# Jelly mass growing in my filter sponge



## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I finally figured out what's clogging up my canister filter every week. I thought it was mulm all this time but the jelly mass colony is big enough for me to see and I can't rinse it off. I'll have to run my filter without the sponge pads for a while. I'll check this out when I can under the microscope. I wonder if you guys know what it is.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I looked under the microscope and it was a fibrous mass. 
I did some digging on google and it could be didymo, rock snot, diatoms. Or it could be Gomphoneis also. They seem to like nutrient rich waters, mostly Phosphate.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

This is a new one to me. Was the mass growing in the filter itself, or was it growing in the tank and accumulating in the filter?


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

It's a new one for me as well. It's growing only in my canister filter.
I wouldn't mind it but you can't rinse in off in the sponge pads. I'll have to wait it'll it dries crumble it out.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Could this be caused by the way you dose sugar, etc. to supply bioavailable carbon to the plants? I'm not saying it is caused by that, just that it is one of the things that distinguish your tanks from most of ours.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

hoppycalif said:


> Could this be caused by the way you dose sugar, etc. to supply bioavailable carbon to the plants? I'm not saying it is caused by that, just that it is one of the things that distinguish your tanks from most of ours.


It's possible. I thought about it.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

I have this type of "jelly thing" growing in my small Walstad tank. Tank is 16 liters, out of it 4 liters are for the inbuilt filtration, divided to 3 equally sized chambers. First one holds only a coarse sponge, there is no slime growing and it pretty much never gets clogged and doesn't need any cleaning. Second chamber has two small medium coarse sponges (picture shows ceramics media, which I don't use), with the primary function as a mechanical filtration to not to clog the pump in the third chamber. This second stage filtration tends to grow quite a big amount of "jelly" which clogs both sponges almost completely in about a month. "Jelly" grows often also around the pump and in the hose between the pump and the rain bar. Sponges are harder to clean, but I find that a good, hard squish against a tub loosens the "jelly" and it's possible to make them like new again with a bit of effort.

Nothing like this happening in my much more stocked tank with much smaller filter (compared to the overall tank volume). That one gets clogged with the usual mulm.

Long story short, I have no explanation and would like to have the answer too


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

hmm, my tank is part dirted too. That's a common thing.

The jelly thing is made up of a colony of fibrous diatom.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

It's strange that diatoms in my tank don't grow in the big sponge, just close to the pump. 

Any idea how to get rid of them except phosphate/silicate removal media? Using a standard diatom micron filter floss most probably won't help as I do not see any diatoms in the tank itself.  Maybe they'll die naturally once soil stops releasing silicate (if that's the primary cause)?


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

The only thing I can think of that will hurt diatom is certain fish eating them and UV sterilizer.

Maybe try poisoning them with excel. Regular dosing of excel could wipe them out.


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