Brown layer on top of my water
 

I am in week two of my cycle, I have a 135 galon tank and 100lbs of live rock in it to help the cycle move along. I have noticed that a brown layer of dirt? has formed on the top of the tank, I have not seen this before and if I wipe it off it comes back in a matter of minutes (well half our but still quickly!). I have talked about this at my local LFS and they said that it is normal but could not tell me why or what is causing this, could you help.

Thanks

Hi Trevor,

Are you using a protein skimmer????

This should take care of your problem rather quickly...

best regards

Marco

I don't have a skimmer I have been told by several people that they are not really needed till your bio load gets up there and then you really only need one if you see a problem. Is this line of thinking way off?

I have had the same problem. I found a skimmer did not help at all. What I do these days is run an Aquaclear on the tank. Any size will do. You can use the foam or not. For some reason the way the water is returned solves that problem. If you continue to use the foam it works even better. :cool:

Wow an Aquaclear eh? so does that mean that if I just raised my water return so that it breaks the water it may work as well?? Also a quick question about foam, I have never seen foam from an aquaclear or are you talking about a skimmer, and if so how do you 'use' the foam I thought that you just tossed it? (but I have never had a skimmer so I don't really know).

Thanks again :biggrin:

Trevor,

Bob is talking about the man made plasticky square chunk of foam that comes with the aquaclear I believe. Not the frothy kind you can get when you agitate water enough. I think if you just break up the surface of the water, maybe introduce a powerhead aimed at the surface or something it should clear up the problem :question:


Christy :)

Yes I was talking about the filter foam. Agitating the water with a powerhead will also work quite well. In my case it was not as effective as using one of the AC filters, but sure give it a shot. :lol:

I'd get a protein skimmer with a surface skimmer if you don't have a sump. There are different schools of thought on the hows and whys of skimmers but I think you'll find one an invaluable tool.

I'm with Troy on this one, i wouldn't setup a tank again without a skimmer.

Clinton

So the assumption is that you do not have an overflow going to a sump that would constantly remove the top layer of grime from the tank.

The following has worked for me.

1) Pointing a powerhead or return at the surface of the tank to keep it clear. You may need a couple on a 135. However, this seems to just relocate the grime to the corners of your tank.



2) On my refugium, I have a suction tube that that just takes the top portion of my water and send it to my sump. But as I said before, if you do not have a sump, this will not work for you.

Chris