Cloudy film on the waters surface

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hhoglejr

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
8
I have a cloudy film on the waters surface away from the surface agitated are that has formed. I've never noticed this before. Water looks great in the tank. Tested ph 8.2. Amm 0. Nitrites 0. Nitrates 10ppm sg 1.023. The tank has been setup for 3 weeks.
 
I get this as well, I get as much as I can out at water change time with a cup. I think a skimmer should resolve it. I don't have one since my tank is only 29 gallons and I can keep up with my water changes. Another thing you can do is run a paper towel across the surface, it will gather a bunch of it, that is what I do between water changes.
 
do you have a powerhead pointed up for enough surface agitation? this can be a big problem to your Dissolved Oxygen levels
 
do you have a powerhead pointed up for enough surface agitation? this can be a big problem to your Dissolved Oxygen levels

Personally I have plenty and it still forms, 2 power heads pointed at the surface and 1 power head 2" below the surface. So it is possible that the op does but I can't speak for them. I can say without surface agitation it would be far worse.

The op said they have agitation and it is forming where it is calm, how much flow do you have and how large is your tank?
 
thats proteins floating on the surface, get a skimmer and get a surface skimmer attachment for it, or increase your flow and aim them at the surface for more surface agitation and to miz that around the water, either way get a skimmer
 
hhoglejr like you after about 1 month i started to get a film on my tank surface, all i did was increase my surface agitation with a stronger powerhead, reduced my feeding slightyly, and over the next 2 months it reduced and then dissapered totally.
 
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