# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Mulm control



## Drax7 (Feb 19, 2004)

I have two tanks (35 and 125 gallon) that are both set up with play sand over soil. I know others use play sand, and it seemed like it'd be great for my bottom feeders, but I'm really regretting it now.

Because it's so fine, I get tons of mulm accumulation on top. This gets really bad going months between water changes.

When fish swim along the sand, clouds of mulm float up into the water. It settles in drifts on the sand. Basically it's really ugly.

It's to the point where I'm ready to tear down the tank if necessary to fix it. But I know others here use play sand. Do you have trouble with mulm? Should I just redo the tank with something coarser so that the mulm can sink in around the graveL?


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## Drax7 (Feb 19, 2004)

I have two tanks (35 and 125 gallon) that are both set up with play sand over soil. I know others use play sand, and it seemed like it'd be great for my bottom feeders, but I'm really regretting it now.

Because it's so fine, I get tons of mulm accumulation on top. This gets really bad going months between water changes.

When fish swim along the sand, clouds of mulm float up into the water. It settles in drifts on the sand. Basically it's really ugly.

It's to the point where I'm ready to tear down the tank if necessary to fix it. But I know others here use play sand. Do you have trouble with mulm? Should I just redo the tank with something coarser so that the mulm can sink in around the graveL?


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

I would say, more than likely, that the people who(such as Amano himself) use play sand or any other type of sand in their set-up don't use bottom feeders. The sand is mainly there as an attraction and/or show certain biotope designs. Also, some people only use sand as a part of the decor by limiting it to the front part of the tank. The rest you see where the plants grow abundantly are actually rich substrates, hidden by the flora. All in all, what I am trying to say is the problem is not your sand, but the fish you have that cause these stir-ups. Fish such as plecos and other bottom dwelling catfishes aren't good choice, especially when you have sand. The stir-ups is not only unsightly, but also pose problems to the filter. Try to take a look at some of Amano's tanks with sand in the foreground. You never see any catfish in there, other than the small algae eaters.

Paul


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## Drax7 (Feb 19, 2004)

I understand what you're saying, but the problem goes deeper than the bottom-feeders. Even without the bottom-feeders the mulm would be forming unsightly drifts.

(Incidentally, the mulm isn't a problem for the filters because there aren't any. The 35 gallon is a tall hex with no circulation. The 125 gallon has a powerhead for circulation but no filter per se.)

In Amano's tanks I never see any mulm. Maybe this is because he vacuums a lot? Or maybe he doesn't leave his tanks set up as long. But if you're following Diana's approach, mulm really does accumulate over the months.

Am I just getting much more mulm than other people? Maybe I should be asking if there are ways to minimize mulm accumulation (other than the obvious approach of removing the fish).


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

In your case, maybe vacuuming is the best direct answer I can give you. Mulm does accumulate over time, and moreso in low-tech tanks like Diana's(and mine







You're unhappy mainly because it is on sand which makes it unsightly. We are happy pretty ok with ours because the mulm really is indistinguishable from the dark substrate. So again, in your case, I would just vacuum the open area where you could clearly see them existing. Do this once a week, whenever you are doing water change. Use the twist and turn motion when you vacuum with the siphoning. That way, you don't suck up lots of sand. Most will drop back down to the tank. Hope this helps









Paul


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## Drax7 (Feb 19, 2004)

Except that, as I said, I usually go months between water changes. Frankly, I have to wonder if Diana's method would work if I did weekly water changes in which I sucked out lots of mulm. Where would the plant nutrients come from?

I'm starting to think I might do better just tearing down the tanks and trying again with a different (darker and coarser) substrate.


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## Ger (May 5, 2004)

I use a Hagen powerhead in one of my tanks, packaged as 'QuickFilter 201'. The filter part is just this cylindrical cage with a filter floss bag inside. When my tank looks dirty, i set the powerhead on top of this and crank it up high overnight. It picks up alot of stuff. I think I got it from Big Als for under $20. They have just the quickfilter attachment for Aquaclear powerheads for under $6.


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## Wally (Aug 31, 2003)

I use palysand in all my tanks, and I do not have any problem with mulm. The reason is that I have Malaysian Trumoet Snails in all of my tanks. The MTS hide under the sand during the day and come out only at night so you rarely see them. All of this burrying keeps the sand mixed up and the mulm gets mixed into the sand where is becomes available for plant roots to use it.


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## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

Jim,

Just another idea before you go and tear everything down.

How would it work if you sprinkled in a small layer of pebbles? Say, pebbles with a diameter of about 1/2 cm? You could do this lightly right over your current plants, and let the pebbles settle in over the sand. Mulm could then fall in between the cracks.

Another idea is to use ghost shrimp as a cleanup crew. I have found that they eat detritus (they are scavangers, really). You could try putting about 20 or so of them in your 35 gallon to see if there is an effect. They typically cost about 10 cents apiece.

-Laura


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would try the Aqua Clear powerhead with a Quick Filter. This will filter out a lot of the mulm. It's helped a lot one of my tanks where I was having problems with excess mulm. The mulm was coating the plants and then algae & bacteria was setting in on the plants. 

I've noticed that mulm builds up in areas that get less water circulation and only in certain tanks. Some of my tanks have no mulm. I suspect that if your tank had better water circulation plus better mechanical filtration that the mulm problem would disappear.


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

how loud is the aqua clear powerhead?


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

The power head is completely quiet if it is completely submersed and running right.


Roger Miller


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Agreed! Powerhead and other power filters will stay quiet and cause minimal disturbance when fully submerged. (Feel like I'm a parrot repeating after Roger)

As for Diana's methods, you have to realize that it IS different than the high maintenance ones we frequently see(like Amano's and Dutch tanks) Her concept was designed to have a minimalistic approach in maintenances in mind. No hassle with CO2 injection, pressurized tanks, high end filters, UV sterilizers, etc.... I would definitely say being economical is one of its merits. She already mentioned or has implied in subtlety that when you have a low-tech tank you should already have this mind-set that it is not going to grow, should I say, "kick ass" plants like the ones you see in Dutch and Amano, or Taiwan tanks. You can still grow awesome plants, in my opinion, but for the most part the overall quality is never the same as the ones kept in high-tech tanks. I know some will inevitably beg to differ. That's fine, too







I for one, LOVE my low-tech tank more than anything









Lastly, I LOVE the mulms, alga, and the snails in my low-tech tank! That's all, folks









Paul


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## Drax7 (Feb 19, 2004)

Thanks all for the replies.

I have actually tried a Magnum 350 canister filter on the 125 gallon, leaving it on for two months with weekly filter cleaning. It certainly would catch mulm, but not enough to make a visible difference. It may have simply been too small for the tank, but if so I would expect the Hagen to be too small as well.

Laura's suggestion of sprinkling pebbles is an interesting one. Much of the mulm tends to accumulate in a few spots (because of the way my powerhead is located, there's a definite direction to the water flow). Perhaps some strategically placed pebble "mulm-traps" would make a difference.

I'm fascinated by Wally's suggestion to use MTSs. That's not really an option in my 125 gallon tank since the clown loaches would devour them. But there are other fauna that could serve a similar role, such as horsehead loaches, assuming I can find some. (Anyone have any other good recommendations for stirring sand? Something appropriate for a planted community tank?)

I don't think the mulm I have is something that interests ghost shrimp. I have about 10 of them in my 35 gallon, and they will carefully dig through a pile of mulm to find the one little bit of fish food that fell in there.

Diana, do you have any theory on why some tanks are more mulm-ridden than others? That's a fascinating topic in itself!

Thanks again. This has given me a lot to think about.


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## Markw78 (May 6, 2004)

If your going to use sand you have to use good water movement. IMO most of these plants come from rivers and many lakes that are far from stagnent (some exceptions of course). The best way to do it is to keep the mulm suspended, and use some sort of filter to remove it, change filter weekly.

Another thing is, are there plants where this mulm builds up? If there are plants then as it settles into the sand it will get used. If theres no plants then it is likley to build up more and leave toxic patches deep in your sand. I whiped out my cichlid tank that way once







Sand substrate tanks I would think would need to be very heavily planted with no substrate showing.
edit - oh yah, I bet jus adding a canister filter to either tank would fix a lot of it...may want to check out a HOT magnum due to ease of maintinance, they get nasty QUICK in a plant tank. Which is good thats just more junk your taking out of the tank. I wish I took my own advice, I have a 1" layer of mulm in my sump


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## Corigan (Mar 15, 2004)

I have a bunch of MTS' in my 55g high tech setup with 2 zebra loaches. If the zebra loaches catch them out during the day, they usually end up getting bothered, or as lunch. At night though my MTS' come out like crazy and don't seem to be bothered by the loaches.

Matt


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## Wally (Aug 31, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Drax7:
> Thanks all for the replies.
> ...


My idea to use the MTS and play came several years ago when I also was keeping a reef tank. If you do a search on google for "Live Sand" or "Deep Sand Bed" you will find lots of inof on this technique in saltwater tanks. I think it works even better however in freshwater tanks.

The key is to keep the sand stirred, MTS work great but if your clown loaches will make a quick snack out of them than you could try kuhlie loches or horseface loaches. Brochis Catfish work out nicely as well. Some people call brochis "long nose corys" as they look similar but have a much longer snout. They will use that snout to poke around in the sand. I have also heard that "Vampire pl*cos" will bury in the sand but they might get so big they would up root plants


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> Originally posted by Drax7:
> Diana, do you have any theory on why some tanks are more mulm-ridden than others? That's a fascinating topic in itself!QUOTE]
> 
> Mulm is a very interesting topic. Robert Wetzel's _Limnology_ reports that about 20% of dissolved organic matter (much of that released by plants) converts into particulate matter. Thus, tank water that looks clear can generate mulm. This doesn't surprise me, because proteins precipitate, bacteria grow in clear water and form clumps, etc.
> ...


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Algae Grower:
> how loud is the aqua clear powerhead?


I've noticed that when the Quick Filters get clogged, the AquaClear powerhead starts making a little noise. Because the finely-woven material has small pores, it's going to get clogged fairly quickly. Probably when the powerhead can't bring water into it fast enough, powerhead starts to rattle. Thus, I've had to clean the filter material every week or so to keep filters quiet.

To remedy this, I've replaced the cloth part of Quick Filter with other polyester material that's a little coarser (you can buy a big roll of this stuff for $3). That way, I won't have to clean the filters so often.

I'll save the finer filtration (one micron pore size) for turbidity generated when I'm moving plants around in the tank.


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