Brown funk film on water surface, what is it?

[markrayx]

12G nano cube with 10 LB rock. 1 clown, 1 anenome, 1 candycane coral, 5 turbo snails.

I do a water change every week, one gallon.
All tests look good, what is this stuff? looks like a "brown oil slick",(not as thick)

THanks,
Mark

[masonicman]

I just asked the same thing about 20 minutes ago and here is one of the responses that I got.

Sounds like just build up organics at the surface that didnt get skimmed out or filtered.d

That oily film is normal if you dont have enough water flow at the surface.

[markrayx]

Thanks, I dont have a skimmer. I wonder if thats whats needed, and why is this only new over the last few weeks. Thanks for the reply masonicman.

Mark

[Gary Majchrzak]

a surface skimming overflow box is what's used to keep pollutants from forming an "oil slick". You can use a cup (or paper towel) to manually remove the slick.

[markrayx]

THnaks for the reply Gary! I will use a paper towell indeed!

Mark

[Gary Majchrzak]

:thumbsup:

it's important to not let that slick form- it cuts down on light penetration and starves the aquarium of oxygen (among other things).

[masonicman]

My tank did this for the first time ever today. I also top off a little higher then normal last night.

[markrayx]

Thanks again for the info. Mark

[Blown 346]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11267433#post11267433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by markrayx
Thanks, I dont have a skimmer. I wonder if thats whats needed, and why is this only new over the last few weeks. Thanks for the reply masonicman.

Mark

A skimmer will help remove those organics and proteins in the water which is the slick that your seeing on the waters surface. If you have a powerhead direct the flow towards the surface, that will help out.

[markrayx]

Thanks Blown346, so you think a protein skimmer would do the trick here? Do they make skimmers for such a small tank. 12g nano

Mark

[Blown 346]

A skimmer will help out, the only problem with the nano skimmers is they dont do a real great at skimming, but something is better than nothing right? You can go without a skimmer and just do smaller waterchanges more often to make up for it. Alot of people do this and it does keep the organic levels etc down.

You can get a nano skimmer for that tank, there are several on the market. Im not sure how each model performs over another.

I PMed you a link.