film on top of water

[khoward20]

Ok here is the situation. I have a 40 gal tank, with about 25lbs. of LR and LS. I have two damsels, a brittle star, 10 hermit crabs, 6 snails, an emerald crab, and a camel shrimp. Anyway my water has a film on top all of the time. If you look down through it it looks clear but if you look up from the below you can see it. I just did a 20% water change last week, and my water tested fine. I only feed once a week and very little when I do that. It doesn't seem to bother anyone but me, I was just wondering what it might be. I have an Eheim canister filter, a Red Sea Prizm skimmer, and two powerheads. A LFS told me that i didnt have enough surface current, so I moved my biggest powerhead to the top. It just pushes the film to the one end, but doesnt solve the problem. If anyone can help I would be greatful.

 

[thegrog]

Not enough surface current can be the problem, but it won't solve what you have now. Surface current simply prevents the film from forming, not getting rid of it.
What you need is a surface skimmer. Fluval makes one that can easily attach to the intake for most canister filters and many protein skimmers. It is available on ---- for like $10. It works better if it goes to a skimmer, but that isn't an option with your skimmer. To be honest, you have a sub-par skimmer. In the future, you may want to think about an AquaC remora (using the surface skimmer).
What the surface skimmer does is remove the top layer of water (along with the film) as well as water from lower down (dual intakes). This will get rid of your film. Combine this with surface aggitation and you will be set!
Hope this helps

 

[khoward20]

ok i get it with the skimmer, but i dont have the funds to buy a different one now. There is a surface skimmer kit that is available for the skimmer i have. do u think that will help? how does that fluval kit attach? could i buy the kit for my skimmer and the kit for my eheim canister?

 

[thegrog]

The kit for your skimmer should work.
The fluval attaches by a hose. Quite simple. Just don't use the one provided...it's a little flimsy. Get some plastic food-grade hose from the hardware store.
Here is a pic of mine that attaches to the skimmer intake pump:

 

[khoward20]

thanks for the advice. i will pick up the surface kit as soon as i can. by the way your tank looks very nice from what i can see. mine has only been set up for about 3months so it is not as pretty yet. thanks again