Could plants fix this issue?

Ive noticed a large amount of mulm slowly building up in my paludarium substrate. I decided to gravel vac for the first time in 4 years today and got a decent amount out. I don't really like to gravel vac as I don't like to mess with the microfauna population in the substrate which there is a lot of.

This paludarium has no rooted plants only epiphytes. If I were to add a plant such as dwarf sagittaria or crypt parva would it reduce the amount of build up? Or should I just gravel vac every month or so?

The tank was set up in early May and used aged substrate from previous scape. The culprit for the mulm is obviously fish waste but mainly the spiderwood stump. Also, the substrate is sloped towards the back around 5cm before the lava rock wall. TIA

Dwarf sagittaria and crypt parva are excellent choices the roots provide a good place for:

Detritus worms, Copepods, Ostracods, they are the best Mulm checker there is...

Any bottom dwellers that moves the substrate is also great help.

Water movement also plays a great part of the accumulation "Hot Spots"

Might have to have a look into those plants then. The main feature of this paludarium was epiphyte-only aquatic plants A darker leaf plant will be best too to fit in with the style of the other plants.

MaloK said:

Water movement also plays a great part of the accumulation "Hot Spots"

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That's the one flaw with this paludarium. Behind the rock wall, it's pretty much spotless as the pump mainly draws in water and mulm from behind there.

MattW3344 said:

That's the one flaw with this paludarium. Behind the rock wall, it's pretty much spotless as the pump mainly draws in water and mulm from behind there.

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Explain that part a little more pls...

Sometimes a well "situated" piece of fine mechanical filtering media (that can be easily maintained) can remove a lot of mulm directly from the water layer before it settles down.

I have a cat drinking fountain bowl thing with a tiny pump that's about 2" big. Maybe hide something like that to stop it settling?

What's the substrate?
If it's baked clay/dirt then it's just going to keep breaking up and literally falling into pieces (mulm). I have the Fluval stratum in a 6 gallon and have to break the tank down (shrimp tank, will be so much fun to break down) to empty the now mostly mulm and replace it with Petco's "new" Eco-complete knock off substrate. Will never buy anything like the stratum substrate again as it's a mess.

Maybe the pump is too close to the bottom and trows back in the tank ? If the mulm deposit behind the wall, it's a good place to trap it and be able to siphon it out easily...

Putting your pump higher will raise the flow rate and prevent deposit from getting sucked in.

MaloK said:

Explain that part a little more pls...

Sometimes a well "situated" piece of fine mechanical filtering media (that can be easily maintained) can remove a lot of mulm directly from the water layer before it settles down.

Click to expand...

So this is the filtration design. Water is drawn in through a 1cm gap into a Matala mat (I had to remove a fine sponge as the heater would not fit) I clean that out once a week usually with a decent amount of mulm in it. The pump then draws up water to a 8mm T piece one direction goes to the drip wall at the top, the other a small outlet. Now the flaw I mentioned is that the lava rock wall somewhat stops anything laying on top of the substrate at the front of the tank from being sucked into the filtration compartment at the back. That's why I have a large amount of mulm in the substrate at the front but barely anything behind the rock wall. I have in the past used a baster to move mulm towards the back and the matla mat which worked, but in such large amounts now is pretty useless.

Boundava said:

What's the substrate?
If it's baked clay/dirt then it's just going to keep breaking up and literally falling into pieces (mulm). I have the Fluval stratum in a 6 gallon and have to break the tank down (shrimp tank, will be so much fun to break down) to empty the now mostly mulm and replace it with Petco's "new" Eco-complete knock off substrate. Will never buy anything like the stratum substrate again as it's a mess.

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There is no planted substrate in this tank. I know what you mean about stratum I used to have it in a betta tank and was a complete mess when doing maintenance.

Ichthys said:

I have a cat drinking fountain bowl thing with a tiny pump that's about 2" big. Maybe hide something like that to stop it settling?

Click to expand...

I think that may be the only way to stop it from accumulating. Having more flow toward the front of the tank allowing it to be picked up by the main pump. Thanks

If I understand correctly your Matala mat is installed vertically behind the piece of wood on the lower left of the tank.

I have no experience with these mats... I'm still unable to imagine where the pump is located tho.

But you overall design looks like a Matten filter... And I would think that the mat is restricting the water flow too much compared to a Matten filter that would only have some 20-30 PPi sponge.

It is such a beautiful tank.

I'd remove the mulm via siphon, and take the hit on the microfauna. The other methods via pumps etc will just move it around. I'd go to a hardware type store and get a thin enough piece of clear tubing that you'll be able to pull up mulm by hovering, and not have to vac. And then, I would have happy houseplants.

MaloK said:

If I understand correctly your Matala mat is installed vertically behind the piece of wood on the lower left of the tank.

I have no experience with these mats... I'm still unable to imagine where the pump is located tho.

But you overall design looks like a Matten filter... And I would think that the mat is restricting the water flow too much compared to a Matten filter that would only have some 20-30 PPi sponge.

Click to expand...

I think I could've used better pics sorry. The matala mat is installed horizontally inside the glass filtration chamber on the right with the pump sitting above it.

The bottom circle is the Matala mat which is 1 inch thick. The top is an Eheim pump wrapped in a sponge to stop vibrations against the glass. (mesh bag is carbon)

GaryE said:

It is such a beautiful tank.

I'd remove the mulm via siphon, and take the hit on the microfauna. The other methods via pumps etc will just move it around. I'd go to a hardware type store and get a thin enough piece of clear tubing that you'll be able to pull up mulm by hovering, and not have to vac. And then, I would have happy houseplants.

Click to expand...

Thanks @GaryE

I have a 4mm Airline + 6mm/8mm/16mm hose available. I have used them in the past to siphon this tank but have found the substrate easily sucked up perhaps I need to be more careful when doing it . The house plants are doing very well with tank water, especially my Cryptanthus sat in front of my monitor.

Installing the filter media on the bottom is really going to get it clogged fast.

The water should flow in the good direction of the media also. And the larger the contact area are, stronger the filtration system will become.

If you can install you filtration media vertically it will go better because it's going to clog from the bottom - up.

I blued the area that I would redirect water circulation and put in filtration media to fix the setup.



In a even better setup...



This is grossly how I would have planned... I have "0" experience with paludariums, But I always try to stick with, The largest amount of filtration media surface available and the slowest water flow "Possible" for a resulting good turnover... Rule...

Keep in mind that it is my personal view only and does not invoke any factual statement beyond my own experience... But still I Prefer to run largely oversized clogging filters than always clogged ones.

Many times less is more. But in Filtration systems, More... Is more.