Reply With Quotewfc31,Originally Posted by wfc31
Can post a pic of your DIY skimmer? Really curious how you did it. Might wan to give a try too.
You mean the hang on filter comes with a surface skimmer? What's the brand of this filter you are using.for me, i use a hang on filter with a surface skimmer on it...no more OIL~~...
wfc31,
Can post a pic of your DIY skimmer? Really curious how you did it. Might wan to give a try too.
The surface film in your tank is known as protein film. All you need is a surface skimmer to remove all that stuff. It works very effectively and it's been the solution that people have been using for a long long time. I do not know if you really need to DIY cause if i remember correctly, the taiwan version cost $10 only.
No need to worry about the protein scum. Normal by-product, simple solution with surface skimmer, mollies or guppy.
sorry guys...
need help..
i discover some very small whitish thing moving around on the water surface..
what's that? need to see closely and observe before yu can know its alive and swimming around...
otherwise its like just some particle floating around.
I once kept a 2ft planted and didn't do much about it. The whole tank became teeming with them. A pair of angelfishes bred in that tank and I didn't have to take care of the fry for a while. Nothing much to worry about, although there is that danger of parasites, you'd notice that the fishes keep dying and by now, it would be too late to do anything really.
Protozoa is the generic name given. I think.
Those stuff are just some water fleas or something like that. I've got them before, my friends have got them before. Harmless and common. Fish eat them.
I breed those things as fish foodno worries, generally any small thing you find in your tank is harmless to your fish.
Digimon,
pls refer to the link for my DIY skimmer.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=16708
wfc31,
Thanks for the info. Really innovative of you. Will tap on your idea to do for my 1 feet shrimp tank. Hope it is not copyrighted...ha ha ha..
I think sometimes it is due to certain constraints that we have in our setups or the challenge of doing it DIY style that restraints us from using off-the shelves versions.The surface film in your tank is known as protein film. All you need is a surface skimmer to remove all that stuff. It works very effectively and it's been the solution that people have been using for a long long time. I do not know if you really need to DIY cause if i remember correctly, the taiwan version cost $10 only.
No need to worry about the protein scum. Normal by-product, simple solution with surface skimmer, mollies or guppy.
For me, I am using off-the-shelves type which I bought from NA, for my 3 feet tank. But for my 1 feet tank, I pefer not to use this types as they are normally quite big. Thus taking up too much space in the tank. I can't use mollies, platys or guppies cos I have cherry shrimps breeding in the tank.
Had used oto before. Slow but not too bad and safe for shrimp babies. But it died few weeks ago. Had left the protein film there since as I know it is harmless. However, I prefer to remove it if possible as I personally find it quite unsightly.
why so secretive, using other nick?
Add a DIY rain-bar with do the job..
if CO2 lose is not a problem to u. Juz make sure there's water movement on the surface. those stuff will juz disappear
yup yup
great food source for my OTOs..
I breed those things as fish food
would like to brought up this thread again, this occured for my tank recently about 2wks already. caused by plants photosynesis?!?!
initially fed my cherries with couple of bloodworm, hence released there is oil on the surface of water, could BW causes it?!?!
Thinking of not investing a skimmer, as it occured 1st time for me. so far been scoping it every few days.
read that mollies capable of clearing them, but i do have guppies, they are capable of it?!?! Anyone tried?!
tried the newspaper method as discussed in other thread, is not very effective.
Actually this oily issue has caused changes to my tank temp, been on the high side recently, not too sure whether isit the root of the cause. Temp used to be 25.1 -26.5. now before and after lights off, temp at 26.4, up to 27.5 when lights on. Suspect the oil causes the warm temp not able to evaporate off despite 24/7 fan blowing.
anyone can summarised what causes layer of oil, thanks!
Last edited by richietay; 6th Apr 2006 at 23:58.
furry plant grower
I've noticed that the surface scum will appear initially even when you have no fish, only plants bubbling away. Eventually, this will stop on its own (actually it gets lesser) Then it comes back when you feed rich (Tubifex, Bloodworm) foods to the fish, or when there is leftover food that is broken down by the bacteria. I believe this is a kind of protein bacterial crust.
I've used Mollies, Platies, newspaper and surface skimmer against these eyesores. Most effective is still the newspaper method as I can mop up every single trace of it when I don't want it there. Flip side is that I get to see it before it is removed so the "sore" on the eyes remains in memory long after the hands have dried from the task
Mollies seem to be more hungry for the scum than platies IMO. But if they're well fed, they'd rather copulate than skim your water.
The surface skimmer will fail if there are debris/floating plants obstructing the oil from getting skimmed. Getting the fan or rainbar to point towards the skimmer greatly increases its efficacy.
But I've a tank (or is it a method) that doesn't employ any of the above methods, and it works well for me: Black Duct Tape.
I tape all around the top and bottom edges of the tank, forming what is a 3-inch broad black "frame" and making an average tank look "wider or more panoramic".
I fill the tank till the water level is hidden by the top frame. Feed sparingly, and voila! No more scum!
Actually, it's still there, but out of sight, out of mind. As a benefit, it feeds a lot of my fishes. I've observed oto, gastromyzon, gouramis, SAE, even Borara brigittae skimming these things off when I forget to feed for a few days.
Try it and see if you agree with me how much of our "problems" are self-imposed because of our eye.
Warm regards,
Lawrence Lee
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
Actually this issue doesnt bother me much, just kinda worried abt the rise in tank temp. cause moss take up the majority in my tank, temp might affect it.
as for feeding, this 4ft of mine actually for breeding cherries, fed once weekly algae wafer. BW is only recently.
Regular~ly online @ office hr
I dont know what are the exact causes of the protein layers, but regular change of water do help a little as far as i can see. If U dont mind duckweeds on the surface, think these monsters help too
@ aquastuff.org
Just to feedback, from my experience, the best way to remove the protein layer is through a skimmer. Mine cleared up within an hour or so. Painless and effective.
visit my photo albums @ flickr!
anyone know the exact causes for layer of oil on water surface?! tried clearing it, but problems persist again.
actually problem arises lately, just upgraded my FL to PL. using 4*36w on my 4ft lately (running 9hr/day). measured my ph abt 6.5.
thought since i running PL rather than FL previously, CO2 bps may require to readjust since PL lights are more stronger. tested my ph level, seems alright so leave the bps as it is.
so far, floras and faunas doing fine, just that the oil causes accumulation of dissolved CO2 bubbles on surface.
not thinking of investing on skimmer, may consider frogbits or duckweeds meantime. welcome your advices, thanks!
It was mentioned in Diana Walstad's book as well. She said it is "bio-film" basically waste product from planted tank (protein) with colony of bacterial. She recommend using spray bar to agitate the surface temporary will clear it.
Personally I regularly employ molly for the cleaning job but they normlly don't live long in the CO2 enriched acidic water. And if I leave it alone, plenty of tiny little white fleas start to live on the film.
And when run out of molly it was newspaper method. At one time I was so frustrated with the flea I tried all sort of methods to exterminate them : with spoonful of hot water shower on the flea, DIY a flea-trap (a half-cut plastic water bottle with inner top laced with olive oil), ..., or even pour olive oil all over the water top.....and then more newspaper. (I caught a few to look under the microscope - yes they looked just liked those typical flea picture in science book except whiter color).
But the oil film and the flea kingdom always come back.
And finally the saviour came : the taiwan made $10 surface skimmer. The water surface was sparkling clean for more than a year now. As for the floating plants problem I just construct a floating ring (air tube joined end to end with an air tube connector and tie to the tank side wall with a suction cup and string). The floating plant live inside this floating ring peacefully.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks