# Surface bubbles



## Bacms (14 Oct 2015)

Hi guys,

Tried a few searches but couldn't find anything on this. I have started to have problem with a foamy surface film that develops on my tank. I have done water change on the weekend and dosed liquid carbon as instructed and all was fine, then double dose liquid carbon on the next day and got the surface film on next day. It seem to be worst on the areas with surface agitation. Should I be worried about this? 

I also measured nitrite which I haven't in a while since the filter was already cycle by the time I set the tank and noticed it is no longer low but between 0.5 and 1ppm so I am worried I may have some contaminant on my water which is killing my filter bacteria. 

Anyway here is a photo of the film:


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## ian_m (14 Oct 2015)

How old is tank ?

If tank is new'ish, then is most likely organics being release by dying and adapting plants. Remove with kitchen towel or put an air pump on in non CO2 hours. Hopefully as tank matures will go away.

I suffered this when tank was initially set up, removed with kitchen towel and air pump at night, but no longer present as tank has matured.


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## Bacms (14 Oct 2015)

Filter has been cycled before I planted but the planting is less than a month old. Need to get myself a air pump then, would the twinstar have a similar effect to an air pump? 

Will try and fit a partially water change as well to try and remove organics


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## Martin in Holland (14 Oct 2015)

The organic matter traps gas on the surface, as ian-m mentioned and it will go away after some time. Any method of getting more O2 in your tank will help to speed up the process of getting more bacteria.


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## Bacms (14 Oct 2015)

Is a normal airstone enough for aeration or are there better devices in the market? Can someone also recommend a not too noisy air pump. Have the tank close to the sofa on the living room and don't want to be bombarded by water noises


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## Martin in Holland (14 Oct 2015)

Just turn on the airpump when you go to bed and turn it off when you get up or before the CO2 comes on. Maybe you can install a venturi?


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## ian_m (14 Oct 2015)

My air pump is on a timer, 10:45pm till 2am.


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## GHNelson (14 Oct 2015)

Hi
You could just raise your spray bar a tad...or remove some water so you have more ripples on the surface!
Cheers 
hoggie


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## ian_m (14 Oct 2015)

Be careful changing the spray bar height and/or hole angles as you will find it will alter your CO2 levels that you have carefully setup to give you a nice green drop checker.

I once removed my spray bar (to clean) and put it back so that I had very little surface ripple. Next CO2 period drop checker was "extremely yellow" and fish all gasping at the surface. So air pump on, fish all recovered in a couple of minutes and I angled spray bar down a bit. Drop checker green next CO2 period and fish all fine.


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## Bacms (14 Oct 2015)

I don't have critters at the moment and still have an yellow drop checker but I am trying to lower it slowly to green so I can 4 ottos to start with and assuming all is good then 20 to 30 amanos a week or two after

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## Bacms (14 Oct 2015)

Martin in China said:


> Just turn on the airpump when you go to bed and turn it off when you get up or before the CO2 comes on. Maybe you can install a venturi?


Sorry fir being stupid but exactly is a venturi? Google searches are throwing a pump that just adds air to a pump but haven't quite figure out how this would work with an external canister filter


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## Martin in Holland (15 Oct 2015)

A venturi work because of high/low pressure, it's an airtube going into your output, the airtube is cut at an angle to be able to suck in air. You can find some nice video's about it on youtube, look for aquaponic system venturi.


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## Martin in Holland (15 Oct 2015)

This idea seems to work.


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## parotet (15 Oct 2015)

ian_m said:


> My air pump is on a timer, 10:45pm till 2am.


Mine too. It's an easy way to ensure good aeration, especially when you're not at home. If I am home I also raise the lily pipes, having as a result a blue dropchecker a bit faster that just bubbling. For me, night aeration made a bid difference.

Jordi


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