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Hey guys, I have a 20g planted tank, running an Eheim ecco 2232 canister filter and a nutrafin DIY CO2 system. I do weekly 10% water changes and my water parameters, checked with the hagen master test kit, are all excellent. However, I have a mysterious fine film which forms over the water's surface. It's very fainly green and breaks when i touch it. Flake food makes it disipate slightly and break but the fish only make it swirl. If I disturb the water a lot with my hand it goes but returns within an hour or so.

Any suggestions or ideas about how to get rid of this film permanently would be appreciated.

I am not sure what this is caused from but it could be from overfeeding or overstocking. What fish do you have in there and how much do you feed a day? A permanent way is to get a surface skimmer but they can be expensive. You could try this one which is a bit cheaper. Another way, maybe not permanent is to get a fine netted fish net and skim the surface with it a few times. And try taking out more water during water changes. Maybe about 20% and dont feed as much and see what happens.

Last edited by ericm at 09-Sep-2005 15:45

I don't know why the film would be green but a slight film on top of the water is quite common. It's usually from the type of foods your feeding or overfeeding. About the only easy way to get rid of it is to increase surface movement so it breaks it up and dissolves it into the water. Then the filters can remove it. I had that problem when I was feeding alot of frozen foods so I put a penguin powerfilter right over the intake to my cannister filter. The fall of water from the powerfilter pushed the crud down into the canister intake and the fine filter media removed it.

Maybe you can add a couple of airstones for more water movement.


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probably algae settling on the film, algae probably isnt the cause , but it will find nutrients in a surface film. Oily food including fish flesh, some flakes and frozen worms can cause it.

try feeding less or changing brands. Of youve got the spraybar of the eheim oriented to disturb the surface of the water a bit more it might be a bit less noticeable.

Thanks for the insight guys. I've bought an air pump to create more disturbance on the surface and i'll let you know how i get on.

I had this "problem" too. It doesn't seem to harm the fish at all. I would skim it if it became bothersome, and having an air stone to break up the surface definitely helps a lot.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...