Surface Scum

[aamir9110]

House hunting, so not checking every 5 hours (the usual me !!)
Very interesting conversation guys! makes a lot of sense.
Biollante - If you guys are rude , the world is a much better place. Your sense of humour jibes so very well with mine . I do agree that this seems to be a bacterial biofilm. I changed the feedind, by removing any live/ oily feeds, fed by placing food underwater - no avail. ( it did become less though)
However since Ive increased CO2 to have my indicator turn a nicer limey green ( more like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_green) the film has started to recede!

We deal with a lot of bio film, quite often while removing Foley / implanted blood line catheters the thin slimy coating inside is a noxious cocktail of a bacterial bio film. In fact biofilms may have been a deciding factor in helping early live survive in the early days of evolving life.

And I do belong to the half-part of humanity that prefers to hang out here, so I guess it adds one more feather here.

< going to try to see how much biofilm i can grow - - - - - NOT.>

Regards
Amir

[Tom Barr]

Poor plant growth= scum layer formation. I've seen this so many times I cannot count.
Main cause: poor CO2, not enough plants, or rotting plants.

But I went whole hog and have all wet/drys and surface skimmers.

[aamir9110]

Thanks Tom, I believe you that it is CO2, i have bumped it up a bit, I am going to gradually keep bumping it up till my critters are safe. Ill update with pics and my experiences - thought it would be a few days since right now 110+ hour weeks have me tied down .

So far growth is fair - new leave are brighter and shiny, but i have noticed moderate algae on older leaves...
Wet/Dry is coming very soon
Amir - a plantedweed.

Poor plant growth= scum layer formation. I've seen this so many times I cannot count.
Main cause: poor CO2, not enough plants, or rotting plants.

But I went whole hog and have all wet/drys and surface skimmers.

[Verynew]

Was gonna start a new thread regarding this problem, but since there's one already ill just post here. Few days ago i started noticing scum on the surface of my aquarium too! I think it started when i submerge the outlet of my canister filter into the water. At first i thought its just a residue of the fish flakes that stays on the surface, but after reading this thread i realized it's more than that. So, for a guy like me with a lowtech lowlight 29gal excel tank how do i fix this? Should i lift the spray back up just above the water surface to break the surface tension or increase my daily excel dosage? Please help!
J
By the way just started geting into the the hobby, and i've been following tom's guide to lowtech excel tank religiously, from subtrate to lighting and fert dosing to nearest ml +\-.

This might help u all help me
Tank:
29gal
2213 emeim
Two 24w fl tube 1-10,000k 1-pink
1.5" of peat and 1.5" eco complete
3ml of excel everyday
Kno3, kh2po4 and k2so4 (mon, wed,fri)
Flourish and equil (sun, tue, thu)
50%wc every sunday

[ShadowMac]

IMO, a 2213 is a little small for a 29 gallon. I think a 2215 would be good. With a low tech non CO2 tank I see no reason to not have a good surface ripple. My low tech has the outlet pointed towards the surface, a 2215 on a 20 gallon No film.

To keep the film away in my large high tech I aerate by raising the lily pipe every night, no more film.

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but my low tech gets fewer water changes, 50-70% every 3-4 weeks. I don't think the low techs really benefit that much from frequent water changes.

[Verynew]

That's it you've talked me into it! Selling 2213!!! ;p

If u're using 2215 for ur lowtech 20gal tank i should be using 2217 for my 29gal then yes? If so i would have 9x tank cycle per hour. Would that be ok?

[ShadowMac]

I think the more filtration/flow the better...without flattening down the plants of course. Yes, I think a 2217 would be better than a 2215.