Surface Build Up

[508]

Hi all,
 
Recently my tank has been getting a lot of surface film and it's been really bugging me. The water almost constantly has an oily surface, even when I try to get rid of it and now I'm also getting what looks like a build up of calcium. I assume it's because of the hard water, but either way I've got tiny white dots all over the place because of it and I was wondering if there was a way to get rid of this stuff. The surface flow is decent, I'll be getting a powerhead for the second side of the tank soon. 
 
Any suggestions? 
 

 

[DrRob]

Couple of suggestions to get rid of it, which start with the simple layer of kitchen roll draped across the tank and then remove and moves onto a surface skimmer on a timer so it clears the top for a few minutes every so often (watch them on all the time as they occasionally suck in things you don't want them to). Otherwise, yes, surface turbulence can help prevent it.
 
Otherwise might be worth looking at the source. Generally these are oily films. Commonly they're a break down product of some foods and a change of brand can help. Occasionally they're from us. Residues of soap, or sun lotion, or moisturiser on our skin as we do maintenance, or even just our natural skin oils.

 

[508]

Been doing the towl thing for a while, but it's back the next day so there's no much point in me doing it all the time. I use the NutraFin Max flakes if that makes a difference.
 
Was thinking of a surface skimmer, it might be the way to go. I'll try and see if adding the powerhead will do me any good as on one side of the tank the water surface is nearly completely still.
 
What about the calcium build up? How can I get rid of that?

 

[DrRob]

Scale build up is a curse of hard water tanks. I wipe it off with a cloth with vinegar in it regularly, before it gets a chance to build up, when I'm doing a water change on my hard water tanks.

 

[508]

Ah darn it. Another annoyance because of this hard water!
 
Do you completely drain the tank when cleaning it with vinegar?

 

[508]

If I move my hand in the water for a while it literally looks like someone's thrown a bag of flour in there

 

[DrRob]

That sounds more like an oil build up, and no, for clearing light scale I just let the level drop. Natural vinegar in tiny quantities is unlikely to cause any harm.

 

[guppyguy1234]

add an airetor it seem to work for my unfilterd betta tank filtered now tho just had to wait a week for a weeker filter to arive