cleaning the dung

[yv1]

hi again!

i have a simple yet sort of odd question........

i have a heavily planted tank, and when i vacuum the substrate i can not seem to get into some of the areas where the fish poop and stuff are. what do i do? is it okay to just leave that stuff there???

i stirred up the water with and did a 25% water change just to get some of the gunk out. any other suggestions?

 

[Biggen]

In my planted tank, I don't even vacuum the gravel. The plants will absorb waste and food into the substrate and then use that as their food.

You may want to get a few bottom feeders, if you don't already have some, to help keep the bottom clean. Obviously, the plants won't be able to use everything that sinks to the bottom nor will they use it in a fast manner. The bottom feeders will help keep the excess food and waste in check.

 

[d9hp]

I am still looking for some Kuhli loaches to clean the bottom. There is a good amount of visible mulm in the tank.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

What I can't reach with my siphon, I normally just stir the gravel which stirs waste out of it that will get sucked into the filter.

 

[yv1]

goody thanks guys, i just didnt know if the stuff was harmful or not. i guess ill leave it alone for now.

 

[wabyrd]

In my planted tanks, I only vacuum the gravel in the most easily accessible spots and in the highly visible spots. No ill effects yet...

 

[yv1]

okay slight issues stirred up again...

i vacuumed and did a water change, as much as i can get out, i got out. but there seems to be more??!!??? its this brownish cottoney stuff, could this possibly be some floating algae? i dont understand what it could be...looked like crushed fish poop to me :?
i mean this stuff is everywhere! even floating...

oh dear what have i done?

 

[Electrobes]

Is this stuff clouding your tank or is it in one piece just floating from place to place? It could be madd waste, or it could be algae. Also what is your fish load and what plants do you have or amount?? Hope ot gets better

 

[yv1]

its not clouding no, its just everywhere, resting on plants and such. i have about 25 fish, guppies, 2 mollies, 2 otos, 2 sae's, snails, 2 frogs, 6 cardinal tetras.

plants i have green cabomba, riccia, m. umbrosan, driftwood, java moss, melon swords, red ludwigia, wisteria.

plants are growing nicely and fish seem happy, i just dont know what this stuff is??? i will take a photo today and post it up.

 

[Electrobes]

wait.. what size is you tank.. I thought it was a 10 gallon? If it is then thats a pretty heavy fish load... but even sitll the plants should be happy with a situation like that. Maybe you should cut the lights off a bit earlier, like instead of 12 hours make it something like 10 hours. If it is algae this will help out, plus not giving your tank fetilizer in a bottle for a while. depending on how delicate this stuff is... mayeb you could stir up the water some and try catching most of it on the net while letting the rest just degrade away and get absorbed on the plants. I think I may have the same stuff in my own 10 gallon, in conjuction with an evil algae lurking about. For right now I was told to do the above. I'll tell you if it works out or not.

 

[yv1]

ha, i had a 12 gallon awhile back, nw its a 40 gallon truvu. i recently had a heating problem because of the weather and lack of A/C. my tank got up to the 89 degrees F ! 8O

my fish seem to be haning out near the surface a lot also since the heat surge, but i got the temp back down to around 78 F, theyre still hanging at the top. Maybe the "algae" is doing something to them? Here is a picture of it:

what is it? its disgusting

oops i dont know how to get rid of the double images...

 

[yv1]

one more...

yuck