For awhile now my tank has had a thin white film on the waters surface almost like a skin, i do regular maintence to keep my water levels incheck. I have no idea what causes this anyone else have this problem or know how i can fix it?
cheers

Its protein,fats and oils from the food we put into the water. you can buy a skimmer to remove it. any decent skimmer cost a fair amount of cash but these are mainly for salt water tanks. you could try a cheaper version,Etheim do a skimmer that fits to the filter intake and takes the skin to the filter to be broken down. or add a bubble wand. currents across the surface also work as long as you have enough ripples. i only posted the Etheim skimmer cos its a reasonable price and should work ok for your needs. if you do not find a way to break down the skin, you will notice your fish breath heavy. removing it to the filter is far better than bubbles or ripples

www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/index.jsp?key...iendetail_27650_ehen

i agree with marcus... plus sometimes it is from the lubricant
of the pump motor..... you can remove by scooping with fine mesh or net.
if not, it will eventually dissolve back with water and goes with the craps...

Like everyone else mentioned it's most likely dissolved organics...on occasion if you are overdosing meds or conditioners etc. that can play a role as well. Sometimes it can become almost like a 'foam.'

Its more than likely from the food you are feeding them

What do you feed

I get a little bit of this when i feed maggots to my fish but it quickly goes. i knoew someone who sed to feed his fish sliced cooked chicken (from a pack) and after feeding he used to get this film

i feed mostly on hikari gold pellets and hakari carnivor sinking pellets, brine shrimp prawns, meal worms (which make the most mess) peas zucini and other random furit n veg. its more a skin then foam and i usally add a little more prime then needed, not to much though maybe 5-10%
I did a water change yesterday and after i filled the tank it look like it was filled with white hairs which i think was air bubbles stuck to the white film...they were all gone in 30 mins.

as far as surface skimmers go, do they affect the flow of the filter?
i found one by fluval, would it be universal?
www.thereefshop.com.au/index.php?main_pa...&products_id=990

The film is probably from the meal worms and maybe a little from the prawns. Is the surface of the tank being moved, so it ripples or is is still. An air pump and stone or the output from a filter will do this.

bigtdotcom wrote:


I an not 100% sure but the type of skimmer you have chosen are universal. they plug into your current filters "in" tube to the filter by a T juntion. most of the time you don't get the T bit cos they don't know what size hose its going to fit to. it looks like a good bit of kit and I am going to look for one in the UK.

bigtdotcom wrote:


I think they work for the majority of filters...what kind do you have? The only real issue I would think would be if the tubes aren't round.

not much movement on the waters surface cause one of my filters is an above the tank trickel filter so the water moves around quiet a lot in the filter so the water get plenty of oxegen. i have since raised the out put of my canister to create a ripple in the watters surface and has cleared up by about 25% when the new impeller arrives i will also be adding an fx5 to the tank.
current filter jebo 1500 liter p/h canister filter
aquaone 2000 liter p/h trickel filter

bigtdotcom wrote:


See how this goes with the surface being rippled. You may find the film on the surface dissipates quickly