what is this film that I'm seeing on the surface?

[reef tank 2.0]

nothing I'm overly concerned about, but I'm curious what this film is that I'm seeing on the surface of the water in the display tank.
I have no dead spots, and the surface is constantly moving.

I'm showing two pictures, both are viry similry but you can definitely see the film outline. (different angles)

I've got Carbon Rox in my carbon reactor. (1 Cup)
my water isn't crystal clear like I'd hoped. Not sure if the film on the surface is adding to the water clarity. The water isn't cloudy, just not crystal clear

perhaps this could be from the "ugly phase"? I currently have the brown rocks going on.

 

[cbranin]

Organics. Needs more surface agitation

 

[michigan-reef]

You need a lot more surface agitation. I would add two powerheads, one on each side (facing each other and slightly tilted up to get the surface of the water really moving).

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I have a gyre on the back wall. Turned down really low. If I change location or speed up, it throws sand everywhere. Tanks only 32" long

 

[fish farmer]

If you could direct flow so the scum flows towards the overflow this should go away.

I have a similar problem sometimes. In one corner scum pools like that when a move my pumps.

Can you direct flow to the sides, glance water off the sides might push the water in a different direction? Currently it looks like the front tank layer is trapped by the direction of the water from the back.

 

[Dan_P]

nothing I'm overly concerned about, but I'm curious what this film is that I'm seeing on the surface of the water in the display tank.
I have no dead spots, and the surface is constantly moving.

I'm showing two pictures, both are viry similry but you can definitely see the film outline. (different angles)

I've got Carbon Rox in my carbon reactor. (1 Cup)
my water isn't crystal clear like I'd hoped. Not sure if the film on the surface is adding to the water clarity. The water isn't cloudy, just not crystal clear

perhaps this could be from the "ugly phase"? I currently have the brown rocks going on.

The film is likely a microorganism biofilm. Could be diatoms, dinoflagellates or cyanobacteria, or all of the above. It is a sticky substance and it adheres to the water surface. It is usually taken care of by surface skimming. Try lowering the water level just a bit so that it’s just overflowing the combs. This arrangement will cause more surface water to be removed from the display.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I've adjusted the loc line direction at the sides. Seems like the sides are no longer the issue, but rather the center. I'll continue to play with it. Hesitant to move my gyre as it's not moving my substrate around. Which I like

 

[Liftoff]

I had the same problem. Lowering the combs so that the water just falls into them helped already a lot. The same should happen when lowering the water level as described above.

Adding surface agitation also seemed to help for me as well.

 

[GARRIGA]

I've read others use paper towels to assist in removing it. Didn't work for me but then I may have done it incorrectly. My test tank would go through periods where this built up and then be clear and gone. Wish I would have been better at tracking what I did to clear it but increasing surface flow as mentioned by others did help although it felt as if it was just collecting in pockets elsewhere at times. Oddly, tanks I had in the 80s and 90s never had this film and one was ran with UG filter and the other a canister. Neither pulled surface water. Go figure.