Reply With QuoteHow big is your filter?
Since it is a hang on filter, you might wanna wash your filter with the siphoned out water... Probably it might be very dirty, that's why it is throwing out the mulm when you on it again...
Ok, I'm not sure whether I'm the only one with this problem, coz no one seems to mention this topic here in the forum..
This is my weekly water change regime:
(1) switch off filter (hang-on filter)
(2) siphon water out
(3) put water back (either by siphoning or filling it gently using a cup, depending on mood)
(4) switch on filter
(5)(well, almost)
Is there any problem with my water change regime? Why am I whining here? coz
(1) everytime i switch off the filter, a significant amount of goo from the filter oozes out and immediately contaminates the water in the tank, rendering the filtering done for the past few days, a waste.
(2) it always takes more than one attempt to successfully siphone the water out of the tank (ok, can't blame anything but myself for this), as a result, the powerful water backflow created from the failed siphones attempts disturbs the substrate and causes a whole lot of mulm, driftwood rot, plant rot and fish poo to explode all over the tank
(3) no matter how gently i try to refill the tank, more disturbance to the substrate, more mulm, driftwood rot, plant rot and fish poo fly.
(4) then when I switch the filter on again, more goo and stuff is spewed out, contaminating my already contamainted fresh change of water further.
(5) and my poor tetras will be huddled in one corner looking like victims of some armageddon
(6) and when the debris finally decide to settle down, they choose to stick in places like the leaves of the plants and moss, making the plants look dirty, dusty and messy and if i try to shake of the debris, the viscous cycle starts all over again
(7) the plants cant get enough light as a result of being covered by the debris... even my java moss is struggling to survive!
so there, my long whiny message... sometimes i just cant help but feel that i'm better off not doing any waterchange... i need some advice here...
Who made up all these rules?
We follow 'em like fools.
Believe 'em to be true.
Don't care to think 'em through.
How big is your filter?
Since it is a hang on filter, you might wanna wash your filter with the siphoned out water... Probably it might be very dirty, that's why it is throwing out the mulm when you on it again...
First, remove hang-on filter and clean whatever dirt is in there.
Also change the dirty wool.
Wouldn't cleaning the filter and changing water at the same time cause too much water parameter change and possibly a nitrate/ammonia spike?
I'm doing weekly water changes coz the tank is small and the bioload is high. i only skip a water change if i want to clean the filter, which is whenever i feel that the water flow has weaken significantly, coz i dun want to destroy the BB...
Who made up all these rules?
We follow 'em like fools.
Believe 'em to be true.
Don't care to think 'em through.
You would kill the BB so easily... They are more resilient than we think they really are... Use the siphoned out water to wash if you are worried that the BB would be killed by the chlorine in the tap water...
The only time it would cause a ammonia/nitrate spike is when you change the whole piece of wool at a go... So if you wanna change, change only half of it... To let the BB grow on the new piece...
Clean up your filter. Consider changing to a better one if things do not improve, I've used two hang-on filters before and none has given me this problem.
When you do water changes, you need not stick the siphon in the substrate. The substrate is supposed to be left alone! I use a suction device to start the siphon, and I'm always around when the siphon is working since I direct the tube over areas of possible dirt. Do everything gently and patiently... yours should be a 2ft tank or so, so siphoning a 2ft tank should be done quite easily!
Refilling is the same thing, it's a matter of discipline. I choose the slow and steady way and the hose tap is never turned on to full. A trickle of water slowly fills up the tank, and this water hits plants so as to furthur disperse the force.
How big is your tank?
I would also suggest taking out the hang on filter to give it a good wash including the filter media. I wash my internal filter in my 2ft tank once every 2 weeks.
There is no need to wash the filter media until its very clean. Around 80% clean will do. And do not use immediate tap water to wash the media. The chlorine in the tap water might kill the BB. There are more BB in your tank then your filter, so should not be an issue in washing the media.
If you are still unsure, you can dose BB into your tank after each filter wash. Like nutrafin cycle or seachem stability etc.
Sounds to me like you've got excessive mulm in that tank...
Its a five plan tank of length 36cm (slightly more than 1ft). I've attached a poorly-taken photo of it.Originally Posted by genes
High bioload includes: 30++ tetras, 3 otos, 1 cigar fish and shrimps (To my defence, i started with only 10 neon tetras and shrimps. Now I have a mixture of neons, black neons, cardinals etc, courtesy of relatives who view my tank as the ideal dumping ground for their unwanted fish)
As you can see from the photo attached, the tank contains only a huge driftwood tied with java moss and a huge crpyt. (Used to have a few stalks of cabomba but i removed them this morning coz they are either dead or dying)
So where did all the mulm come from?
Its a M sized Dolphin hang on filter... forgot the flow rate... i just had it upgraded from the S sized Jebao filter.. I didnt put ceramic rings or anything, just used watever it came with, which is just a piece of sponge...
I think excessive is an understatement... there is like loads and loads of mulm in there!
I try to clear the mulm with a battery operated gravel cleaner whenever i can. However, i have to be reallycareful coz the shrimps and shrimplets are very curious, they like to follow the gravel cleaner wherever it goes, probably thinking that its a huge algae wafer or something... so i have to try to suck up as much mulm i can without sucking up the suidical shrimps too..
However, I strongly suspect that more than half the amount of mulm is contributed by that piece of driftwood.. it is constantly rotting.. there was once i lifted the driftwood and the whole tank became literally black. Didn't dare to lift it again. Do your driftwoods give you this problem?
As for everyone's suggestion of cleaning the filter more often, i shall heed the advice and hope that the mulm situation will be more controlled.. thanks!
Who made up all these rules?
We follow 'em like fools.
Believe 'em to be true.
Don't care to think 'em through.
Part of the mulm is caused by the high bioload you have in there. Reduce the number of fishes for a start.
As for driftwoods, i dun think they would wreck such a havoc from rotting. And yes, when i lift my driftwoods during rescape, i stir up loads of mulm too. My whole tank would become totally milky and brownish. What i do is after letting it settle, i use a small hose to suck up the bits that are visible on my plants and moss.
Here's what you do:
Add a layer of coarse substrate about 4 to 5mm in diameter. If you already have that, skip this.
Next get some trumpet snails. I've got some to spare if you're interested.
Then, stop vaccuming the substrate. Do you know how a compost heap works? it starts off slowly at first, then it picks up speed as the bacteria colony stabalise. Same thing with mulm.
The snails will move the mulm 1cm below the surface of the substrate where it'll rot into it's base components(which you can't see)
That way your tank looks mulm free from above. And you've got a nice constantly renewing layer of basefert.
Next, get more plants. preferably the carpeting kind. Hairgrass would be good. You've probably got really high nitrate levels which is never good for your fish.
I should be working not posting
what i normally do is get a small powerhead+top filter box and fine filter wool or t shirt material[your choice] and run it at night[lights off period] to clear the excess debris after wc or stirring up gravel after rescaping. [mechanical filtration]
by morning it should be clear...
i don't advice cleaning the filter too well as bacterial bloom always follow IME. just a quick rinse and pat with siphoned aq water will do.
this the reason i hate WC. tank looks good only for 5days before the next monsoon.
i have one tank without WC for 8 months already...and looks fine.
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
@ aquastuff.org
Dood, 8 months?!? amazing....
Anyways, from my experience, my canister filter also spewed out gunk... initially, the entire tank (imagine a 5 footer having gunk floating all over the place...) had it... What I found was that there was excessive mulm (maybe during the start up) and after which cleared up bit by bit. My filter has matured rather well now and the water is really clean now.
Would suggest like what standoyo said to give the filter media a quick rinse in aged water also it could be the hang-on filter too... maybe before a water change, place a fine net at the mouth of the opening to catch any free-falling mulm and then siphon off a bit of the overflowing water first before taking it out for a rinse.
Btw, 30+ tetras seems quite a bit for a 36cm tank...
visit my photo albums @ flickr!
Exactly!!
Hey Grey_fox, your idea to use a net/bag to catch the mulm that falls out from the filter sounds feasible..I think i can use the bag provided by the gravel cleaner...
Mulm convert to base fert.. foc fert... hmm.. i like the thought of that..Thanks XnSdVd!
Who made up all these rules?
We follow 'em like fools.
Believe 'em to be true.
Don't care to think 'em through.
Hi, need to cut down the bioload in your tank. Use a smaller driftwood and plant more. There's not enough plants in there.
With the dense planting, it would help prevent stirring up of mulm from the substrate.
I think your filter wool also needs a wash. Rinse it in the water you siphoned out.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
I should be working not posting
not really amazing, tom has said it's doable...it's heavily planted...not really trying to set most laziest record but it's the same reason i hate riccia...
Freakin... like minded... method is also to appease parents... water bill etc...
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
Why not rescape? I know it is a chore to do it, but the one thing I do when I have alot of mulm and debris is I wash 2/3 of my sand and clean the tank and I keep 1/3 of the water. Since it is about 1 feet, it should be easy to clean. Buy a bunch of stem plants, just one will do and add it as background plant, besides it is normally a dollar a pot.
I think adding some fine filter wool to the sponge would help reduce mulm and try to throw in some Biohome jus before the discharge!
Might increase your BB colony, but i think your bioload is still too high for that!
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