Every new keeper experience this moment in aquarium hobby. You’ve just bought your first tank, or you’ve just cycled it. Your water looks great.
You fill up a cup of water from the tank. And then you see it, a film floating on top of glass that looks like…soap scum. It’s slimy.
Your brain tells you it has to be dirty. You can’t stand it. You must wipe it clean at all costs!
That’s what happens when you get biofilm. Biofilm creep onto the glass. You freak out.
You pick up algae pad. You wipe it away. An hour later, it’s back again.
Welcome to the club. Welcome to the world of frustration. And welcome to a total waste of time.
That slime you’re seeing isn’t dirt. That’s life. More specifically, that’s a community of fungi and bacteria setting up house in their new home.
What you’re seeing is very process known as nitrogen cycle. You are watching the foundation of your tank’s ecosystem being build. Most beginners view this as an invasion to be repelled.
Veterans treat it as sign of progress. Your perspective make all the difference when it comes to maintaining your tank. It saves you time.
It saves your hands from scrubbing. It also saves your sanity. The key to making your decision is to understand what you’re dealing with.
Understanding Biofilm In New Aquarium Tanks
What Is Aquarium Biofilm
What exactly IS biofilm? Biofilm is complicated. Biofilm is a structure made up of multiple organism (microbes) caught within their own secretions.
These secretions shield those microbe from environmental stressors. Those microbe are the bacteria that will colonize your new tank and over time will turn deadly ammonia into relatively safe nitrate. They’re the workers.
If you don’t want to see them fired, don’t. Wait until building is complete. Several folks has asked me about vacuuming it out when changing water for first few times.
Generally speaking, the answer is no. Aggressively removing it will put you back at square one, you’ll cycle all over again. You want these bacteria to establish a long-term home on your substrate and filter media. They simply landed there first, on the glass.
Why You Should Not Scrub It Off
Consider the glass to be waiting room. As your tank matures, the bacteria will migrate away from it to more stable locations. Allowing them this period of time should of helped stabilize the biological filtration.
On the other hand there are some exceptions. For example, if your fish will eat the decorations, then you want to wash the film off them. Loaches and plecos (just as a couple of examples) adore this stuff.
Actualy, the biofilm is one heck of a natural food source in initial weeks. Biofilm is a welcomed treat for any herbivore. It also aids their acclimation to new environment.
Biofilm As Natural Fish Food
You don’t need to sterilize all of the stuff before adding livestock. Nature will provide a starter diet directly off the glass. It looks good.
I know that’s superficial, but come on, nobody likes to see a slimy tank in their pictures. It makes people think you don’t know how to keep fish. And it’s a valid concern.
That said, the slime doesn’t go away by scrubbing. It goes away because of time. Eventually, it reaches its peak (week two or three for most).
After that, it dissapears and leaves. There isn’t anything for the bacteria to live on so it finds better real estate elsewhere. Glass gets clear again.
How To Let Biofilm Go Away
All this happen without you lifting a finger. Now if you can’t wait, go ahead and gently wipe down with a soft cloth. Nothing abrasive.
No chemicals. Just a little bit of gentle love. However, this is also a lesson in patience.
So many things can make you experience new tank syndrome. You want to plant too soon. You want to get fish in there ASAP.
You want the water sparkling. Biofilm remind you that mother nature does what she wants when she’s good and ready. Mother nature is slow.
Mother nature is methodical. Mother nature need to be trusted. So next time you see all that slimy stuff, breathe a sigh of relief.
Drop your scraper. Let it dissapear. Let it teach you that yes, life is taking root in your tank.
And that’s the best thing you could hope to hear. That slime is a sign of a healthy future. Let it do its magic.
