A layer of oil on the surface of water

[Synthesia]

Hey Scotworm,what kind of hang on filter do u have?I used to have the same problem as you,why don't you try to check the surrounding of your filer motor and try to find for some oil patch.

[richietay]

as said the oil are released by certain plants, do any want know which particular plants?
having this problem, flora in my tank are java moss, taiwan moss, E.tenellus, java fern, windelov fern, downoi, mini pellia. wonder which could be the root of cause!

[coutovet]

Well, almost all of our tanks have this oil presence in water surface. Some times we can see easily other times its very difficult to observe.That happens due a relationship with active tension of water surface and water quality. I believe at first time that you must do many tests to apreciate the parameters of water quality. Then, if everything is ok, you should think that you mabe have an excess of food. This problem generally is the first cause of this oil in water surface.

At first time, you should do three 20% of water changes weekly. The most eficient component I know to resolve this problem is the skimmer. An external filter with ceramic(biological filtration) can help you to adjust the tank and will minimize this oil in water surface, and increase water quality.

I wish you undertand what I`d like to say to you,

coudially,

José Maria

[Justikanz]

I got a feeling the 'oil' is caused by high growth rate plants. I have a bad case when I have Hygrophila spp. and big Echinodoras spp. in the tank. Now, with E. tenellus and crypts, there seems to not be a problem...

[coutovet]

I understand and I agree that the oil is influenced by hight growth rate plants, but I believe that a layer of the oil on the surface of water is much more complex and many factors are envolved on this process! I observed that foods(for example, when we gives flake foods why it quickly disperse on suface?), the equilibrium of tank biological is either have a very important influence, the water quality too, a filtration system, algae..........
I think it`s very important to say that skimmer component is completely efficient to resolve the problem and gives for water quality an irreplaceable excellence! Attenciously, José Maria.

[richietay]

One thing i would like to enquire, does most of tank setup faces oil on water surface be it small tank or big tank? Do anyone care to share whether their tank faces this problem and probably state what size of the tank.
as coutovet said, excess of food probably the first cause of it. find that i faced this problem quite sever lately(this period being feeding my shrimps daily(hikira crab cusine and algae wafer).
for smaller tank, how do one remedy this problem? (Not too sure whether surface skimmer are being design for smaller tanks too)

[grey_fox]

When I first setup the tank, it was there, after 3 weeks (without fauna added) that oily patch was still there. Only way I removed it eventually was by means of a skimmer.

If you've been to NA, check out Chan's tanks, no skimmer and you can see that oil slick there as well and his tanks have minimal fauna in them. I believe its just a layer of protein, shouldn't be of any harm.

[|squee|]

It's present in every planted tank that doesn't have some way of breaking up the water surface. It's just a layer of bacteria (read Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium).

[kemp]

When I first setup the tank, it was there, after 3 weeks (without fauna added) that oily patch was still there. Only way I removed it eventually was by means of a skimmer.

If you've been to NA, check out Chan's tanks, no skimmer and you can see that oil slick there as well and his tanks have minimal fauna in them. I believe its just a layer of protein, shouldn't be of any harm.

thought it's no harm but it reduces the intensity of light penetration to the bottom of the tank

[grey_fox]

Yup, no harm at all

However I personally find it unsightly.

[kaym]

One of the bros who kept shrimps said that oil on the surface is not good for shrimps though i dont know about that. I used to have oil on surface but not any more. Perhaps its the by product of the plants kept, but i do agree that most likely its the cause of oil from our hands when we dip in each time. So the best is to minimize hand dipping. Water changes remove any oil on surface though.

[Peng Kang Hill]

Hi,

Oil on surface of water restricts light penetration. Coincidentally, I'm fighting this problem also in my newly setup cherry shrimp tank. I use a skimmer to get rid of the oil. However, last night I saw with my own eyes one of the cherries was sucked into the skimmer when it went nearer to it to explore.

As a quick solution, I wrapped the skimmer with the nylon netting that one uses to attach mosses to drift wood. But the effectiveness of the skimmer is compromised drastically. Still trying to figure out the best alternative.

Peng Kang Hill

[Panut]

did you rescue that shrimp?

You can use lily pipes to remove the oily surface

[hotohori8899]

Hi,
Those seeking immediate short term remedy, i think can try placing a piece of tracing paper flat on the water surface then pull the paper upwards by pinching the center of the paper.

Hoto.

[kiv]

I used to extract it using paper towel but the next day is back again, troublesome. Now i lift up the water outlet to create aerated bubbles to break it on day, lower before co2 commission on night troublesome also.

[lEddyl]

there's another method. but it's noisy. place a air stone half submerge. 'ON' it only during light breaks for a few hours to breakup the oil film.

PS: original idea from a bro here(sorry can't recall your nick)