Weird film during fishless cycle?

[jonnythan]

I'm fishless cycling my 20 gallon tank right now. The cycle has stalled for some reason (I've been reading 2 ppm ammonia, 0.5 ppm NO2, and 5 ppm NO3 for five straight days now).

Anyway, I just adjusted my filter (Hydor Prime 10 can filter) to get better flow (now have one sponge, one polishing pad, about half a quart of loose Seachem Matrix, and a small amount of carbon in a nylon sack) and put the return closer to the surface to get better aeration.

When I turned the filter back on, I noticed little pieces of film in the tank, many of which came from the filter return. I think a fair number of these pieces were in the filter basket and on the Matrix. A lot of it was on the surface of the water. Now there's a bunch of it floating around in the tank.

The pieces of film look a little bit like food flakes.

Any idea what these are? Should I be worried aobut this?

 

[mgamer20o0]

is it like oil looking? if its bigger you can net it out if not try a paper towel over the top to help take it off.

 

[jonnythan]

I ended up siphoning out as much of it as I could during a water change. I got the rest off the surface by skimming with a plastic cup. It hasn't come back. Still not sure what it was.. definitely not oil of any sort.

 

[Ruadh]

I find this to be a good site for ID'ing algae.

Aquarium Algae ID (updated 16th Spet '08)

If you go half way down the page I think you'll find what you're looking for.

 

[jonnythan]

That is helpful, thanks