thin film on top of water

[drewster]

I have a green film of algae on top of my water and it seems to be preventing my lights from performing at peak level. It's also disgusting when you put your hand in the tank and it comes out green. I've tried to aim a couple powerheads towards the top of the water to disperse the algae and i only had luck on dispersing half the tank. Are there special devices out there that are specifically designed to disrupt the top layer of water? Or is my only choice to get more powerheads into my tank?

 

[chuck]

First thing to do is test your water. You should have no algae at all on top of your water. Your nitrates, or phosphates are out the roof.

 

[purplepuffer]

Do water changes with filtered water, or test your tap for phos. The water changes will lower phos. and get rid of the algea.
~~Megan

 

[drewster]

I actually use RO/DI water for my tank. I just put in 50 lbs of fiji live rock last week. That seems to be when the film on the water started. I guess i'll check my nitrates to see if they are high.

 

[beth]

If the "algae" followed the "fugi" then the surface slim is likely die-off debris not necessarily algae. Get a fish net and scoop up the mess as best you can. Also check nitrates and phosphate level, and, if its "die-off" good idea to also be checking ammonia and nitrites.
Surface "junk" that can't be attributed to anything else and is not solid can be distrubted with airstone aeration.

 

[wrassefan]

Are you running a skimmer? Sounds like that is what you need.

 

[kris]

I agree with beth and wrassefan-it is probably junk from the rock. I just added 50 lbs. of rock which was delivered 2nd day. There was ALOT of dye-off. Sent my ammo thru the roof even though I have a well established tank. I also had ---- floating everywhere!! Four waterchanges later I am back to normal. A good skimmer will help too.

 

[broomer5]

Drewster,
What type of mechanical filtering are you running ?
Do you have an over-flow running to sump ?
Before I got my sump up and running, I had similar floating die-off "crud" in my tank when first added my LR, and rigged up a surface skimmer out of a tupperware container and Skilter250. Any hang on the back type power filter that has a tube type inlet that extends down into the tank to draw the water up should work. Get a plastic Tupperware container, one that is large enough to fit under the inlet tube and still reach the water surface, cut some small vertical slits on the sealing edge of the top of the container (where the lid would normally go) for the surface water to flow through, slip the container under the inlet tube and raise it up just enough so that the slits allow water to fill it, and instant surface skimmer. Then secure the container/skimmer with platic wire-ties or whatever you have available. Next day my surface scum was gone, filtered, and just had to rinse the filters a little more often. Just an idea that worked for me.
Brian

 

[kris]

Pretty ingenius broomer - I wish I could think up that kind of stuff.

 

[mr . salty]

No doubt, KILLER IDEA.

 

[drewster]

I don't have a reef ready tank so i don't have a sump. I am running a bac-pac protein skimmer. I solved the film problem by taking a powerhead and running it almost parallel with the water surface. All my levels seem to be fine. No nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia. Thanks guys

 

[beth]

What happens to fish in tank when LR additions followed by die-off cause ammonia and nitrites to go thru the roof?
This is what is keeping me from additing LR to my system!

 

[kris]

Beth--normally you would not have such die- off. You add small amounts of rock at a time from your lfs, drop it in your tank, and you'll never notice any of the ammo spikes or crud. The only reason I did was because I ordered my lr over the internet, it came 2nd day (that is a long time for it to be out of water, and the longer it's out the more creatures die.) AND they tripled my order. So I got 90lbs of the stuff on my doorstep. I was planning on keeping my 30lbs in the 29g qt for a few days, but wound up filling the qt and still dropping 50lbs in the main tank. I'm sorry if this post discourages you from buying lr as it truly is one of the beneficial things you can do for your fish and your water quality.
I think from now on I will limit my on-line purchases to dry-goods only, I'll stay out of trouble then. I'll get peace of mind knowing what I'm getting and my lfs will stay in buisness too. Good Luck