Habitat - Indoor :: Crud on top of water

[kamekichi]

Howdy folks! So Yawara and Taro seem happy with their upgrade to a 60 gal (Yawara FINALLY started growing in November (and hasn't stopped since!)) It doesn't get nearly as dirty as the old tank. I try and stay on top of scooping waste as much as possible, but I am having one problem - a lot of their waste (including shed skin) is hanging out on top of the water. I suspect part of it is the fact that I didn't do the recommended and get a filter STRONGER than the tank size (I think y'all usually recommend 2 or 3x stronger, right?) Unfortunately, getting a Rena Filstar that just fit my tank was all I could afford. Also the tank stand I have may not fit a bigger canister...

Until I can upgrade the filter, what can I do to control the nastiness atop the water? When I try to scoop it with the net, it floats a way, though I can get some of it when I do partial water changes. Thanks all and Happy New Year!

[BOBOTHETURT]

You might just need something breaking the surface like bubbles or a filter out flow

[ljapa]

I'll second what BOBOTHETURT said. When I first moved to a 55 gallon tank, I also had a scum layer at the top. I added one airstone into the mix, and it cleared pretty quickly.

Eventually, I turned that into a sponge filter powered by the airpump.

[steve]

I still get dried skin against the glass even with surface agitation. Keep some nets handy when you need to just scoop the water surface, though the skin is usually easy to clean even when dried.

[kamekichi]

Thank you guys for the advice! I have a filter output, but have it turned into the wall to quiet it more. I will turn it out and also try looking for other ways to break the water surface.