Oily surface water

bobbyblank

New member
Came home today and looked over my tank like usual when i noticed the surface was very oily. There is also a slight "film" in my overflow teeth. I have never had this problem, so it kinda out of the norm. No dead snail, herms, ext, and all params are ok. I have fairly good surface agitation from my duel returns. Skimmer is pulling out the usual, its not much, but its doing ok for a HOB. I would like to get a larger skimmer but my buget can handle that since i recently was layed off.

temp 81F
SG 1.024
NH3/NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
PO4 - .05-.25 (still battleing even with Phos reactor)
KH 9

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks all.

bobby
 
I pop one out and put into a small measureing cup with tank water and let defrost for a few mins, then suck into a pipet and feed. I have done it this way for a long time with no problems.
 
is your HOB skimmer skimming the surface? When I had a Bak-Pak it didn't skim the surface. another solution is a PH disturbing the surface to keep scum in solution to be skimmed. However you go I would get rid of surface scum so gas exchange is good.
 
asm481- Yes my bakpak is in my sump and skimming approx. 2 inches from surface the water since protiens usualy float.

juaninsac- Yes i feed mysis, brine, and cyclops

rafael13- Thats what im thinking also. Ill try tonight.
 
Make sure that the surface skimmer is actually pulling water in. The water level in the surface skimmer should be below the waters surface in the tank. Also make sure you don't have a powerhead blowing the surface film away from the surface skimmer.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10761182#post10761182 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bobbyblank
asm481- Yes my bakpak is in my sump and skimming approx. 2 inches from surface the water since protiens usualy float.

juaninsac- Yes i feed mysis, brine, and cyclops

rafael13- Thats what im thinking also. Ill try tonight.

Mysids have a horrendous amount of oil in them. The rinse water is also very very high in phosphates. If you have a phosphate kit, use it on the rinse water--it will read off the chart. Cyclops are not much better.

Try rinsing your mysids and cyclops in a baby brine shrimp net. DON'T agitate them too much--you'll just tear them apart and make them worthless. All you need to do is dip the mysids and cyclops inside a net in a bowl of tank water until the water stays clear. I do it 3 to 4 times. This is likely one of the major contributors to the phosphate levels you're seeing in your tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10761264#post10761264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by juaninsac
Try rinsing your mysids and cyclops in a baby brine shrimp net. DON'T agitate them too much--you'll just tear them apart and make them worthless. All you need to do is dip the mysids and cyclops inside a net in a bowl of tank water until the water stays clear. I do it 3 to 4 times. This is likely one of the major contributors to the phosphate levels you're seeing in your tank.

I will try this next time i feed. Thanks for all the sugestions. Between the increased flow and rinsed food, i think it might help.

bobby
 
Just a heads up for those of you who feel the oil in the mysis is a bad thing... that oil is actually where all of the nutrition is. That is why they are such a good source of omega 3's and protein. If you're going to rinse them 3 or 4 times as recomended by some people, you might as well feed your tank brine shimp instead and save the work.

In addition, if you feed your tank the SF Bay brand (or equilivant generic brand) of frozen food you will find more phosphate. Phosphate is used as a preservative in the cheaper frozen foods. Try using a quality brand and it won't be a problem. Or try to find live mysis (i've seen them for sale at a few aquarium stores) and introduce them to your tank as a live food alternative.
 
I am feeding hikari mysis daily, H2O life photo/zoo plankton once every 2 weeks, and hikari brine as a treat every month or so. I think a large part of my problem is a poor skimmer. My backpak works well since i modded it and it pulls about a 1/8" daily. I would like to upgrade once i find a new job and save up some dough :). My skimmer just wont skim the volume of water i would like.
 
I don't even run a skimmer on my tank, so that isn't the cause of the film. I don't have surface film ever, because i move a lot of water through my surface skimmer. In addition, i make my own fish food at home, so there isn't anything "bad" in it. That being said, if i don't use a surface skimmer i'll have an oily film in a matter of hours. The film is primarilly caused by air pollutants, fish waste, and biological processes in the tank. I still suspect your surface skimmer isn't functioning properly.

When did you first notice the film? Have you seen it before? I suspect that something has changed recently and is causing your problems. And it's not my intent to bash anyone, but you can't always trust what others say. Especially since each tank is different, as is each persons approach to reefkeeping. Approach this methodically and a solution will present itself.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10763175#post10763175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matttaylor
When did you first notice the film? Have you seen it before? I suspect that something has changed recently and is causing your problems. And it's not my intent to bash anyone, but you can't always trust what others say. Especially since each tank is different, as is each persons approach to reefkeeping. Approach this methodically and a solution will present itself.

I do not have a surface skimmer for my HOB. I have my skimmer pump located 2 inches under the sumps water surface. If you are talking about my overflow, It is skimming the surface well, there is a 2 1/2 inch drop from my water surface to the level of my overflow. I know what your saying about reefcentral advice. I do not blindly take advice, i know they are just other peoples experiances. I do appreciate advice or critisism as long as it is helpful. I fired up and extra powerhead and it seems to help a little. I will inspect in the morning and look for results.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10762434#post10762434 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matttaylor
Just a heads up for those of you who feel the oil in the mysis is a bad thing... that oil is actually where all of the nutrition is. That is why they are such a good source of omega 3's and protein. If you're going to rinse them 3 or 4 times as recomended by some people, you might as well feed your tank brine shimp instead and save the work.

Do you have a nutritional analysis of rinsed whole mysis shrimp vs. brine shrimp to back up this claim? :confused:
 
Well i added more flow to the tank yesterday, rinsed my mysis and still have excess oil on the surface water. Anymore suggestions?
 
When I first bought my tank setup and then moved it several weeks later, the owner mentioned the then present 'unknown' oily, scummy substances that accumulated at the surface of the 50 gal. I only had a prizm skimmer without the surface skimming upgrade option. This surface accumulation problem occured for me to until I acquired a HOB overflow and that took care of the problem. I think your tank, like mine had better circulation than the skimmer and therefore the dissolved protiens are being brought to and clinging to the surface.

Now, I also have a 29 gal that does have a prizm skimmer with the surface skimmer option. However since I do not have an auto top off, the thing only really works well right before it looses suction - i.e. actually drawing in the surface water. I hardly feed that tank at all but maybe some formula 2 flake for the algae blenny and some formula 1 pellets for the hermits. But if I don't adjust the skimmer to suck down that oily layer about once or twice a week it builds up there too.

I don't think it's as much of what your feeding but more that you are feeding and you don't have sufficent surface removal to skimmer thats all.

However, I've also heard that when thawing frozen foods it's best to rinse the thawed solution so as not to add undesirable phosphates, etc into your tank. I would rinse mysis in a net and then replace in a safe solution to be drawn into a pipette. YMMV.
 
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