PLEASE HELP

[Jenn]

I have had a strange film on the surface of my water for 3 days now. All parameters are good, but 2 days ago, I had a cucumber start to die on me so I removed him from the tank immediately and added a temporary charcoal filter to try and remove this film. I am not sure if the cuke caused it. I just got a call and my huge cleaner shrimp who I've had for over a year is being eaten by my foxface. What do I do about this stuff on the top of my water???? Please help.

[alexwolf]

i think GaryP needs a Foxface.......

[samz]

what does the film look like? Are you dosing Kalk in your tank?

[Jenn]

I don't want to get rid of the Foxface, but am so stressed out on this that I may just quit this hobby and sell it all! I wish I knew what the film on the water was and why its not going away w/ water changes and charcoal.

[Jenn]

The film is kind of clear, and I don't dose Kalk, but I did add some strontium and calcium to it as I do every week. I know that cucumbers can release a toxin when stressed, so thats why I added the charcoal. I thought it would clean it up.

[Jenn]

Yea, its the DAS system w/ the overflow. Thought it would "skim" the top of the water. I thought about my cleaner being old too, but just found it ironic that the shrimp was picking on the cuke, cuke dies, water gets film, shrimp gets sick. So strange.

[spibytes2003]

Hi Jenn,

One of my tanks is a puffer tank. I get a film on the top of it after a week of two, every week or two. I was told it is a protien film due to the puffer being such a sloppy eater in conjunction with the overflow slowing down every now and then. When I speed up the overflow it goes away almost instantly. Make sure you are moving the surface water adequately.

HTH,

Tim

[Jenn]

Hi Tim. Glad to have you with us and thanks for the help. I did try to speed up the overflow, but will do some more fine tuning tonight. What a wonderful thing to happen right befor all the company comes over. :cry:

[alexwolf]

LOL the painter that did my livintg room LOVED when the back glass was covered in algae

[dan]

jenn:with a good overflow you should not have a film on the surface.what type of overflow do you have? what size pump do you have?

[alexwolf]

i have film in my sump

[kakfish]

Jenn,

Sometimes the organics on the surface get a little thick. Clean the teeth to the overflow with your fingers and break the film up. You can always turn off the filter and float paper towels on the surface and quickly remove them to the trash. The organic should jump onto the paper towel. This has always been a great way to clean up the surface of an aquarium without an overflow.

Cucumbers are always bad news IMO.

[Jenn]

Well, just got home to find my favorite shrimp dead. I have had him so long, and was really attached. The people @ work thing I'm crazy to be moping about a shrimp.

Dan, I have a built-in overflow w/ a sachem 800 pump on one side, and a maxi-jet 1200 on the other. Then I have 2 protein skimmers on each side as well. I just can't figure this one out. Wish I had the $$$ to have a company who knows about DAS systems to come look @ it. I have heard these are really a lot of trouble.

Alex, what is the film in your sump like?

[alexwolf]

likea bubbly grime on the surface..........ii think it may be runoff from my skimmer.

[captexas]

Certain cucumbers emit a toxin when they die and this can be bad news for the other tank inhabitants. Other cucumbers do not emit this toxin, but they do egest their stomach which can contain some toxic material that is used to digest their food. If other animals eat any of this it could cause problems. I think the film on the surface is just a mater of a lot of excess nutrients collecting at the surface. If you removed the cucumber body and have run carbon, I think that should have removed any toxins that could have been in the tank.

Most importantly, don't give up Jenn! Hang in there and we are all here to help. :-)

[kakfish]

In a DAS system the whole back filter is a sump. If the water table in the back filter is at the same level or above the normal surface extraction level the filter won't skimmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[brewercm]

Kakfish is correct. .Although it doesn't only happen on DAS systems, I have had the same problem when the filter in my overflow gets too clogged and the water level in the overflow isn't lower than the main tank. The water doesn't siphon quick enough and causes a quick case of algae buildup. It happens everytime I don't pay enough attention to my overflow filter.

[GaryP]

According to what I have read on the topic, this is the advantage of a Calfo style skimmer. It skims a very thin layer of water where the protein concentration is the highest. That's what I plan on putting in my next tank.

Gary

[Jenn]

Thanks to all of you. I have increased the flow from the filters and hopefully by morning, I should see some improvement. I may try the paper towel thing for a quick help too. This tank is extremely well made, but is a pain in the butt w/ this overflow. I will hang in there. I always get like this when I loose something - especially when I have had it a long time.

[Instar]

Jenn, Is your situation resolved now??

[Jenn]

It sure is. I woke up this morning and it looks great. I was starting to loose hope. Thanks to all of you. :)

[GaryP]

Make sure you check your proteinn skimmer. If you dumped that much material from your main tank to your sump it will probably need to be cleaned.

[Jenn]

Yup Gary, they were full. Thanks.

[Instar]

Jenn, I just wanted to say that was a smart move on your part to add the carbon to the filtration. That, no doubt, helped to solve one problem if not several. Glad things are better now.