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best guesses are welcome, this coating on the surface has been here since forever and im tired of looking at it. i have no idea what it is or where it comes from but its cloudy and the only places where its not in where the outspouts is from my filters and where the spray bar is. ive seen it in my water change bucket before placeing the water in the tank but not often. i have a powerhead in the wc water to keep things moveing. when transfering water from the tote to the tank i use about 4/5th of the water and the pump stays under the surface. i use a hose to pump the water into the tank so i wouldnt think much of this surface is actually being transferd. the film has been there long before i used a tote to hold my wc water.
ive tried soaking it up with paper towels with not a dent. my parameters are fine its not a serious overload of nitrates causing it. i also put in live plants to maybe help it. it doesnt sink under water when hit by the over flow of the filters and never seems to filter out. it doesnt change its look at anytime for any reason. i use cold water from the tap and keep it in the tote for 3 days maybe more so its not from my hot water heater.
anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. the fish dont seem to be botherd by it but the tank is severly understock and i plan on filling it. i dont want this film to effect my o2 exchange and cause problems.
one last note, this film is a white when lights hit it but clear with no lights. best seen from below the surface rather then above but still noticable from above.
Thanks again for any help or suggestions you can offer. would be greatly appreciated.

Sin

I am not sure what causes it, but you need something to cause a ripple in the surface, try raising your spraybar above the water surface. Thats why near the water outlets it is broken. Its an issue with 'still' water, build up of something.

Thanks for the VERY fast reply lol wow.
This is a 75g tank with 2 pengiun 330s and a eheim 2222 with the spray bar just under the surface aimed slightly up causeing a wave look. almost the entire surface is agitated. the only spot not constently being rippled is a small area between the bar and pengiun but this is constely spinning counter clockwise through both the pengiun and spray bar. thanks to the film i know this lol. dont think i could make it agitate anymore then it is now short of jumping in myself and splashing around lol,

Sin

I think that can be caused by frozen foods if it looks kinda like an oil spill. I noticed it after I did a feeding of frozen foods and since then I started rinsing the brine shrimp or whatever before feedings. I've never seen it since I started the rinsing.

EDIT: I'm not sure if the rinsing washes out the nutritional content of the gel/liquid or whatever that's housing the frozen goodies.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 18-Nov-2004 20:30

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

i feed with pellets and wafers. hmm maybe the pellets are doing it but how would i get rid of it? and why would it be in my water change container also?

Oh I mistook you, I read that it wasn't in you water change bucket. My mistake.

You might be able to remove it by inverting your syphon while doing a water change. I think if done carefully you can take off the oily layer by sucking it down. I've never had to do it, but I think it could be done.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I've had that oily layer (despite plenty of surface agitation) and I've siphoned it off. You hold the siphon hose just below the surface and it will pull the layer down into the hose. Eheim also makes a surface extractor that some people have used with success. It attaches to an Eheim canister filter (like you have). Here's what it looks like: [link=http://petsolutions.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_20635002_A_Eheim+Surface+Extractor_E_]http://petsolutions.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_20635002_A_Eheim+Surface+Extractor_E_" style="COLOR: #FF0000[/link].

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/biofilm/surscum.shtml

Check that link out. For more information go the the section "Biofilm". Pretty interesting, if not normal I would say.

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Back in the saddle!

thanks for the info, i used a few paper towels which did put a good dent in it. ill have to think about that eheim surface extractor, $30 isnt cheap i might be able to rig somethig up myself. just need a ball to keep the end of an intake floating just under the surface and it should suck it down to it and filter it out.