Surface Protein. What do you do about it?

I've discovered that by blocking most of the venting that's under water on my Hydor Slim skim nano, it will surface skim quit well. Unfortunately how well it surface skims it totally dependent on the proper water level. Slightest raise or drop in the level and it stops skimming the surface period.

I've been battling surface protein since the beginning of this my tank. One of the major draw backs of having a tank without an over flow. What I've tried so far before the Hydor is this.

$6.95 surface skimmer. Added that to a magnum 350 canister filter~lmao! It worked but waaay to much power. Filter kept sucking the skimmer closed. Other way to use this surface skimmer is to add a small power head into the tank. Not something I wanted to do as my tank is already small.

I have the CPR Aquafuge so I tried a pre-skimmer box over the intake pump. This worked wonderful! But I had to remove it due to placing the new Hydor skimmer in tank.

What I'm wondering is...WTH is everyone else doing about surface protein in their tanks that are not drilled nor using an over flow box???

 

more surface agitation will get you two good results.1,it will break it up the film and mix back into your water column so your skimmer can get it.2-it will also improve gas exchange at the surface,if it's covered in organic film it can reduce how much carbon dioxide gets out and how much o2 gets in.

 

That much I know already No matter how much surface agitation there is the protein still floats and only gets pushed around. I'm looking for a way to remove it! What are others doing to remove it?

 

I have an over flow on my current tank but used the surface skimmer on another tank with a Fluval 205 canister filter.

 

Some use paper towels layed flat on the surface to help mop it up

 

how much flow do you have in your tank now?

 

Tried that! Doesn't work

 

I've got my return flow which is 185gph and an Mp10 es set on lagoon. I also have it placed so close to the surface that it actually draws a funnel

 

feed less?

 

My AC70 agitates the water well but since its such a small tank I don't skim. If for some reason I get film on top of the water I lay a paper towel on the surface of the water and lift it right out. It works very well for me since the surface area of the water is about the same size as a full paper towel sheet.