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Surface Film

B

bjorn

Member
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Messages
223
I redid my tank 4 days ago, cleaned everything out, replaced substrate etc (redid it due to massive amounts of diatoms, reason for that possibly too much light). I re-used my mature filter, some plants and sand. I.e. the tank didn't need to go through cycling and have not had any ammonia at all showing up.

Now on the 4th day of the new setup I've got fairly heavy surface film. The first 3 days there was none. I used to have this in the old tank as well. It's definitly not algae, just a silvery heavy film that breaks easily if you touch it. Previously I did read up about it on this forum, some people were saying that it was due to plants not being happy. Problem is that everything "should" be fine.

In the past I've tried increasing the surface agitation but it doesn't really help much. It requires a very large amount of surface movement to make any difference.. for example raising the lilypipe half way up above the surface but it makes a lot of noise and requires me to inject a insane amount of CO2.

Tank: 180l
Water Volume: 150l
CO2: Green (going on lime green, using CO2 inline reactor)
Temperature: 26c
Light: 40PAR (3x GroBeam 1000 ND LED's at 40% power)
Filter: Fluval G6 (2460 lph)
PH: 6.00
Substrate: ADA Amazonia (new)

Fertilizers:
15ml Aqua Nourish+ / day (macro)
10ml Aqua Nourish / day (micro)
5 drops of ADA ECA
(Aqua Essentials own range of fertilizers which I believe is based on James all-in-one solution. Dosed according to their instructions.)

Fish
3 x Cory's
4 x Oto's
2 x Blue Rams
8 x Dwarf Chain Loaches
10 x Cherry Shrimps
8 x Neon Green Rasporas

Does anyone know why I might get this surface film? Anything I've got wrong?

Could it be the food use? I feed the fish with Hikari Sinking Wafers, small amount of dry flake food but also frozen cyclops.
 
You could simply add some floating plants and add an air stone. I had a Juwel 180 and suffered similar problems when I started using co2 and dry ferts.

Possibly giving the sponges and filter a quick clean might help also?

Another thing to check is using a clear bowl and adding some of the food and see if it gives a film? Just other things to limit out the culprit :)
 
It could be anything causing it. I found mine to be down to a dodgy batch of magnesium sulphate I'd bought off flea bay. I'm sticking to sponsors for that now. Also my co2 wasn't at the right level either. I've introduced some mini salvinia too and have no problems now. I don't have any surface agitation either
 
So you both found that having floating plants helps?

I don't use dry ferts, but a pre-mixed all-in-one solution. On the previous setup where i had the same problem with surface film I used a different type of fertilizer. So I don't think it's them.

Good idea to test the food in a bowl.. will have to do that!
 
In case anyone else has problems with Surface film. On recommendation from someone else on another forum, I've started with Pimafix, just a standard 15ml dose (on 170l tank) and all film has disappeared overnight. Just have to figure out how often I have to dose it. I have no idea why it works, but it does. Unlike anything else I've tried.
 
There's always a risk with adding more liquids or medications to try and get rid of it. Better to try and do it naturally. I had surface film once or twice, removed it manually, increased flow rate and got an air stone that comes on when the lights go off at night and off an hour before they come on. Opposite to the co2 basically. This worked really well, havent had the problem since. It is often just excess nutrients.
 
Emyr said:
There's always a risk with adding more liquids or medications to try and get rid of it. Better to try and do it naturally. I had surface film once or twice, removed it manually, increased flow rate and got an air stone that comes on when the lights go off at night and off an hour before they come on. Opposite to the co2 basically. This worked really well, havent had the problem since. It is often just excess nutrients.
Click to expand...

I've tried air stone, surface movement.. you name it. Nothing helps. Also been told it's because of overfeeding, the wrong type of food, not enough nutrients and now you mention excess nutrients. In short everyone has a different idea about what's causing it but no real solution that's worked for me. I know many others suffer from the same and like me never found a solution. So I thought it might be a good idea to share it.

Plus Pimafix only active ingredient is "pimenta racemosa" or West Indian bay tree. My only concern or downside is if you have to use a lot of it. I won't find out about that until the surface film comes back and I have to dose again.
 
I occasionally get it. Manual removal with a few kitchen towels for a few days does the trick for me.
 
Emyr said:
Not enough plants, Dosing to much. Water quality. You just need to slowly try all the possible causes and see which one it is. Primafix does seen like a safe enough medication to me. Not a long term solution though really.
Click to expand...

I've had it in some setups but not others. It's not only me who have the same problem either. It just seem to affect some tanks. The most likly cause is high protein food. When I stopped feeding for a couple of days it clears up. But I have no choice as majority of my fish are bottom feeders which means there will be proteins released.. (I guess). Pimafix seems safe enough to me with only one active ingredient which is plant extract. I think it just breaks up the film which then goes into the filter.

At the moment I've only dosed 15ml after water change, once per week.
 
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