Oil slick

[Country joe]

I have a light oil skim on top of my water, was looking at surface skimmers, but don't wish to add to my tank, I googled this problem and it came up to use an air stone, it said this works and will clear it, so I will give it it a go, anyone else tried this method, and does it work.

 

[Colin_T]

Airstones work to help break up the slick and surface skimmers remove it.

It's commonly caused by high protein food or algae growing around the glass at the surface of the water. If it's caused by algae, removing that will normally fix the problem but it's always nice to have good surface movement from an airstone or power filter outlet.

 

[GaryE]

Some people put a piece of paper towel on the water and pull it along to remove the slick.

You can control it with water movement - better filtration or if you like them, an airstone. It always seems a waste to me to run an airstone when you could run a sponge filter with the same energy.

Rich foods - too much protein for the fish to take in, or fatty foods produce this, if you don't have the surface algae Colin points out. You can look at possible overfeeding, or maybe a change of foods when the current offerings are used up.

 

[MattW]

I have a mini sponge filter that comes on at selected times to help with the oil slick and oxygenation. I run it from 10:30 am to 23:50pm then it comes on at 4:00 am for 20 minutes then again at 6:30 am for half an hour. I usually wake up to find a pretty clear surface.

 

[Country joe]

Filtration shouldn't be a problem imnow running a fluval 207 external filter in a 125 litre tank, will try the kitchen towel and airstone method.

 

[Fishfunn]

Filtration shouldn't be a problem imnow running a fluval 207 external filter in a 125 litre tank, will try the kitchen towel and airstone method.

I direct the output flow of my canister filter near the surface, so agitation of the surface is achieved. This keeps my water surface clear. I have the output near but not on the surface of the water.