Best way to remove oil film on top of the water

FishFanMan

FishFanMan

AC Members
Jun 13, 2013
691
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Naperville, IL
Hello all,

I just joined this forum and my tank has been up and running for about a month.
I cycled it using AquaBella and my tank is crystal clear and all parameters are great.
No fish deaths yet.

Being a freshwater tank, I can't install a protein skimmer and I think there is a layer of
it on the surface of the water. When I look up toward the surface I can see an "oil" layer
there. My surface skimmer on the Aquatop doesn't seem to remove this but it does a great
job at removing surface particles.

So my question is what is the best way to remove this layer? I image that this may be affecting
gas exchange at the surface of the water.

Thanks.

FishFanMan
 
Stop the source of it...most likely a protein rich food...for removal, use a paper towel.
 
Increasing surface agitation will also help. Is the tank covered? If not, adding a cover can help as well.
 
There are also freshwater aquarium skimmer. I think Tom's has one, for like $12 on Amazon.
 
FishFanMan said:
Hello all,

I just joined this forum and my tank has been up and running for about a month.
I cycled it using AquaBella and my tank is crystal clear and all parameters are great.
No fish deaths yet.

Being a freshwater tank, I can't install a protein skimmer and I think there is a layer of
it on the surface of the water. When I look up toward the surface I can see an "oil" layer
there. My surface skimmer on the Aquatop doesn't seem to remove this but it does a great
job at removing surface particles.

So my question is what is the best way to remove this layer? I image that this may be affecting
gas exchange at the surface of the water.

Thanks.

FishFanMan
Click to expand...

Hi there FishFanMan! Welcome to Aquaria Central. :)

What you have is called Bio-Film, and there can be several causes as to why you're seeing this on top of the tank water. Here's a link that may answer some questions and offer some suggestions on how to get rid of it.

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Bio-film

I also experienced this in my 30G tank at one point, and it turned out to be the Omega One fish food. As soon as I switched to New Life Spectrum the oily stuff on the water surface disappeared. Right now I have it on a brand new nano tank that is currently going through a fishless cycle. So I'm guessing its from the Tahitian Moon sand I added, or the One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria I added.
 
Why not just bail it out of there with a pitcher when you do your weekly water changes?
 
Thanks everyone. I was using paper towel which works pretty good but wondered if any chemicals from the towel would hurt my fish. Though it could be from the food (API Tropical flakes and Specturm cichlid formula), I think is from my daughter's hand/fingers getting into the water. You see this tank is my 9 year old's new tank. I take care of it but he picked out everything and feeds them too. I've caught her several times feeding them with a pinch of flakes between her fingers in the water. Periodically she moves ornaments around too. Though she knows, she doesn't always wash her hands! I think this is where the slight film is coming from...

Anyway, I will probably just keep using the paper towels as it doesn't seem to hurt the fish, yet?

As for agitation, I think there is enough from 2 HOB filters breaking the water surface but really I'd like to remove it instead of trying to mix it into the water.

I have another question about lighting, but I'll post that on the planted thank forum.

Thanks!
 
Whenever I see it beginning to form in my 10g tank, a water change quickly clears it up.
 
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