Whitish Muckiness

[piznac]

Ok just got done with my cycle. I will be adding a clean up crew and what not tomorrow and over the weekend. Problem is I have a flim on the top of the tank. Where the power head hits its fine and its an open top tank, parameters are:

Ammonia - 0
Trites - 0
Trates - 10 (pending water change after cycle)
Temp - 80
Salinity - 1.024-1.026 ( 3 hydrometers (all different))

And so far thats all the test I have. The tank stuff is in my sig. So how do I get rid of this film?

 

[burdundi]

The muck is just the misc. protein in the water from your cycle.

Do you have your skimmer running? Do you have an overflow? If so, that should help keep the film of muck off the top of the water and then your skimmer should do the rest. You might want to add some more flow to make sure the entire surface is slightly agitated.

-Andy

 

[maveri9720]

The only thing I can think of is the oily skin that forms on the top of the water's surface, from mostly, people sticking their arms and hands into the tank and then the oil residue is left in the water.

The best thing is surface agitation and proper water skimming, making sure your water is at the proper level for the overflow teeth to skim the water effectively.

I have both of my Tunzes at a slight upward angle and it takes care of any oil slick that might try to form on the surface.

Also, if you don't do anything about it, it will hinder your gas exchange at the surface. It acts as a barrier and won't let the gasses escape.

 

[piznac]

Ok,.. no overflow,.. but I do have the little overflow thing for my skimmer. I have been sticking my hands in quite a bit. Hmm prehaps I need another power head for some more surface agitation? I have one powerhead 280gph pointed slightly upward,.. and its doing a fine job of keep part of the surface clean.

 

[burdundi]

Sounds good piznac. Definitely add another powerhead for now. You can never have too much flow

-Andy

 

[piznac]

Cool,.. ok sounds good.

 

[showtime305]

I doesn't matter how many powerheads you add, that stuff is always going to collect at the surface. The only way to automatically get rid of it is surface skimming to a skimmer or to a sump with a skimmer in it. I'm stuck with the same problem right now on my 10 gallon. To remove it I lay a ink free paper towel across the surface of the water to absorb the layer of oil and nutrients.

 

[showtime305]

For example: my 10 gallon has 436gph of flow, which is 43x turnover and I still battle this problem.

 

[piznac]

wow,..ok I might try the paper towel thing,.. thanks

 

[kwl1763]

Maveri9720;30362 wrote: The only thing I can think of is the oily skin that forms on the top of the water's surface, from mostly, people sticking their arms and hands into the tank and then the oil residue is left in the water.

Just a slight correction here this has little/nothing to do with us putting our hands in there. It is the organics/proteins from the normal biological processes that go on in the tank (rock, sand, coral, etc)

Try surface agitation can't "remove this but it does mix it back into the water instead of concentrating it. Ideally you need to remove but agitating the surface is better then nothing as it can affect oxygen/gas echange as well as light penetration.

The paper towel thing actually works pretty well. best solution though is to create something that sucks a thin surface layer for the skimmer so you get rid of it. Your skimmer will skim a lot more when you do this.

 

[piznac]

best solution though is to create something that sucks a thin surface layer for the skimmer so you get rid of it. Your skimmer will skim a lot more when you do this.

Not sure I understand this. I have the prizm with the surface skimmer and I have it set right at the surface. But it doesnt seem to be doing much. Please no flames on how much this skimmer sucks,.. I plan on replacing it when I get a sump in place.

 

[dakota]

The best thing I've found to deal with this is to do my water changes from the surface of the water. I use a small specimen cup, and I basicly lay it down flat on the surface of the water and gently lower it while tipping it back into the water. This pulls the surface film into the cup. I work from the center out to the sides of the tank.

Might sound like a lot of effort, but two gallons out of my 15 takes about a minute. And no sucking on a nasty siphon hose. Yish!!

The Prizms just don't have enough power to pull the surface film down into them unless you raise the intake basket dangerously high. I would if I had an Auto Top Off, but I don't. And evaporation would lower it enough to cut off the intake even though I top off once or twice a day.

I usually just agitate the surface with the tines of a plastic fork after I top off. This mixes it back in and creates a little... Marine Snow? Frequent water changes are really the best way to deal with it until you get a sump or a Tunze Reefpack 200. Hint . Hint.</em>

BTW- I turn the screw of the skimmer until it is horizontal and use that edge as my top off target line.