White film in water surface

[jonnyc88]

When I turn my filter off I notice white film in water surface. Looks like there are millions of visible white particles floating in the water column too.
Water parameters are normal (0ppm Ammonia and Nitrite, around 25ppm Nitrate)

Initially I thought it’s bacterial bloom but doesn’t look like it.

I plan to do water change, hoover substrate, rinse out filter and get rid of some dying plants later.

Any ideas what this is?

 

[Stefan3289]

Could you try to post a picture?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Tiny white particles floating in the water column?

Not sure what this is, as mentioned earlier, perhaps a picture may help.

Going to ask the obvious question here, is the tank cycled?
Does not sound like a bacterial bloom but am unsure at this point.

And one other question, what do you have in your filter, media wise I mean and in what order.
As much information as you can think of as even the smallest detail may have the answer.

 

[jonnyc88]

Picture attached.
I think my tank is cycled as ammonia and nitrite are zero.
Media is Fluval 307 3 basket default. 2 foam pre filters, polishing pad, bio noodles, and carbon last. I plan to add another layer of polishing pad in the carbon basket.
There also millions of those white particles in water column making it cloudy.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Do you have sponge filter in there as well?

or is this the foam you speak of?

And yes, id agree to add a layer of filter floss as the last thing for the water to pass through to catch any small debris before the water goes into the tank.

The carbon btw, is not essential at this stage, would take this out and swap for more sponge media or whatever you like, ceramic or bio media will be fine as long as the filter floss is last, this works best imho.

Looking at your picture, it kind of looks like the polishing pad or filter floss debris, sort of. Very hard to tell tbh.
Did you clean this polishing pad/filter floss by rinsing under the tap before adding to the filter?
As normally this stuff is dusty and full of tiny white plasticy white stuff that floats around in the tank if you don't clean it beforehand. Might be that.

 

[jonnyc88]

Good call! I don’t think I cleaned the Fluval polishing pad last time. I’ll definitely give the new one a good rinse and rinse existing one in the tank water.

I’ve bought additional carbon so I’ll probably use them up before replacing with polishing pad.

The Fluval has 2 sponge prefilters on the side. One is sponge and another is foam? It’s called Bio Max+. The water flows bottom up in the media baskets. I have foam and polishing pad in bottom basket, bio noodles middle and carbon on top. I will add another polishing pad in the carbon basket if it fits or will replace existing one.

 

[jonnyc88]

Took 2 hours but got there in the end. Water surface is clear but water column still cloudy.
Hopefully the filter will sort it out by tomorrow otherwise might use some water clarifier to clear the particles.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Took 2 hours but got there in the end. Water surface is clear but water column still cloudy.
Hopefully the filter will sort it out by tomorrow otherwise might use some water clarifier to clear the particles.

Good job, bit of work but worth it.

Would not waste money on getting some chemical water clarifier, the less chemicals you add to the tank, the better.

Stick with filter floss and give it time to do its job. Hopefully it will clear up eventually.

 

[jonnyc88]

Good job, bit of work but worth it.

Would not waste money on getting some chemical water clarifier, the less chemicals you add to the tank, the better.

Stick with filter floss and give it time to do its job. Hopefully it will clear up eventually.

Cheers bud. The flow in the tank is stronger now so wondering if that’s the reason for the cloudiness. Perhaps it’s debris from substrate.

I will keep an eye on the water parameters too but so far they look ok.

 

[Essjay]

Water clarifiers affect the fish's gills so I wouldn't use one.

 

[jonnyc88]

Water clarifiers affect the fish's gills so I wouldn't use one.

According to API it's complete safe though... I will definitely hold off using one but just curious.
Seems that lots of aquarists are against water clarifiers however there seems to be quite a lot available on the market with claims that they are 100% safe for fish.

 

[Essjay]

API would say it's safe as they want to sell it. Several manufacturers sell things which are 'fish safe' which should be used in a fish tank.

 

[jonnyc88]

API would say it's safe as they want to sell it. Several manufacturers sell things which are 'fish safe' which should be used in a fish tank.

True, should be some regulations to ban selling such products really.

 

[jonnyc88]

Ok looks like the particles are back. It’s suspended in the water column and also seem to form a film on the surface. This is most visible if viewed from underneath the water level.
As it’s not being captured by my filter could this be some kind of bio-film?
It’s more visible viewed from underneath the surface.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hmm, not sure what that is now tbh.

Have you tried soaking up the water surface particles?
Easy to do, just use clean large kitchen paper towel or even sheet of plain A4 paper, lay the sheet of paper flat on top of water surface and let the paper soak up the surface water, it will take in the particles and containments too.

When paper just about to soak through, take paper out, and repeat with clean sheets of paper until satisfied you have taken out as much of this surface particles as possible.

Then see what happens after next water change and see if it returns.

An odd one really, hope the cleaning of water surface with paper does the trick.