This has been driving me nuts! Thank you so much! Every other video I watched said that I had gotten some sort of soap or oil in my tank which absolutely did not happen and it was so frustrating. So thank you again for this video! I can rest easy now
Thanks for the video! I was really worried that it was going to kill my fish, with your help it was quickly gone, and I feel much better about it. Thanks so much!! I also used a bucket and slowly let the water poured in that method worked really well
I like the spraying method here, Jurijs! I have not tried it before! 👍 Good tips! For small tanks, I also use the tissue paper method as well. Just spread the tissue paper wide and put it over the oily film for a few times and that would work too.
A trick I finally found out for smaller/medium sized tanks is to use a cup at 45 degrees and dip it in until water just barely starts going in, similar to how the surface skimmers sit on the surface. It works wonders and doesnt require another tank addition!
I use the eheim 350 skimmer and I spray painted it white to blend with white background. Then on the Skimmer cap, I put a screen on it to stop shrimp from getting inside. Also I took out the original eheim sponge from the skimmer and bought my own sponge that was more finer and cut to size and put it in the skimmer. I have red floater plants so I took a clear tubing and made a ring around the skimmer so no plants got trapped inside. I mod everything I own to make it work. Cheers
I use the Eheim skim 350 skimmer , Works well but regular clean the little sponce or foam and when you have cleaned it adjust the flowrate to the minimum, for protecting the shrimp for sucking in the have now a new llitle set up protector. You always have a clean surface. Greetings from Holland, Hans Kuipers
My problems with surface skimmers are: 1) loss of shrimp and nano fish into the skimmer, 2) running off an Oase 650 there is no way to get adequate filtration flow without air being sucked in from the skimmer. I gave up on the idea of using one all the time and temporarily use an Eheim skimmer to occasionally clean the surface. It does the job in just a few minutes.
Exactly the same here. I had air problems with the 850 with original pipes. Now i have Chihiros stainless steel pipes, no skimmer. Wont dare to do so. I put a superfish skimmer in the tank every 2 weeks for a day or so.
I assume you are talking about skim pipes with a floater, an easy for them is to attach a rubber band or a zip tie around the floater to prevent it from being sucked down too much
I use an air pump that runs into the filter outflow through an inline co2 diffuser with the ceramic removed. The pump is on a timer and runs for 15 minutes every 2 hours. It keeps the surface clear. Redundant check valves on the airline are very important to the setup.
Good video ☝️ We use an air stone that turns as the CO2 solenoid turns off automatically at night. That flushes out surface protein slicks and gets rid of CO2 for the plants to 'sleep' at night 🌃 ☝️
Just run air line and stone into tank from air pump. I have the air stone near the surface but it works if you put the stone lower down. I keeps the surface clear.
I have a brand new 10 gallon setup that's never had anything in it, plus it was washed thoroughly and besides the introduction of some plants (that are obviously growing well with new growth on them exploding) I also like and use nitrifying bacteria so the tank cycles faster. But I still won't introduce fish until I have a good "seasoned tank" as the guy from Seattle is fond of saying so that's a few days or weeks later. And so this is my first planted tank. Although I'm a Master Gardener of over 20 years so I know and understand plants and I'm looking forward seeing how this planted aquarium progresses. Because of my water conditions (high 8.4+ PH with a TDS of 100 depending on what time of year it is) I decided to go the Fluval Strata route, though I capped mine with small, course gravel and so far I'm completely happy with that (and so are my plants) course of events and would use that again should I get around to a larger more complex tank next time. If my water wasn't like it is I'd use something else but Fluval and my water go together GREAT!!! So why upset the apple cart?? Anyway this morning was the first time I had seen this oily stain in any of my aquariums going back 20+ years. I used the glass method to remove it easily but how it got there in a new tank setup with no fish and a few plants is (so far) a little beyond me. Although I'm glad it's removal is so easy and there's many different ways to do that too. Good luck everyone!!
Nice hack cheers 🍻 not sure if it's the correct method but I just cut a piece of plastic cling wrap to the width of the the tank and dragged it across the surface from one end to the other. Worked a treat
I put a skimmer from Superfish in my aquarium every 2 weeks or so Leave it for a day. Put it in the tank in the evening after work and remove it the next day after work. And than its clean for about 2 weeks.
Nice tips bro!. The neo flow premium is small and looks really nice and does the job well. But unfortunately the premium version is not available in India 😶.
AHi I'm new to all this. I had a free 1.5 gallon tank given to me. So I went to the store and got a Betta. I came home googled what I needed to do, well after 150 bucks later lmao I got a 4 gallon and everything I need to get the water right. After doing research I set up the 1.5 for the Betta to live in until I got the 4 gallon setup. I let the 4 gallon go for a day and a half before introducing the Betta into the 4 gallon. After 3 days the water get grey cloudy, I changed the water and 2 days later the water is cloudy again with film on top. Is this the tank cycling with a fish? Should I water change every 3 days? Wait some more for the filter to cycle? I know I screwed up but at least I'm trying to do things right.
In my opinion the surface film exsists because of too many nutrients in the water. Your aquascape is not in balance and needs to stabilize! A skimmer is a nice tool to get rid of it and of course its quite good for water movement, but it needs room and doesnt look as good as without one. I really like your tips and tricks, keep it up ! :)
Hi I'm dealing with a drama that seems to be linked to the oil/biofilm in my aquarium. Losing a lot of dwarf rasboras! 😰 I would like to try this skimmer but I don't understand what it is hooked up to. I have a tank with a built in filter and pump, so I don't think I can hook it up to that. Any help on how this works (also maintenance) is appreciated!
I'm having so much trouble adjusting the Neo Skimmer :( I can't really get it to work properly... But once I do and the water level evaporates just a little bit, it starts making a really loud "sucking noise" instead.
I hear you guys, I think the problem is that the floater sits very close to the surface and the flow is too strong in most cases with the short tube. I will test turning the pipe around and making use of the longer tube to see if this allows easier adjustment
@@JurijsJutjajevs Thanks! Yes, that is definitely a problem when fairly high lighting leads to a lot of evaporation. I’ve also been considering using the longer tube and lowering the output flow with a UNS valve.
Hi. I have a question. Why is there no surface film in my aquarium? Not that I want to have. I just wonder why I don't have this problem in my aquarium at all. Any ideas? 😊
to be honest, its a little bit tricky to set them in a way they are completely silent. And if they are, a little evaporation and surface level change and they start sucking in air, which makes noise. For bedroom I would recommend using either a classic skimmer or removing the floater from the Aquario skim overnight, so it doesn't skim at night and remains silent.
They can eventually assist but cannot be seen as a solution. Objects close to the surface, floating objects provide possibility for shrimps to graze the surface. This can help, but oftentimes is not enough
I thought that film was a chemicL in water, like i used silicon tape inside aquarium to paste some plants.. now i removed them, i thought that silicon tape glue has chemical and formed that layer lol
Nothing to do with strong light and surface movement. I have very low light and surface movement on my aquarium and and I still got it. When I get rid of it, it comes back in 2 days
If you have floating plants I recommend just spray them with water, because using skimmer sometimes will suck the plants or get blocked by them... and paper sheet can't really get all the scum in between the leave (cause the will get stuck too, specially for smaller floating plants) + using paper/tissue create unnecessary waste
@@JurijsJutjajevs yeah... they don't like high humidity, I only do it like 3-4 times (maks) a week and since I didn't have a lid the humidity will quickly decrease
Good old air stones or sponge filters... People say the are ugly or that they can be hidden in an aquarium.... IDK I say people are kind of elitist and would rather spend shitloads of money on a skimmer than just hide a small airstone/sponge in the back. The bubble popping action naturally ejects small particulate out of the water.
Use a cup sink the cup in where the scum is thick and just let the top layer only fill the cup until half full then empty the cup fill it half way again. It's weird if you fill the cup all the way the scum jumps out back into the tank I couldn't explain it. Back flow or something. If I get another tank I'll get a super deep flask just to skim the surface I wouldn't want another electrical item doing it. The outflow just breaks up the water doesn't do anything but scatter the scum harder to see. Soon as the water is still the scum floats top layer again. I was always told to just sink a cup and let the scum drop into the cup balance its lip 1mm under water to take only the top layer of water so its a cup full of scum Half full even cos don't want it jumping out. Lol.
I have no idea what good spraying down will do lol. As soon as you stop it settles at the top again. Removing it with cup is best imo. I always thought it was oil's and fats though from the fish and the food. But bacteria makes sense too. People who live feed piranha and stuff they get the worst. I like your glass outflow pipe tho. Looks like a crack pipe.
I'm doing this, so easy and like you say, you dont actually remove much water getting it to drain into the cup.... maybe 2 1/2 coffee cups. I also do it at water changes.....skim surface with a cup, then syphon out the main volume I want to change, clean inside top of tank glass/filter return/whatever and refill.
Dear Jurijs, As much as i love your videos, i absolutely detest the frequency at which you post videos. Wish you could post something every week at least.
I add nutrifying bacteria and the film disappears from the surface after one Day. I think that this film is also made from the feed of some manufacturers
This has been driving me nuts! Thank you so much! Every other video I watched said that I had gotten some sort of soap or oil in my tank which absolutely did not happen and it was so frustrating. So thank you again for this video! I can rest easy now
Thanks for the video! I was really worried that it was going to kill my fish, with your help it was quickly gone, and I feel much better about it. Thanks so much!! I also used a bucket and slowly let the water poured in that method worked really well
It's my first set up, so I freaked out. I just used a cup. Very satisfying!😊
I like the spraying method here, Jurijs! I have not tried it before! 👍 Good tips!
For small tanks, I also use the tissue paper method as well. Just spread the tissue paper wide and put it over the oily film for a few times and that would work too.
Almost all gouramis will solve surface film "problem" by eating it... ;)
A trick I finally found out for smaller/medium sized tanks is to use a cup at 45 degrees and dip it in until water just barely starts going in, similar to how the surface skimmers sit on the surface. It works wonders and doesnt require another tank addition!
The human skimmer 🙃
Finally some awesome content. I got 2 aquariums running the new flow skimmer thanks to your first unboxing vid. MORE CONTENT!
Hope you enjoy it!
A great topic !
I had not heard of the spray bottle solution. Thanks ! Jim
Very welcome
I use the eheim 350 skimmer and I spray painted it white to blend with white background.
Then on the Skimmer cap, I put a screen on it to stop shrimp from getting inside.
Also I took out the original eheim sponge from the skimmer and bought my own sponge that was more finer and cut to size and put it in the skimmer.
I have red floater plants so I took a clear tubing and made a ring around the skimmer so no plants got trapped inside.
I mod everything I own to make it work.
Cheers
Thank you I can relax now 😊
I use the Eheim skim 350 skimmer , Works well but regular clean the little sponce or foam and when you have cleaned it adjust the flowrate to the minimum, for protecting the shrimp for sucking in the have now a new llitle set up protector. You always have a clean surface. Greetings from Holland, Hans Kuipers
Great video just pointed my out flow up to move the water around thank you
Simple is sometimes the best
My problems with surface skimmers are: 1) loss of shrimp and nano fish into the skimmer, 2) running off an Oase 650 there is no way to get adequate filtration flow without air being sucked in from the skimmer. I gave up on the idea of using one all the time and temporarily use an Eheim skimmer to occasionally clean the surface. It does the job in just a few minutes.
Exactly the same here.
I had air problems with the 850 with original pipes.
Now i have Chihiros stainless steel pipes, no skimmer.
Wont dare to do so.
I put a superfish skimmer in the tank every 2 weeks for a day or so.
I assume you are talking about skim pipes with a floater, an easy for them is to attach a rubber band or a zip tie around the floater to prevent it from being sucked down too much
Oase crystal skim 600 tml
amazing video legend. great product from aquario. i use paper to remove biofilm
Cool, thanks
I believe some floating plants (like Limnobium) will help in this situation.
Thanks Jurijs 🙂👍🏻
not sure about that, but it this would be something interesting to investigate
i have floating plants and it doesnt help, the film just forms around the plants unfortunately
I have the same issue. I thought it was an ammonia spike! Thanks for the video!
I use an air pump that runs into the filter outflow through an inline co2 diffuser with the ceramic removed. The pump is on a timer and runs for 15 minutes every 2 hours. It keeps the surface clear. Redundant check valves on the airline are very important to the setup.
Thank you for the video!
Using both that you describe work for me.
Please start Pro Tips Episodes, they were all amazing useful short tips
Pro tips will return
Nice idea for a video 😊 great tips
there is so much to talk about in our hobby, endless topics 😂
Nice video Jurijs! New subscriber and fellow fishtuber here! 😄
Thanks mate
Good video ☝️ We use an air stone that turns as the CO2 solenoid turns off automatically at night. That flushes out surface protein slicks and gets rid of CO2 for the plants to 'sleep' at night 🌃 ☝️
it also helps filter bacteria and fish at night 😉
Love from india ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Just run air line and stone into tank from air pump. I have the air stone near the surface but it works if you put the stone lower down. I keeps the surface clear.
I have a brand new 10 gallon setup that's never had anything in it, plus it was washed thoroughly and besides the introduction of some plants (that are obviously growing well with new growth on them exploding) I also like and use nitrifying bacteria so the tank cycles faster. But I still won't introduce fish until I have a good "seasoned tank" as the guy from Seattle is fond of saying so that's a few days or weeks later. And so this is my first planted tank. Although I'm a Master Gardener of over 20 years so I know and understand plants and I'm looking forward seeing how this planted aquarium progresses. Because of my water conditions (high 8.4+ PH with a TDS of 100 depending on what time of year it is) I decided to go the Fluval Strata route, though I capped mine with small, course gravel and so far I'm completely happy with that (and so are my plants) course of events and would use that again should I get around to a larger more complex tank next time. If my water wasn't like it is I'd use something else but Fluval and my water go together GREAT!!! So why upset the apple cart?? Anyway this morning was the first time I had seen this oily stain in any of my aquariums going back 20+ years. I used the glass method to remove it easily but how it got there in a new tank setup with no fish and a few plants is (so far) a little beyond me. Although I'm glad it's removal is so easy and there's many different ways to do that too. Good luck everyone!!
Use a sheet of cling film. It removes all of it completely.
im gonna try it
Nice, I've heard of paper towel, but I'll have to try the cling. Thanks for the tip.
Do you mean like a sheet of cling wrap??
Nice hack cheers 🍻 not sure if it's the correct method but I just cut a piece of plastic cling wrap to the width of the the tank and dragged it across the surface from one end to the other. Worked a treat
I know this is old but what do you mean by cling film? Like saran wrap?
I put a skimmer from Superfish in my aquarium every 2 weeks or so
Leave it for a day.
Put it in the tank in the evening after work and remove it the next day after work.
And than its clean for about 2 weeks.
seems like a good way to go
Great information, Kitchen roll works well but it’s only a temporary solution.
Very true!
i am using diffuser with aerator when i co2 is not running and it helps
Nice tips bro!. The neo flow premium is small and looks really nice and does the job well. But unfortunately the premium version is not available in India 😶.
sorry to hear that, maybe it will change in the future
AHi I'm new to all this. I had a free 1.5 gallon tank given to me. So I went to the store and got a Betta. I came home googled what I needed to do, well after 150 bucks later lmao I got a 4 gallon and everything I need to get the water right. After doing research I set up the 1.5 for the Betta to live in until I got the 4 gallon setup. I let the 4 gallon go for a day and a half before introducing the Betta into the 4 gallon. After 3 days the water get grey cloudy, I changed the water and 2 days later the water is cloudy again with film on top. Is this the tank cycling with a fish? Should I water change every 3 days? Wait some more for the filter to cycle? I know I screwed up but at least I'm trying to do things right.
In my opinion the surface film exsists because of too many nutrients in the water. Your aquascape is not in balance and needs to stabilize! A skimmer is a nice tool to get rid of it and of course its quite good for water movement, but it needs room and doesnt look as good as without one.
I really like your tips and tricks, keep it up ! :)
the Neo Skimmer is the smallest one, good compromise to keep it always inside
Hi ,, master
I have a question, Can I use dark cycle method before dry start? I look forward to your reply.
Hi I'm dealing with a drama that seems to be linked to the oil/biofilm in my aquarium. Losing a lot of dwarf rasboras! 😰 I would like to try this skimmer but I don't understand what it is hooked up to. I have a tank with a built in filter and pump, so I don't think I can hook it up to that. Any help on how this works (also maintenance) is appreciated!
I'm having so much trouble adjusting the Neo Skimmer :( I can't really get it to work properly... But once I do and the water level evaporates just a little bit, it starts making a really loud "sucking noise" instead.
I've been having the same issues :/
I hear you guys, I think the problem is that the floater sits very close to the surface and the flow is too strong in most cases with the short tube.
I will test turning the pipe around and making use of the longer tube to see if this allows easier adjustment
@@JurijsJutjajevs Thanks! Yes, that is definitely a problem when fairly high lighting leads to a lot of evaporation. I’ve also been considering using the longer tube and lowering the output flow with a UNS valve.
Юра красота ! 😍
Interesting.
Hi.
I have a question. Why is there no surface film in my aquarium? Not that I want to have. I just wonder why I don't have this problem in my aquarium at all. Any ideas? 😊
Enough surface movement, and good Overall balance
I really need to get a couple sets of these pipes.
you do 😉
what would you do if this surface if you had an aquarium with no filter?
You can use kitchen paper towels, lay flat on surface and lift with two fingers from the middle. The surface film will be trapped in the paper towel.
@@JurijsJutjajevs thks i will try!
I noticed this film when I use almond leaves in my betta tank.
But you are sucking the oil from the top with the skimmer and send it again into the aquarium?Won't it go again to the surface again with time?
No it’s mixed with water
Just bought the neo premium pipes yesterday but the skimmer is sucking air in and is making noise all the time
If you have shrimp in your aquarium and feed them bacter ae does that also creat that oily film?
Bacter ae?
i use kitchen paper. i lay it flat on the water and then pull it off with it.
Does the Neo Skimmer System actually make any noise? I‘ve got my scapes right where I sleep so I would need the skimmer to be dead silent 🤔
If you set it up in the right way and it doesn't suck in air, it's dead silent. I've got two in my bedroom and never had any noise from them :)
to be honest, its a little bit tricky to set them in a way they are completely silent. And if they are, a little evaporation and surface level change and they start sucking in air, which makes noise. For bedroom I would recommend using either a classic skimmer or removing the floater from the Aquario skim overnight, so it doesn't skim at night and remains silent.
@@JurijsJutjajevs Hey, thank you for your recommendations ☺️ Guess I‘ll do just that. Have a nice week 👌
what camera do you use brother?
Canon 90d
Can surface water plants do the trick?
They can eventually assist but cannot be seen as a solution. Objects close to the surface, floating objects provide possibility for shrimps to graze the surface. This can help, but oftentimes is not enough
I used aeration couple of days 2 hours each and it cleared the film.
Amano proven 😉
The best method I’ve found is to use my leaf blower on high and blow it across the water surface.
Across the room 🙃
😂 😂 😂
How do these skimmer interact with floating plants?
They get close and swim around
Did anyone figure out how to clean the film off of floating plants? A faster way then a paint brush or tiny piece of sponge?
I would use cuba. With these stones would look nice.
For sure 😉
what happened with channel? why there is no films?
I needed a pause
I thought that film was a chemicL in water, like i used silicon tape inside aquarium to paste some plants.. now i removed them, i thought that silicon tape glue has chemical and formed that layer lol
I float paper towels on the surface for a few seconds and then remove them. Easy peasy.
What makes you say it is bacteria on the surface? do you have a professional link for this?
I have little surface film but the bubbles on the sides are getting plenty :(
I'm learning, thanks. 🌿🍀❤
You are so welcome
My skimmer dips down and does not swim.
Spray method doesn’t work for me
You can even use tissue
creates a lot of waste ..
I cleaned it with paper sheets. It's sticking on the sheets and then got it out.
yes, but this creates a lot of waste and I decided not to include because of this
Using black molly you will never regret
Nothing to do with strong light and surface movement. I have very low light and surface movement on my aquarium and and I still got it. When I get rid of it, it comes back in 2 days
My “pest” snails eat it, and it stays under control.
My fish jumping from tank at night....wt to do....helppppp
add a lid
If you have floating plants I recommend just spray them with water, because using skimmer sometimes will suck the plants or get blocked by them...
and paper sheet can't really get all the scum in between the leave (cause the will get stuck too, specially for smaller floating plants)
+ using paper/tissue create unnecessary waste
spraying floating plants is not good for the floating plants either. from time to time its okay, but they don't like to be sprayed often..
@@JurijsJutjajevs yeah... they don't like high humidity, I only do it like 3-4 times (maks) a week and since I didn't have a lid the humidity will quickly decrease
Good old air stones or sponge filters... People say the are ugly or that they can be hidden in an aquarium.... IDK I say people are kind of elitist and would rather spend shitloads of money on a skimmer than just hide a small airstone/sponge in the back.
The bubble popping action naturally ejects small particulate out of the water.
Use a cup sink the cup in where the scum is thick and just let the top layer only fill the cup until half full then empty the cup fill it half way again.
It's weird if you fill the cup all the way the scum jumps out back into the tank I couldn't explain it. Back flow or something.
If I get another tank I'll get a super deep flask just to skim the surface I wouldn't want another electrical item doing it.
The outflow just breaks up the water doesn't do anything but scatter the scum harder to see. Soon as the water is still the scum floats top layer again.
I was always told to just sink a cup and let the scum drop into the cup balance its lip 1mm under water to take only the top layer of water so its a cup full of scum Half full even cos don't want it jumping out. Lol.
I have no idea what good spraying down will do lol. As soon as you stop it settles at the top again.
Removing it with cup is best imo.
I always thought it was oil's and fats though from the fish and the food. But bacteria makes sense too.
People who live feed piranha and stuff they get the worst.
I like your glass outflow pipe tho. Looks like a crack pipe.
I'm doing this, so easy and like you say, you dont actually remove much water getting it to drain into the cup.... maybe 2 1/2 coffee cups. I also do it at water changes.....skim surface with a cup, then syphon out the main volume I want to change, clean inside top of tank glass/filter return/whatever and refill.
Use hands to collect them
Water bottle tricks every other day works best for me.
For 60cm tank, it takes not more than 3 minutes..
you mean submersing and skimming the surface manually?
@@JurijsJutjajevs yuup
used to use alot of paper towel. until i realize, i can just net them until it dissolve.
That’s interesting technique ☝️
Get a mug and collect the film by submerging the mug from a corner.
great if you want to perform a small waterchange at the same time
Dear Jurijs, As much as i love your videos, i absolutely detest the frequency at which you post videos. Wish you could post something every week at least.
Use air pump that always works
Air pump will push out CO2
🙏🙏🙏
I put tissue paper on the surface. It clings to the paper and is gone
Common but also creates a lot of waste 😞
I add nutrifying bacteria and the film disappears from the surface after one Day.
I think that this film is also made from the feed of some manufacturers
The bacteria definitely feeds on something
All you need to get rid of the surface film is a cup. You collect all of those film with a cut no need to buy another thing 😂
My fish died because of it
so there is no easy solution
Put at sheet of newspaper on the surface for 30 min, pull it out an film is gone
just 1 molly fish can solve this problem
Its a schooling fish.
So seems a bit unfriendly to the fish.
Keep it alone and only to fix a problem.
zzzzzzzzzzz this guy's videos r full of ads ,fullllllllll of ads