I had tanks for 30 years now and I have to admit I have never seen anything like this. Its especially strange since your tank is pretty clean other than that. But this does not look like a simple bacteria film to me. Do you have any plants above the tank? A friend of mine had a plant above his tank that dropped some sugary fluid into it which jumpstarted the nutrients in the water to such an extend that he had to start the tank from scratch.
LostCTzen on
First time seeing this. You keeping fish or spiders? Damn son.
Arctic1Bunny on
Might be some sort of Biofilm, should test water quality, remove it from the surface and maybe do something to aggetate the surface more so it can’t come back. Im not sure if i seen this before or not, i feel like i had simular issuse back in the day but my memorys are foggy, so for now water quality test, more surface movement, airation.
Backslanted on
Found the same problem: [plantedtank.net](https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/stubborn-surface-film.1304061/). Just read the full thread there and the solution seemed to be the reduction of light. Adding agitation didn’t end well for the user in that post apparently.
This link contains the same problem and the reduction of light seems to be the solution (the cause for the film here would be malnutrition in plants, which then release oily/waxy parts): [ukaps.org](https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/surface-film.13603/page-2)
7 Comments
I had tanks for 30 years now and I have to admit I have never seen anything like this. Its especially strange since your tank is pretty clean other than that. But this does not look like a simple bacteria film to me. Do you have any plants above the tank? A friend of mine had a plant above his tank that dropped some sugary fluid into it which jumpstarted the nutrients in the water to such an extend that he had to start the tank from scratch.
First time seeing this. You keeping fish or spiders? Damn son.
Might be some sort of Biofilm, should test water quality, remove it from the surface and maybe do something to aggetate the surface more so it can’t come back. Im not sure if i seen this before or not, i feel like i had simular issuse back in the day but my memorys are foggy, so for now water quality test, more surface movement, airation.
Found the same problem: [plantedtank.net](https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/stubborn-surface-film.1304061/). Just read the full thread there and the solution seemed to be the reduction of light. Adding agitation didn’t end well for the user in that post apparently.
This link contains the same problem and the reduction of light seems to be the solution (the cause for the film here would be malnutrition in plants, which then release oily/waxy parts): [ukaps.org](https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/surface-film.13603/page-2)
Also this is an interesting overview, which would indicate a plant-caused oil buildup as well: [What the Film](https://sepro.com/aquatics/algae-corner/algae-corner-what-the-film)
Are your plants healthy?
Maybe try more surface agitation
Looks like some thick ass biofilm. I have a layer of that on an abandoned (uninhabited) tank I gotta drain
Lol looks like u forgot to unwrap your newly setup tank