# strategies to prevent surface film?



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I've swapped out the intake on my Eheim filters for Sunsun intakes which come with a skimmer built-in. Cheap fix and the tubing is the same size. The intake plastic is also grey which is good for me.


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

+ one for sunsun skimmer attachment. I have been running a 304b canister filter lately and the skimmer attachment works great. Ista also makes a skimmer attachment that can be fitted to a HOB filter that works great.


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

switching from a spraybar to a jet outlet or a lily pipe might help with breaking up the water surface.

Or maybe address the problem from a different angle. Biofilm on the water surface can form from a number of causes. An overdose in iron will form a whitish papery like film. Ammonia release will also trigger some biofilm formation. So rather than dealing with the result I suggest finding the cause. It pays up in the long run.


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

I raised may spray bar above the surface and pointed it down. It solved the problem for me.


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## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

The best way to remove the surface oil is through skimming. Surface agitation disperses it and makes everything look good, but if you let the water sit the film will reappear as it separates from the water.

The sunsun skimmer intake works well or if you could stand to have another piece of equipment in the tank, eheim makes a surface skimmer unit (eheim skim 350) which has a simple sponge inside of it. Either way, getting that film through the filter is what truly makes it go away.


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## Wantsome99 (Nov 27, 2016)

There's a number of way to combat it. Surface agitation from a pump or air stone or skimming. Ehiem makes a little skimmer pump that sucks water off the surface.


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## jellopuddinpop (Dec 12, 2016)

I use one of these: https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/accessories/cleaning/new-surface-skimmer


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## slipfinger (Jun 8, 2016)

Another vote for the Eheim Skim 350, works great.


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## EDLITE (Jul 31, 2016)

Your film is likely coming from your dirt if you have a dirt tank. Easiest way to get around this is to have a hood or frame that comes just below the surface of the water in the tank. Aeration will help but that leaves calcium carbonate covering your glass which will cut down on your light over time getting to your plants. I have same problem and have a DIY walnut hood I built which hides the surface and you just can't see it. Get rid of your dirt and your water surface will clear up. Hope this helps.


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## aubie98 (Apr 22, 2017)

not a dirted tank, substrate is seachem fluorite. Also, I know a skimmer would remove the film, but its a 4 gallon tank and honestly, there's not room for a skimmer in the tank as is. 

Was wondering more what are the root causes of the film? It's a shrimp tank so I don't feed the shrimp that often honestly. They mostly feed off the biofilm, maybe I toss them some shrimp pellets once or twice a week. I am battling some algae in the tank, so maybe that's the source of the film? 

Instead of angling the spraybar up from below the water's surface (which does agitate the surface causes a good ripple, but doesn't really seem to break the surface), if I angled it down from above, would that be more effective in breaking the film up?


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Whats living in this 4 gallon? Could feeding potentially be the cause? Proteins tend to cause some knarly bio films. Ive seen some nice smaller skimmer attachments made of glass that might not intrude much on your aquascape, otherwise perhaps a more frequent w/c schedule?


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

Something might have caused a bacterial bloom... Shrimp death, damaged plants etc. Do you have any wood in the tank? If it's relatively new it may be the source.

Yes splashing the water from the top will break the biofilm. An air stone will also work. A few floating plants might also help as they get pushed by the current and sweep the water surface. Ramshorn snails? 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

How old is the tank? I only see this on new tanks


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Some fish food's, plant respiration (proteins,lipids, sugar's,enzymes) in newly planted affair's, or from deteriorating plant health can also be cause.
I'm on board with discovering causes.
May not need extra apparatus ,but sympathize with those that are afflicted with it.
Seems to me to be temporary most times I have witnessed it, and tied to newly established tanks mostly.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Not sure of the cause and I tend to think there are multiple causes as it seems somewhat random for me. I once had a 75 with swords that had grown out the surface of the water and the tank began to get film really bad. Not a new tank, lots of really fast growing plants, perhaps too much food???
But then I tried running the spray bar to make more surface action and got what looked like a laundry tub full of persistent bubbles that actually floating around the tank to come back to hang up on the spraybar and stand a couple inches tall! Reminded me of the settling basin at sewage treatment plants. YUCK! 
I bought a small skimmer like 4" inches high that had a tiny builtin pump and it solved the problem. 
This one? 
Aquarium Fish Tank Surface Skimmer Filter Freshwater Marine Oil 500L/H
It was big enough to work my problem. Maybe at the price,it is worth the risk rather than spend weeks searching for the why?


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## aubie98 (Apr 22, 2017)

KrypleBerry said:


> Whats living in this 4 gallon? Could feeding potentially be the cause? Proteins tend to cause some knarly bio films. Ive seen some nice smaller skimmer attachments made of glass that might not intrude much on your aquascape, otherwise perhaps a more frequent w/c schedule?


3 amano shrimp and ~6-7 blue neos. Don't feed them that often, maybe 1-2 times a week. 



dukydaf said:


> Something might have caused a bacterial bloom... Shrimp death, damaged plants etc. Do you have any wood in the tank? If it's relatively new it may be the source.
> 
> Yes splashing the water from the top will break the biofilm. An air stone will also work. A few floating plants might also help as they get pushed by the current and sweep the water surface. Ramshorn snails?
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk


I did have some frogbit in the tank but took it out. Maybe I'll add some back in. The film has sort of been a constant feature of the tank since the beginning.



Patriot said:


> How old is the tank? I only see this on new tanks


~3 months


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Before you make any changes, I recommend taking a few paper towels and removing the film that's there from the tank. If you just add a skimmer/agitation, the film will remain in the water column. For small tanks, I have found air stones to be best if you aren't running floating plants. My guess would be you have one problem broken into two parts. First, overfeeding is likely the cause of the problem. This results in built up proteins in the water and creates the film. Second, not enough water changes. I have a 3 gallon jar with about 2 gallons of water in it and had huge issues for a while. I reduced my feeding from every day to 2-3 times a week (very small amounts) and the film took longer to build up. Since you are already feeding fewer times, look at feeding a smaller amount. I then doubled my WC schedule, and the issue nearly went away. Lastly, I added an air stone and haven't had issues since.

With this said, I recommend running the following test to confirm. First do a large 50-80% WC after you remove the film from the surface. Make sure that most detritus is removed from view. Then wait 3 days before feeding the tank. If the film takes longer to build up, or is gone, you have the cause. As to the feeding above, 2-3 large feedings is worse than daily small feedings. The catch is, you need to make sure that everything you feed is eaten. Especially in a small tank like that, any uneaten food after 30min-1hr will start releasing proteins into the water column resulting in film.


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## allentwnguy (Nov 14, 2015)

I have surface film build up on several of my tanks. After trying different skimmers I settled on a cheap skimmer I got on e-bay for $15. The Clean 100 Surface Skimmer Aquarium Filter 450 L cleans the surface of a 40 breeder in less than an hour depending on the films build up. I've purchased several and move them from tank to tank as needed. They have two filter pads in the chamber. The one closest to the pump intake is a large cell pad and the one on top of that is regular filter pad. I cut my own filter pads and change it each time. I've also cut new large cell pads out of filter foam. They work great and I don't mind them clipped onto the front of the tank for an hour. I also had to cut a small block or wood to put on the front of the tank to compensate for the top brace of the tank. To lessen the output flow on some "delicate" tanks I cut a filter foam block and ty-wrapped it onto the spray bar to break the flow up. Hope this helps someone!

After reading Sarlindescent's comment I will add I feed a lot of live bbs (baby brine shrimp) to my apisto fry and I believe that is one of my main causes of surface film. The fish stay with their mother on the bottom and the bbs move towards the light. My dither fish clean up a lot but.......


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## akd200 (Sep 22, 2014)

I had this problem about a month ago, and decided it was a protein film caused from the collapse of the silica algae die off after silica ran out. I rinsed out the canister filter, I took apart my sump and ringed it out with RODI water too. I then did a very major water change, and problem gone.


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## jharger (Aug 18, 2006)

I had this problem develop in a 120g that had been established for years. Have not been able to figure out the cause except thinking about it now I did add some potted plants that have a little potting soil in the bottom. Could be it.
After skimming with every water change and hoping it would go away, I added an airstone just below the surface. That broke it up. But eventually I built a surface skimmer out of acrylic sheet that I added to the intake of my canister filter. Anytime the water level gets to low for the skimmer to work the film comes back but when I top up the tank it quickly goes away.


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## mfnatik (Aug 22, 2014)

I had this issue in my planted shrimp tank and just by luck on was adding Bacter AE to feed my shrimplets and noticed it also removed the surface film after 2-3 days. Give it a shot! Worked for me!


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## aquazone (Jul 9, 2003)

This is a very frustrating on and off condition, at least for me. I can go years and years and never have issue, then out of nowhere, bam, film. Just went through it about a year ago. Thick, crazy film on all three tanks. Daily paper towel skims only to return each day. One tank would magically get better, one would get worse. No changes in anything on my end, chemistry, load, food, etc. All a complete mystery. Eventually the skimming would pay off and they would go back to normal. For the worst ones, a half a dozen guppies per 50 G would eventually clear it up. Guppies love that stuff. Buy a dozen rotate around until the problem goes away and take them back to the LFS if you don't want to keep them.


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## jaurex (Jul 25, 2019)

mfnatik said:


> I had this issue in my planted shrimp tank and just by luck on was adding Bacter AE to feed my shrimplets and noticed it also removed the surface film after 2-3 days. Give it a shot! Worked for me!


reviving an old thread, just wanted to say that i too was battling intermittent bouts of surface scum to the point of deciding to buy a skimmer, but a few days after dosing Bacter AE daily the scum has disappeared!


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## stevewb (Nov 10, 2018)

jharger said:


> I built a surface skimmer out of acrylic sheet that I added to the intake of my canister filter. Anytime the water level gets to low for the skimmer to work the film comes back but when I top up the tank it quickly goes away.


I’d like to see this


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

An airstone can work wonders. I was having this issue on one of my own tanks and put an air pump on a timer to come on from 1 to 6 AM. No more surface scum.


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