Surface scum

[MarkW19]

My tank is cycling at the moment (just finishing, Nitrites hit 10 a few days ago, and are going down now), and I've accumulated quite a bit of surface scum (small particles/dust etc.) from my live sand when it was added/rocks when they were moved etc., and was wondering how you'd go about getting fid of this scum?

I've tried a net, but it doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Mark

[SquishyFish]

Try blotting it with a paper towel.

You can also break it up by aiming a power head at the surface.

Squishy

[MarkW19]

Thanks

To be honest, on closer inspection, it appears to be just tiny bubbles that are accumulating at the surface, and I assume will eventually pop. So, no problem!

[michealprater]

Protien skimmer will also help.

[MarkW19]

It does appear to be bubbles though, I also have quite a few tiny bubbles in my main water, coming from my Eheim. Is this normal?

[Brad]

Are you running a skimmer? Because it kind of sounds like the tank itself is acting like a giant skimmer... The Eheim shoots little bubbles into the tank, those rise to the surface in the tank, collecting waste as they rise....sound familiar?

It is just that when they get to the surface, there is no place to go. In a skimmer, it ends up in the waste cup. In your tank, it just sits on the surface.

Draw water from the surface or break it up.

[MarkW19]

I've tried to break it up with papertowels/powerhead but they just kind of reform, they do appear to be just bubbles.

They go for a bit then reappear.

[MarkW19]

No I don't have a skimmer

[got bait?]

You can also break it up by aiming a power head at the surface.

This would keep the particles in the water column long enough to be picked up by the Eheim. Do you have filter media in the Eheim?

[MarkW19]

I've tried breaking them up by aiming a powerhead at the surface, but they just reform. Yep, I've got 2 baskets of eheisubstrat or whatever it is in my eheim :p

[WarOrks15]

when i cycled my live rock from liverocks.com my tank did the same thing. it when away after the cycle was done. but a ph did help some. but i think the reason it was there is because i did not have a skimmer on the tank during the cycle.

[MarkW19]

It does just look like bubbles, that break up when you touch them with a paper towel/powerhead etc., and then recover almost immediately. There's no bits or anything there, just bubbles.

Will it be a problem?

[Hara]

you dont want to run a skimmer during the cycling process as you are defeating your purpose if you do.

[Brad]

What does a skimmer have to do with the Nitrogen cycle? Why would it interfere?

[got bait?]

Is there anything that can be connected in line or on the output side of the Eheim.
I have an Eheim pro that i was thinking of using as well (for chemical filtration only0, but don't want to have the sam problems as MarkW19. However I do have a skimmer.

[got bait?]

Is there anything that can be connected in line or on the output side of the Eheim

Sorry didn't fininsh thought. Is there anything that can be added in-line to eliminate these bubbles. Or is this just inherent with the Eheims.

[dralarms]

you dont want to run a skimmer during the cycling process as you are defeating your purpose if you do.

can you explain why?

[MarkW19]

Because you want the dissolved organic wastes to fuel the cyclying. Without them, cycling may take a lot longer.

Is that right Hara?

[dralarms]

Because you want the dissolved organic wastes to fuel the cyclying. Without them, cycling may take a lot longer.

Well my day is complete, I learned something new.

[Hara]

Yep, that about sums it up.