How To Keep My Sand Sparkling Clean And Free From Mulm

[Barlow]

Hi everyone.

I've got a Fluval Roma 90l tank with a sand substrate and a Fluval 2+ internal filter. The tank is stocked with Neons, Harlequins and Corys (plus a few shrimps and Red Ramshorn snails) and is fairly heavily planted.

I love having a sand substrate but keeping it clean is pretty much impossible - within a few hours of hoovering up all the waste it's noticeable again.

I have pretty decent flow through the tank and my filter does pick up a lot of gunk but it's aimed at the surface of the water and so isn't causing a huge amount of circulation at the bottom.

Do you think adding a powerhead would help? And if so, are there any that you recommend (the smaller the better really)? Or should I stop being so lazy and just do more cleaning!!!!

My local fish shop recommended this Sera filter as it will clean the water as well as circulating it but it's quite expensive (£30).

Any advice is really appreciated.

Many thanks
Jon

 

[gregswimm]

I like to stir the water up with the siphon, get the mulm into the water column so it can be siphoned with minimal sand loss. In bad/hard to stir areas I get very close to the sand, sometimes you siphon sand but its no big deal.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Personally, I wouldn't go for a powerhead. I'm guessing quite a lot of space is already taken up by your internal filter anyway? I'm in the same situation with my sand substrate looking dirty all the time and although it annoys me, I just try to ignore it and clean it as often as possible

 

[m_attt]

i would say your flow isn't as good as you think, you want it so the waste is suspended in the water column for as long as possible as it gives the filter chance to suck it up.

I had it with my tank, soon as i put a second and bigger filter on it was spotless and never need vaccuming.

 

[RipSlider]

Unless your stocked with stuff that really doesn't like flow, then shifting to a bigger filter, or adding a tiny powerhead, won't do any harm.

If your in the UK, Pets@Home do a tiny little powerhead, that might do the trick.

Your other option is to get some fish on the bottom. I've no idea what your stocking capacity is like, but a small shoal of corys will eat a small amount of the mulm, but more importantly will kick it up into suspension so the filter has more chance to get to it.

Steve

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Powerheads are helpful, i wouldnt be without one

 

[Tonyb111111]

I had exactly the same issue on the white substrate in my 200 litre. After cogitating for a couple weeks I bit the bullet and bought a koralia 1600. Never looked back, the fish love it, and the substrate is clean. It cut my vac activities by about 70%.

 

[Joshwainwright]

After what everyone has said, I might have to invest in a little power head myself to circulate the 'dead spot' in my tank

 

[Tonyb111111]

You won't regret it.

 

[Tizer]

the hydor nano's are great, the 900 lph one would be perfect and give your tank another 9 times turn over which is excellent for planted tanks. The internal filter you have is rubbish at drawing up debris from the bottom, only a powerhead will do that for you. I have the same tank/filter

 

[Barlow]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for all your helpful advice. It sounds like a powerhead is a good idea, and the small Koralia one looks perfect - I'm going to order one today.

I'll report back on how I get on!

Cheers
Jon