Thin film on top of tank water

[testuser]

This piqued my curiosity, as I have started to see more thin film on top of the tank water. Maybe my return pump wasn't breaking the surface water as much as it should, or maybe my angle is wrong or my wave maker is in the wrong spot, but I decided to put some underneath the microscope. Attached is what I found. Any idea what these things are? The worm like creature is an added bonus. In either case, is there something I should do to correct the film on top of it's not making it to my filter floss? Also, the little round guy was moving around, but it doesn't look like dinos.

 

[musel101]

Maybe poop?

 

[testuser]

No fish. Do you think that my flow setup is not good maybe?

 

[musel101]

No fish. Do you think that my flow setup is not good maybe?

Do you have a protein skimmer?

 

[musel101]

Maybe point your power heads up at the surface

 

[FUNGI]

its most likely oil from your hands going into the tank......float a paper towel on the surface for a second or two. It will soak up the surface oils

 

[testuser]

Maybe point your power heads up at the surface

No protein skimmer, it's a small 5g tank. This is my setup though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can you post physical pics of the physical appearance and top of your tank

 

[testuser]

its most likely oil from your hands going into the tank......float a paper towel on the surface for a second or two. It will soak up the surface oils

I hope that worms aren't from my hands haha. But that's fair, it does look reminiscent to something like that. But it also looks very similar to the film that you get from stagnant water in some other setup I have with shells for display.

Does my above setup look fine enough, or should I adjust anything? Also, is it an issue?

 

[testuser]

Can you post physical pics of the physical appearance and top of your tank

I posted it in the above reply, but let me know it you want a picture with the lights off if the setup is too difficult to see clearly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I posted it in the above reply, but let me know it you want a picture with the lights off if the setup is too difficult to see clearly.

The pic is too dark . . . I meant under white lighting. The filter sock in there offers minimal capture of sediment.

 

[FUNGI]

I hope that worms aren't from my hands haha. But that's fair, it does look reminiscent to something like that. But it also looks very similar to the film that you get from stagnant water in some other setup I have with shells for display.

Does my above setup look fine enough, or should I adjust anything? Also, is it an issue?

Sorry mis-read.....and surface movement looks ok on your tank...
could just be free-floating algae/early stage dino's......I'll let the micro-biologists chime in

 

[testuser]

The pic is too dark . . . I meant under white lighting. The filter sock in there offers minimal capture of sediment.

It's not a filter sock, but with filter floss. See attached.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It's not a filter sock, but with filter floss. See attached.

Thank you. As I mentioned and as your pic shows, the filter socks for this tank seems to hurt more than help unless you clean them frequently and disrupts the flow of water. A nylon mesh or using the frame- a nylon pouch will allow more flow of water rather than pooling in that section

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry mis-read.....and surface movement looks ok on your tank...
could just be free-floating algae/early stage dino's......I'll let the micro-biologists chime in

If you have 'grease' or 'oil' floating on a pond you can swirl it around - but you need to get rid of it. The way its usually done is that reef tanks have an overflow - There are multiple potential solutions - but without seeing your setup -

Your overflow if it can be adjusted, should be adjusted such that surface water is skimmed off. Otherwise there has to an issue with your filter (i.e. I think that pre-filter is causing the level to be too high.

 

[testuser]

Thank you. As I mentioned and as your pic shows, the filter socks for this tank seems to hurt more than help unless you clean them frequently and disrupts the flow of water. A nylon mesh or using the frame- a nylon pouch will allow more flow of water rather than pooling in that section

So you're saying that filter socks are the way to go and not filter floss? Why do people rave about it so much on here, or is there some other density I should be using? Previously, I was using the reusable filter socks that came with the tank. This is what I had before: httpx://www[.]amazon.com/gp/product/B09MY48H5R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went with the current setup so I had more room for the bio cubes as well as charcoal (due to the previous toxicity issues with the dinos I had).

As for the nylon ad other item you mentioned, could you provide links? I'm not familiar with those (if different than the filter socks I mentioned).

 

[testuser]

If you have 'grease' or 'oil' floating on a pond you can swirl it around - but you need to get rid of it. The way its usually done is that reef tanks have an overflow - There are multiple potential solutions - but without seeing your setup -

Your overflow if it can be adjusted, should be adjusted such that surface water is skimmed off. Otherwise there has to an issue with your filter (i.e. I think that pre-filter is causing the level to be too high.

For what it's worth, I posted 3 pictures of my setup a few replies above if that helps.

 

[MnFish1]

For what it's worth, I posted 3 pictures of my setup a few replies above if that helps.

I saw it. That’s why I said what I said. The area in your overflow needs to be slightly lower than the level I. Your tank

 

[testuser]

I saw it. That’s why I said what I said. The area in your overflow needs to be slightly lower than the level I. Your tank

I was confused since you said "but without seeing your setup" even though I thought that I did share the setup, my mistake.

But that's super helpful! I did not realize that the filter floss was sitting up way too high, and that there needs to be a cliff/drop-off into the cup. I'll lower the density of the filter floss a bit and maybe remove some of the media cubes to allow for an actual drop.

If you could though share what "level I" means, or were you saying "lower than the level of your tank"? Thanks!

 

[MnFish1]

I was confused since you said "but without seeing your setup" even though I thought that I did share the setup, my mistake.

But that's super helpful! I did not realize that the filter floss was sitting up way too high, and that there needs to be a cliff/drop-off into the cup. I'll lower the density of the filter floss a bit and maybe remove some of the media cubes to allow for an actual drop.

If you could though share what "level I" means, or were you saying "lower than the level of your tank"? Thanks!

There needs to be a waterfall so to speak between your tank and the inside of the overflow. What I meant is in your setup I could not see if there was some way to adjust it, if there was too much water in the whole tank or whether there was a blockage of sorts in the filter