Eheim canister filter

I've had my new Eheim 2213 filter running for a week and a half now. I've used all the media that was supplied however I took out some of the substrat pro (little brown balls) to fit a stocking with 2Cups of shell grit and replaced the new ceramic rings with the ones that were in my previous filter. I washed all the news things with hot water, including the canister itself because it was dusty from the shipping. What I would like to know is, has anybody else found that the water in the canister has an oil effect? I've opened the lid twice in the past week to find that there is an oily looking film on the surface I'm unsure what could be causing it, or even if it's healthy. One of my axolotl's floats at the top and I didn't know if this stuff could be affecting the water quality. The only thing I could think of would be a film from the water conditioner but any opinions would be great!

Sorry not much help, but in both my eheims i haven's come across this. Have you tried to touch the film? Does it break up when you touch it and feel viscous?

Hmm it's very strange. I looked at the water from the tank when I did a water change and the film wasn't evident so it only appears to be in the canister :dizzy: I swirled my finger in it and it didn't break away, just moved as a 'blob', which is what made me think "oil? what the hell?". I even put the sponges and such in a bucket of tank water in case something was leaching out of them and then emptied the remaining water from the canister but the film was still there after I started the filter back up.

I'm not sure whats going on, it could just be some residue from something in the filter as you said it's new. Can you skim it off the surface or absorb it to remove it

My planted tank had something similar a while ago i just kept up water changes and skimming the surface and it eventually disappeared.

It is possible that it is a protein layer. I'm not familiar with Eheim filters, but some tanks will develop what looks like an oily surface when cycling. It shouldn't pose any problems.

Well that could explain it as I'm in the middle of a cycle i.e. Nitrite converting to Nitrate! I'll just keep doing daily water changes as I have been. Thank you both for helping :happy:

A layer of newspaper should remove it if you are worried about it but as said, may be a protein layer or could be due to the water conditioner, Prime has a habit of leaving a layer when there is little water circulation.