redearslider.com

any one try one of these?

its an attachment to a canister filter and looks like this:




since my turts are in a much bigger tank and they are fed in there, i now notice some greasy spots and some skin on the surface.

I've never seen one of those before. Course, I've never looked for one either. I just use a fish net to skim the surface...I'd imagine that's much cheaper. If you get one of those really fine, silky soft ones it'll get the greasy film too.

i have been using a net but i only scoop stuff out every couple of days. the skin that dries up against the glass is what i'd like to get rid of the most. besides, my turts like to take bites at me now more than ever.

oh i see. I cant get in there with the net without taking the turts out first.. I've never heard of a surface skimmer before tho...how does it work?

Does the surface of the water get agitated enough? If not, protein from the food they're being fed will tend to collect on the surface and leave a film (I sometimes have this with cuttlebone). I imagine the skimmer pulls the surface water toward it and anything on the surface collects in it?

If its a canister filter why not place the return later hose just above the water level so it creates a little "waterfall" that will suck all the surface goo down.
Ive been getting a film on mine to but just have the water agitate the surface more and its been fine.

To agitate the water volume to a point where there is no film build up is not possible in my situation. The basking platform would get in the way and a waterfall would be insufficient.

Too much agitation would cause alot of noise and alot of water evaporation.

I have a filter that hangs on the side of the tank and creates a 'waterfall'. I have to add a cpuple of buckets of water every few days... but no grossies on the water