Need some help from the pros

[myfishtails25]

I have a 24 gallon AP with 2 clownfish, a damsel and many various snails. All is well and numbers are in check but I have a milky appearance on the surface of the water and when it gets on a white paper towel it is brown...? The tank is crystal clear and the live rock is as clean as ever. Does anyone know what this is and what would cause it? I dont run a skimmer and like I say nothing seems to be sick or look unhealthy.

 

[meowzer]

What type of surface movement do you have?
what foods do you feed? and do you use vitamins?

 

[myfishtails25]

Oh sorry I have the Y connector (loc-line?) that came with the tank and one side is right on top of the water for good movement and then the water goes into the back chamber. This tank has been running for over 2 years and I have never had this. I add calcium and strontium and magnesium every now and then. Maybe thats it because I only began adding those about 3 months ago. Could they cause the surface water to do that? There is no way I add too much because I only add every 2 or so weeks and add less than called for at that.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Sounds like excessive proteins building up on the waters surface. Usually with an overflow, it would be skimmed out of your tank by a filter and then discarded, or skimmed out of your tank by a protein skimmer. A few water changes would do well to remove some of it. I also suggest maybe adding a protein skimmer such as a Tunze Nano to your tank. It will help out a lot!

 

[beth]

Agree with what Snake said. You can also disrupt this by shooting a stream of water at your tank surface from a powerhead. This will disrupt this. A protein skimmer to remove this excess waste would be good as well.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I had this happen to me once as well, and I did try the powerhead thing that Beth suggested. It worked somewhat - but mostly it just stirred it around and didn't remove it. Though, you should have adequate water flow in the tank and enough surface movement to keep it constantly stirred anyway.

 

[bang guy]

It's a buildup of organic waste. The best way to remove it is a protein skimmer otherwise you need to wait for bacteria to break it down for you.