Is There A Newbs Thread On Protein On The Surface Of Water?

[leannethenewbie]

Hiya

I've got protein on the surface of my new tank (which is 10 days into it's fishless cycle) I need to know all about it!

I don't want to be a 'thread repeater'... but I coulnd't find one on it!

Any ideas and perhaps a point in the right direction??

Thanks guys

 

[Truck]

Line a net with a piece of kitchen towel and skim the surface.

 

[loachman]

You can also skim the surface of the water when you siphon the tank for water changes (in the future).

Additional surface agitation will quickly get rid of it IME.

 

[waterdrop]

Line a net with a piece of kitchen towel and skim the surface.

That's a nice tip Truck! I've used paper towels successfully for this before but I'd never thought to make it easier by using a net. WD

 

[leannethenewbie]

I did indeed use the kitchen towel on the net - and it worked a treat!! Thanks for that!

Do you know what causes it? Does it mean there is something wrong with my water/chemicals?


Would an air pump solve the surface agitation problem? Or when I add the fish will they take care of that?

Thanks again

 

[Truck]

It can be caused by numerous things, food, surfactants in the ammonia, bits of dust and muck off gravel, there's nothing too bad about it, but it can limit gaseous exchange.

An air pump wouldn't work as well as a small powerhead, could you re position your filter so it creates more ripples on the surface?

 

[leannethenewbie]

Unfortunatley not - the filter is kept inside it's own section of the tank (it's hidden away). So I wouldn't be able to move it

Would just skimming the top of the water, when I do a weekly water change, be enough do you think?

Leanne

 

[Dave Spencer]

This is quite common in planted tanks.

"Plants naturally secrete carbohydrates and lipids into the water column as part of their natural metabolic processes. This is organic waste, and the higher the light/CO2 the more waste is produced. If there was no surface movement at all you would see some buildup. If nutrient uptake is poor or inefficient the plants become stressed and unhealthy. When this occurs ejection of lipids and organic waste becomes uncontrolled. Lipids are the basic building block of fats and oils so release of this product results in the oily film. Ejected carbohydrate and some proteins cause the other types of debris such as the brown detritus-looking floating particles. Bacteria often feed on this flotsam/jetsam since it is high in carbon. This film then becomes its own floating world."

Clive of UKAPS

The answer in the case of planted tanks is to promote greatrer plant health and increase surface disturbance.

Dave.

 

[OldMan47]

As Dave has posted, using an outside source, the real key to keeping down surface contaminants is having water flow that disturbs the surface in your tank. Truck has given a possible solution by suggesting that more surface disturbance might cure the problem.