How does everybody with tanks W/O overflows deal with the surface scum. The skimmer I have overflows back into the tank but it is not enough to disturb the thick scum. Any advice would be appreciated.
Guessing you dont have a surface skimmer, or overflow as those should take care of the problem.
I have a 20 nano and didnt have any of those either.
So I just made a simple surface skimmer out of black pvc, and a piece of acrylic I had lying around.
Took about 15 mins, plus aqurium sealent drying time.
Somthing eles i have seen 1 person try is to turn the power head upside down, and have it just below the water surface.. it will suck the suface water down through the powerhead, it makes a slight sucking sound once in a while. but worked great..
What type of skimmer do you have? A lot of people who have the prizm skimmer have modded it and added a surface skimmer. I've also seen pics of this done with many other types of HOB skimmers.