was unsightly.
the aro seems happier that there is more bubbles and current in the tank, somtimes it seems it plays with the bubbles

my imagination perhaps
 
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