Please help! film on water

[Automatt]

Hey hows it going. Im new to RC this would be my first post. Im new to reefing and have only been into it about 6 months or so. I have a 24 gal nanocube with false percula, a green chromis, rose bubble tip, some zoas, candycane, and hammer coral, and a small monti. The lighting is a 24 inch 96 watt t5 fixture. abbout 26 lbs or live rock.

So heres my question. recently i have been having an issue with a nasty brown layer or sludge on the top of the water in my tank. i bout a seaclone 100 protein skimmer to see if it helped and its takin some protein out but still have a layer. Some days there only slight and some are really nasty that i have to go in a basicly skim the surface myself.

Does anyone have an opinions of what it could be? My water parameters are all good. with no nirtates reading on my test that i can see. all my fish and corals seem to be doing good. and anemone is nice and bubbly. I also am going threw a diatom bloom which today seemed not be too bad compared to say last week.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you guys can help and have some opinions to share.

[firemedic04]

Play with the depth of the skimmer. but make sure the level is always the same. the smallest change in water level will effect performance of the skimmer. I found especially in a nano, it is very sensitive to change in water level. once I got the skimmer going right I found that the algae blooms started to significantly decline.

[JamesJR]

usually films on the surface are just fats or oils from food. In a heavily stocked aquarium this may cause issues with gas exchange and can block light. Usually with good surface agitation this won't cause any real problems.

[jameskb]

I've had a similar issue with mine from time to time, if its not a layer of fats/oils it might just be a pelagic algae. Try doing a more frequent water change and move your powerhead or filter into a position that allows it to disturb more of the water surface than it currently does.

[HKAVR45]

Same issue with a 15g skimmerless nano. During water changes I would use a cup to "skim" off the top layer of water. Anything remaining can be removed by floating a paper towel on the water's surface. You can kind of drag the paper towel along the surface to a corner where the scum can then be removed. I used to do the paper towel deal once a week.

[eXcite95]

+1 on surface agitation..i used to have that problem when i fist started. i have a 24 gal aquapod and bought a tunze 6025 to increase flow. i have it pointed towards the surface of the water diagonally. just position your power head that way and it should cut down the oils and film on the surface.

nick b

[Automatt]

Thanks for the help guys. I am going to do the DIY surface skimmer with a casset case and changed the possition of my nano powerhead. hopefully all of this will help. But on the briter side or things my sand is looking pretty decent today only a few small spots of light diatoms :beer: and not a bad layer on surface!