Surface oil doing my head in

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I have a similar problem, but it's not oil, it's uneaten food/debris(don't overfeed, it just acumulates). Dosn't seem to want to go down the sump overflow ever since i got these power heads. They just form two cyclones at the surface and never seem to get sucked in.

The problem is obvious, bad water circulation from the heads, but all my inhabitants are already use to the powerheads and i don't want to move them and cause my anemone another hike to find them.
 
more on water. Tap water will usually contain high levels of nitrate, sometimes even nitrite. Other levels in the water, copper, which is bad for inverts, zinc, very low levels of iron and lead, etc. The list is turly endless in some locations. In non filtered water the more impurities the more you get the oil water seperation. In this case some of the contaminates in tap will be the oily film you see building up. I had read an article and they had awesome test descriptions. I did my best to find that article but no luck, sorry. Ill continue to look because now im interested lol. Remember though, this does not mean thats the cause. What makes your water safe for your reef tank is the levels they test out as. Take it for what its worth, no matter how many reefers use tap water, and even though it says its okay per the test, i would never ever ever ever use tap water, under no circumstance, even if i had 15 gallons in a 120 gallon tank, id take the week it would take to fill it the rest of the way with RO water. like i said, ill see if i can find that article and send it to ya. Good reading.
 
Thanks :D You're a lot of help! Thankfully those copper levels are undetectable both by the test kit and by the good health of my cuttlefish and stomatopods, but thanks for the tips about the nitrogen compounds...what about the oils, though? Will a skimmer get rid of the oil? I can set up my pump to suck from the surface if it would work.
 
skimmers help get rid of that, it would really help though if you had an overflow to constantly keep the surface clean of buildup and also to keep the water mixed. This allows the skimmer to take in those oils and remove them from the water. Lifereef makes a very good aftermarket overflow box that your can connect a sump to. This IMO would be ideal if you didnt have a built in overflow on the tank.

another option if you had a HOB skimmer is to buy an aftermarket surface skimmer, usually a tube with ridges at the top. You mount this just below the surface, and the skimmer will take the surface water as well as other tank water. This is a bit more difficult to acheive because the skimmer may not be able to work with this attachment. If at all possible id save some dollars and get the lifereef overflow and just go sump. This IMO will be the only way to keep the surface oils gone, with out constantly have to adjust the surface skimmer as the water level decreases due to evaporation, etc....
 
I think the surface skimmer will be the best option. I've seen them on planted tanks...I'll probably DIY my own because the ones for sale are too hefty for my pump...

Thank You :D
 
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