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Surface Scum - Keeps Coming Back

Hi Clarke,i used to have this problem big time,as you know i have lots of fish in my setup so i like to think they all get enough to eat,i used to feed twice a day and a fair helping to boot,now i only feed my fish every other day and only once on that day,i now dont have any surface scum at all,i think the fish are healthier,the tank looks crisper,and every thing gets eaten on feed day,also less fish poo is good :lol: ,regards john
 
i had the problem with my 4ft tank so at the opposite end to the spray bar i have an air stone which comes on every 4 hours for about 20 minutes and it went within a day. but i recently stripped out my 2and a half foot tank put plants and decor and pressurised co2 and what has happened ive now got it in this tank. i am not going to add an air stone as i believe the tank isnt long enough so at the moment i am just skimming it off with a jug and trying differant things. pain in the wotsit though. will keep you updated.
 
I added a Koralia last week to my tank (I think it's a nano, I'll check) to increase the water circulation (can't do any harm) and also to increase the surface movement.
I was away for the weekend and came back to a rather large amount of condensation on the windows, I must of gone OTT with the surface movement - but hey! no scum.
 
YES, ive got the answer. purchased an eheim surface skimmer for £18 from a company in edinburgh off of ebay. fitted it and within 3 minutes all oily scum has gone and never came back. Again a truly wonderful piece of german engineering from those people at eheim. brilliant piece of kit.
 
I've been plagued by this for a while too.
I've sligtly increased surface agitation and upped trace dosing.
All gone :D
 
Has anyone actually narrowed it down to what causes it? Other than reading someone says its an algae does anyone know what encourages it to form, and also what discourages it?

I've had this on and off over the last 12 months, and the only thing i've found to get rid of it was to add a power head to disturb the water surface. In a few hours the oily/cloudy surface disapates and i'm left with clear water. But if i was to take out the powerhead, as i have done a few times, the same symtoms are back within a few days. I've rashoned my feeding to less to see if this helps but nothing so far. I might up my filter, this current internal for my Juwel Rio 180 is quite poor i think. May opt for an external Eheim or Fluval 305. (always over filter :twisted: )
 
I knew my plant care at the moment is poor, but this fits the bill exactly. Thanks. If you don't mind i'm going to copy and paste what you put in that post and save it to my computer as a reference in future if i have further difficulties. It makes for a great little reminder. Thanks again.
 
Hi all
ceg4048 said:
See post number 20 on the bottom of page 2 of the thread.
I did, a while back, as I had the same problem.
I made adjustment to my dosing and CO2 delivery and now my water surface is like a mirror :D
Took me a few weeks to get it right though :oops: probably due to my inexperience.
But I've now learnt from it and this one is well and truly stored in the old memory bank :D .

Chris
 
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