# Surface Scum



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Hi,

Here is my situation. Let me put on my hockey helmet first...

I love plants, and I love plants more than...shrimps!

...No stones yet?!

I inject CO2, meaning I need minimal water agitation.

I HATE surface scum as much as I love plants.

I deal with this problem by using overflows. This is great until some einstine by the name of Igor got me into shrimps. Shrimps and overflow and me don't get along very well.

So secondly, how do you deal with your surface scum? No livestock suggestion please.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I drag a paper towel over the surface of the water, quickly, so it won't just drop into the water and get wet. If you drag it fast, it will sort of suck up the film.. usually takes a couple or three towels to do my 5G tank, which is the only one I see the film on. 

Come to think of it, that tank has very few floating plants, while my other tanks have a lot of floaters. At the moment, mainly baby water lettuce, because I just ripped out all the duckweed, but there was a ton of duckweed on them 'til last week. I think the floating plants actually help prevent the film. Be worth trying.


----------



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yep papertowel as Karen says. When I was first setting up my plant tank I was trying to find out what the solution was that you put into the diffuser because it didn't come with any instructions (and I don't read Chinese) so after a few hours of reading on the Web...I decided to try mineral oil.

Put the mineral oil in the diffuser and all was going well, until some big blundering Bamboo shrimp decided to sit on it and tipped it on its side (these things have a tendancy to go sideways for some reason) OH NO out comes some of the mineral oil and its floating on the surface of the water.

Hubby comes in and says "whats that oily stuff on the water, what did you put in the tank" ooops....so off I go to get something to mop up what I could and I used the papertowel....did it a few times skimming over the surface lightly and I got 99% of the oil off.

I changed out the diffuser, rinsed it thoroughly several times and let it dry and then filled it with water...its been working fine ever since. My Taiwans are in this tank so you KNOW I wouldn't be doing anything to harm them.

Also with the floating plants too I think it does help keep any film off the surface a lot...maybe try some floaters ....but NOT DUCKWEED...

I HATE duckweed!!!


----------



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks for your thoughts, I was looking for a less labour intensive approach. With the paper towel, it's gone today but back tomorrow.

As for floaters, surface area is premium as the tanks are medium to heavily planted.

Looks like I'll just have to play around with the grating on my overflow.

I was hoping for some novel ideas.

Thanks again.


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

if you want a novel idea, check the library for books on the subject, jk

maybe you can use a surface skimmer like what is used for saltwater tanks?


----------



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

pyrrolin said:


> if you want a novel idea, check the library for books on the subject, jk
> 
> maybe you can use a surface skimmer like what is used for saltwater tanks?


I am currently using a surface skimming overflow as indicated in my signature. It had worked well before I got into shrimp. The skimming overflow is not unlike that of the saltwater surface skimmer. Effectively, it is a double u-tube setup with grating at the inlet near the surface.

I've looked into and used fauna such as guppies and black mollies. They do a decent job, but I am super scare that the shrimps will look like a nice meal for them.

There are other techniques such as rotating disk or cylinder with scrapers. I've got four tanks running right now, and definitely more in the future. I am not sure the effort justify the result of this approach.

I've read the a lily pipe might do the job, and was hoping someone might elucidate on that.

Again, thank you for all those who have made constructive comments to further the interest of the hobby.


----------



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

*Call me dense*

My wife just laugh her head off at me. She told me what jk was.

Sorry Pyro.

It took me 10 reading to get Bigdaddyo joke about wife and shrimps!

Have a good day!


----------



## razoredge (Dec 31, 2011)

The paper towel works but the scum seems to come back after a couple of days. I put a very small dab of dishwashing liquid between my thumb and index finger and dip it into the tank. The oil scum immediately disappears. Voila!! no more scum.. It may not be advisable to do this but it works for me and my fish and shrimp has never had any issues.


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

If it keeps coming back after just a couple days, I would be trying to figure out the root cause and dealing with that.


----------



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

razoredge said:


> The paper towel works but the scum seems to come back after a couple of days. I put a very small dab of dishwashing liquid between my thumb and index finger and dip it into the tank. The oil scum immediately disappears. Voila!! no more scum.. It may not be advisable to do this but it works for me and my fish and shrimp has never had any issues.


This is novel! How long is this effective for? What brand of DL you use?

As for the source, my tanks are not shrimps exclusive. I don't keep CRS so the water is not soft nor I expect the TDS to be low. Aside from EI fertiliser dosing, there are 10-15 small fishes, the biggest being the blue ram. The rest are the size of a cardinal tetra or smaller. So it is not unexpected to see surface film.

I am going to give the dishwashing liquid a try, but 'll do a little googling also to get a "second" opinion. No offence Razor, but I rather not risk the fishes and shrimps needlessly!


----------



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

interesting...i will also give this a shot tonight.


----------

