Film on Surface of Water

By overflow do you mean internal or external like a box? I've found that no matter how much surface agitation you have it will do nothing but displace the protein. Meaning pushing it around or into a corner somewhere. Bottom line is, *chit* floats. My surface skimmer is hooked up to a mj600 and in my size tank, that's a lot of surface pull. This in turn goes directly into my fuge, where my cheato/pods eat it up. Or else it gets recycled once again via the return. Either way, it does not remain on my waters surface and I do 2-3x monthly WC to compensate for my lack of a skimmer. You have to have a strong enough surface draw (for lack of a better word) to remove this protein.

 

Yea.. That's what I was thinking too, but my canister has no media or sponges in it, so I figured it would pull it off the surface and back into the water colom and gets picked up from the skimmer. Not sure if it will fit on my skimmer... That's why I said we'll see when I get it lol If it does fit my skimmer then I will be putting it on the skimmer instead.

 

its a internal, to a 30 gallon sump with a skimmer rated for 125. Im doing 20% monthly water changes.

 

my mp10 stirs up the water surface enough so i dont have that problem. try pointing your powerheads closer to the surface

 

Here's another example of what works for one may not work for another
My mp10es is 1" from the waters surface of my 26g and all it does is move it around. I think there may be more involved. Mostly to do with bio-load and the amount of it. I have a very well stocked tank of LPS and softies along with 5 fish.

 

What's size intake pump? Does your over flow have bottom vents also?

 

Gravity fed, 4 slits for a vent at the bottom.

 

If you still have protein on the surface then your not getting enough draw from the surface vents. Are the surface vents completely submerged? Blocked, algae build up?

Wow Holly I'm so sorry! We've totally high jacked your thread

 

Haha oh hey, don't sweat it!! You guys are talking about exactly what I wanna read about! Keep on goin
Yes, I do agree about surface aggitition and having a large bio load will depend if the film is just being pushed around or not. I have a canister filter rated for a 40gal tank in a 20gal and a koralia 240... Both aimed at the surface and my entire surface of my tank is greatly agitated and the film just gets pushed into the corners, like you mentioned. So, that little surface skimming attachment should remove it and the skimmer will pick it out of the water colom or I will connect it right to the skimmer IF it fits! You certainly help me out a lot Nana!! Thanks for replying to most of my threads! Keep em coming!

 

I dont have a permanent fix for you Holly without a mechanical means but instead of spending time scooping the film off, if you switch your pumps off, lay a sheet of paper across the surface of the water and then gently slide it upwards, the film or most of it will stick to the paper, you can obviously do it as often as you like until it goes, once a day or every other day will keep it to a minimum.