Water Scum
 

I'm new to the website, and been doing a lot of reading to catch up to where everyone is at. But I have a problem, well I think its a problem.

I get a scum across the top of the water (similair to an oil slick). Its been getting worse with the summer warmth and I didn't have this problem in the spring. I can suck it off the top of the water when doing water changes but it returns within a day. Water testing shows nothing wrong, and everything in the tank is happy. My protein skimmer is working fine and is skimming the water. Anyone seen this? I am not having algae problems. I found the "black powder" I'm using is having trouble 'raining down' on my tank since it get caught in the slick.

Tank specs.
33 gal (open top tank)
seaclone protein skimmer
fluval 404
60lbs of LR

Sounds like you need something to break the surface tension. Aiming a powerhead at the surface would do it, or using some type of surface skimmer.

Noel

The seaclone is a 'hang-on the side" type so the water coming from the skimmer breaks the surface and I have a powerhead angled toward the surface. I was 'white capping' my water for a while trying just what you thought. The skim on the surface would just swirl around. Didn't help at all. I've seen angled the powerhead less since I was getting water on my floor lol

Do you have a sump? One of the reasons for having a sump is to have that oil slick drain into the sump, get mixed up into the watrer colum and then be pulled out by the skimmer.

If you don't have a sump then maybe try an overflow box for the skimmer, that will help pull stuff off the water surface.

I think, in time, you will find that the Seaclone is an underpowered skimmer, and I have no idea what black powder is. Is that a Mark Weiss product????

Do you get a lot of bugs (flies, mosquitos,etc.) in your tank this time of year?

What about the intake for the skimmer? Could you rig up a type of in-tank overflow box that would suck the surface water into your skimmer?

Noel

To be dreadfully honest this is a 'good enough' tank. I'm constructing a 130Gal to replace it. At the same time I didn't want to totally neglected it. Thats a good point about the over flow. Unfortunately not realistic for this small tank. But that would mean I won't have this problem in my new tank. What is the skimmer of choice right now anyway? Saves me reading 100 and 1 posts on skimmers.

I don't want to be over skimming. I'd really like to try not using a skimmer and rather rely on bioload to to clean my tank. Mangroves and the like. But I think the volume I would need would be huge. I'm of the opinion that over skimming is stunting coral growth in a lot of systems. Your opinion?

Oh hey I should answer all the questions. I could rig the skimmer to suck closer to the surface however being open top evaporation becomes and issue. I don't allow my water to dip too lower but I don't want the chance of running the pump dry. And no bugs. And no sump.

Without a surface skimmer (overflow, etc), you'll always have this. A good way to reduce the amount of scum is to rinse any frozen foods before feeding and wash your hands well before playing in the tank. A lot of the scum is oils from hands and food.

Good call, I don't rinse the food, I always wash my hands. I''' try that. I was fearing poor water quality or something. And then thinking my tests are wrong.

Hi Wilty, welcome to the board. I have a similar setup as yours and had the same problem with the surface film. I only have this problem on my 29gal reef which is sump less. :rolleyes: I use one of the Fluval surface skimmers hooked up to a power head and this has cleared up the problem. I just took the power head and the surface skimmer to Home Depot and rummaged through the plumbing department to get the two to fit together. I hope this helps :smile:

So it seems to me the answer is either overflow the scum into the sump I don't have or skim the surface of the water with my skimmer. I'll go get some bits and mod my skimmer to suck closer to the water level. Give that a go.

Thanks Y'all lol

You could just build/buy a small overflow box that hung inside the tank and have your skimmer's intake within it.

Noel

Any money is going toward the new system hope to transfer in two months.

I only use smaller tanks (up to 50 gallons), and do not use skimmers. For me the answer to surface scum is to use an Aquaclear filter of any size. I just came back from vacation, and my 10G nano is covered with brown scum. I have put the Aquaclear 200 back on it, and the scum will be gone in a couple of hours. :eek:

strange, don't know why a aquaclear would act any differently from a Fuval.

Strange or not, it works. I just returned from shopping, and the scum is gone from the nano. The only explanation i have is that the AC returns the water from above, but it is immaterial, IT WORKS!!!. All I can say is "Try it, you'll like it". :biggrin:

For about $17 you can get a surface skimming attachment for the intake of your Fluval that will solve the problem. I have one on an Aquaclear in my nano and it works great. :cool:

Does that skimming attachment fit all Aquaclears? (I use a 300, and a 200) :question: :question:

I'm sorry, I don't know for sure. I've used the same one on a mini and a 150 but I don't know about the bigger ones. Mine did come with an adapter to fit my smaller AC's so my answer is, maybe. I do know there is definately a different one for the Fluvals VS. the AC's. Most LFS should have them.