# Bio film help!



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

So, I set up a 29g with mts, special kitty, and river gravel filled with wisteria, hygro compacta, a couple swords, aponogeton that is now flowering, a bunch of egeria elodia and bacopa. I have aqua clear powerhead 50 for circulation and particle filtration. The tank is cycled, full of snails, plants are doing well, but I can't seem to get rid of the oily scum that floats on top. I removed the floating ludwigia i had in there to increase surface ripples since the ludwigia was making still spots on top that had the most film. I can never seem to get rid of it and water changes help break it up a little bit but it tends to settle back into a thick film unless I have crazy bubbly surface agitation, which outgasses all the co2 and my plants stop growing. Any advice on how to get rid of the slick and/or prevent it from coming back? I was thinking of putting a sponge in there to float around, like what you put in a hot tub to soak up body oils and such , but not sure how well it would work and don't think I want t go the whole giant protein skimmer rout on a low tec tank.

I don't have any fish because my qt is cycling will get some ottos to help clean the brown goo off the glass that came in on the egeria.

any ideas would be appreciated!


----------



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Surface skimmer. I bought one (link 1), and connected it to the AquaClear20 intake. You can DIY it (links 2, 3).

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I was thinking of doing something like that as well, not sure if it will work though on my set up. I have a quick filter thing with floss to pick up debris floating around and the dirt that gets kicked up when I replants stuff hooked onto the intake of the powerhead and the hole you stick the air tube in the intake (which I don't use because it bubbles all co2 away) doesn't suck enough to drive a skimmer I don't think plus I don't have a lot of room in my tank left. Thanks for the suggestion though.


----------



## JKUK (Feb 16, 2007)

This is pretty common with the turmoil of newly set up tanks. As you have found in this situation lots of surface agitation isn't always the answer. Ultimately plant growth is king here, so crazy bubbly surface agitation  isn't the way to go. I would add more plants especially floaters like lettuce, Salvinia, Amazon frogbit, duckweed etc. Yes I know they will probably get in a right old mess if the surface film is especially bad, but in the long run they will beat it. In extreme cases I sometimes add a small air line with no air stone on the end. This very gentle bubbling produces large bubbles which seem to disperse these films, but are not powerful enough to remove all the Co2.


----------



## PhilipS (Jan 14, 2014)

Black and white Newspaper strips.

Float and lift an edge. It will remove surface scum (i.e. insoluble fats and proteins) .


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I have been soaking it up with paper towels here and there and tried the floating plants thing, but it just seemed to make it worse. it developed still spots that smelled bad on the surface and my snails were surfacing like crazy, or it was the floating plants that sucked up all the o2 out of the water for itself (they grow in very stagnant water and take o2 from anywhere they can get it to survive in the worst of waters). Maybe I just need a different kind of floating plant, which I can't spend money on atm.  I wonder how people don't have scummy water in the walstad set ups in the jars and other small, non-filtered vessels?


----------



## PhilipS (Jan 14, 2014)

Allow the filter return flow to drop into the tank.

I set my glass pipes to flow into the tank by disturbing the surface tension. This intern pushes the scum under and eventually the surface is crystal clear.

Otherwise, the surface gets jelly looking after a few hours of CO2.

Eheim skimmer is a great help until you find what works best for your tank.

Which floaters do you have?


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I believe it is this, I found it growing in a local river. I threw them in the qt while its cycling though. I ended up making a funnel out of an old spry bottle that I stuck in the air intake hole and it is helping suck a few things, like some leaves and a stick, not sure if there is enough surface circulation to get all the goo passing through the cloth I shoved in it though. It seems to help, but not great, hopefully it is enough for now. Note I don't have a canister filter, I have this







(not my image) I could reverse the flow and have it suck from the other end but then it might not get rid of the floatys and dirts and stuff in the water column that come up every time I mess with the plants.


----------



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

That is where I'm stuck at the moment. My surface skimmer is doing a great job at keeping the surface looking nice, but there is nothing sucking up debris from the middle, and bottom of the tank. I thought of alternating, one day skim, one day sponge. I probably should start doing that.


----------



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I disconnected the surface skimmer, after today's water change, and I now have the sponge attached to the filter's intake, again. The water is already looking A LOT better. I will let you know if I notice a difference in the water's surface.


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I just made a skimmer hack I added to the smaller tube that sticks out of the flow output and it seems to help a little, it is swirling some debris but I don't think i can get more suction (atm its working like one of python siphons you hook to the faucet, but connected to the powerhead) without a separate pump. At least it isn't shooting bubbles through the water removing co2. :/


----------



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Update: The water has cleared up A LOT, but my betta is unhappy. It's only been four hours, but I'm so happy with the results, that I had to post. Umm... happy with the water clearing up, not with my betta giving me the evil eye.


----------

