Plant Matter Clogging Filter Intake

[PumpKineTick]

Greetings,
The fallen off plant matter of my pothos frequently clogs my filter intake by getting stuck on the mesh.
I have removed it every time, although I had to fight my way to it, as my male jaguar cichlid is quite ferocious and attacks any intruder.
I would like to have a definitive, long term solution to this conundrum.
Thanks.

The tank in question is 550L w/ external filter aquarium at the side. The overflow is a U pipe with a mesh head on the intake.
The parameters are:
Nitrate - 20 mg/l
Nitrite - 0
GH - 8°d
KH - 15-20°d
pH - 8
Chlorine - 0
The water at our residence is quite hard, which causes high KH/pH.
Also, the tank is just before water change. It's this sunday. I change ~50% every 4 weeks. I also clean the filter every 4 weeks, 2 weeks offset the water change.

 

[connorlindeman]

Not really much you can do.

 

[TNG]

Greetings,
The fallen off plant matter of my pothos frequently clogs my filter intake by getting stuck on the mesh.
I have removed it every time, although I had to fight my way to it, as my male jaguar cichlid is quite ferocious and attacks any intruder.
I would like to have a definitive, long term solution to this conundrum.
Thanks.

The tank in question is 550L w/ external filter aquarium at the side. The overflow is a U pipe with a mesh head on the intake.
The parameters are:
Nitrate - 20 mg/l
Nitrite - 0
GH - 8°d
KH - 15-20°d
pH - 8
Chlorine - 0
The water at our residence is quite hard, which causes high KH/pH.
Also, the tank is just before water change. It's this sunday. I change ~50% every 4 weeks. I also clean the filter every 4 weeks, 2 weeks offset the water change.

Would you say your pothos is thriving or it’s not at its best? Just asking because healthy plants shouldn’t produce much detritus.

If it’s not at its best it could be due to the high pH of your water.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Why is your pothos shedding so much? I'm no houseplant expert (my past is littered with the carcasses of dead houseplants) but that doesn't seem right. Usually plants shed a lot of matter if they aren't doing well.

If it's normal, I'd get a different plant.

 

[jaylach]

If the plant seems healthy the pieces parts that are clogging the intake could be due to fish nibbling on the plant breaking pieces off. If the plant does not seem healthy get rid of it.

Going with the plant seeming healthy there a couple of thoughts that come to mind;

1) Attach a piece of sponge filter media to the filter intake. This will give a larger surface area from which the intake can draw water and probably make cleaning easier when the sponge does start to clog. If the intake is agreeable just cut out a piece of the sponge so that it can just be pressed onto the intake. Very easy to maintain as you would just need to pop off the sponge and rinse then popping the sponge back on the intake.

2) use suction cups and mesh (either stainless steel or nylon) to make a 'cage' around the intake. This would likely be a bit more complicated to set up but would also be less likely to restrict the intake flow.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Would you say your pothos is thriving or it’s not at its best? Just asking because healthy plants shouldn’t produce much detritus.

If it’s not at its best it could be due to the high pH of your water.

They (there are three) seem to grow nonstop. It seems only two of them are decaying.

 

[PumpKineTick]

If the plant seems healthy the pieces parts that are clogging the intake could be due to fish nibbling on the plant breaking pieces off. If the plant does not seem healthy get rid of it.

Going with the plant seeming healthy there a couple of thoughts that come to mind;

1) Attach a piece of sponge filter media to the filter intake. This will give a larger surface area from which the intake can draw water and probably make cleaning easier when the sponge does start to clog. If the intake is agreeable just cut out a piece of the sponge so that it can just be pressed onto the intake. Very easy to maintain as you would just need to pop off the sponge and rinse then popping the sponge back on the intake.

2) use suction cups and mesh (either stainless steel or nylon) to make a 'cage' around the intake. This would likely be a bit more complicated to set up but would also be less likely to restrict the intake flow.

Thank you for the detailed reply!
There were cases where he pulled on the roots but it's scarce compared to the shedding.
The issue is, the sponge method does not solve my problem, as I still have to reach into the tank to replace it.
I'm afraid nothing's safe in the tank. I have a clay flowerpot weighing multiple pounds that he pushed around quite easily.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Also, here are some pictures for reference. Note the brown strands.

 

[PumpKineTick]

1) and 2) are the same plant. The ,,youngest", 4) seems to be devoid of any browning.

 

[Aqua67]

Why not put the root end piece of the plant into a refugium-like container made from hard plastic with ventilation slits/holes for water circulation? Then any root material will stay in the refugium where it can be scooped out and removed without fighting the fish inside the aquarium.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Why not put the root end piece of the plant into a refugium-like container made from hard plastic with ventilation slits/holes for water circulation? Then any root material will stay in the refugium where it can be scooped out and removed without fighting the fish inside the aquarium.

I have quite little space for such. I would definitely like to know how one may go about doing it. How do you suspend it on the top? Will it not hurt the aesthetics of the tank? Is it worth it?
I must clarify that I am looking for a biological/chemical reason why my pothos behaves in such a way.
I suppose I might consider such as a final resort if noone can diagnose the problem.

 

[PumpKineTick]

I once again scrubbed the waste off the plastic mesh, thankfully without any injuries. I also manually removed much of the dead roots.
Sadly, the information about aquarium-propagated
pothos is scarce, and I can't seem to find a satisfying solution on the internet.
If someone has experience with pothos/propagation and knows more about the science of it, please do contribute.
Other than that, the issue is somewhat benign, but still bugs me.

 

[Glenn407]

The one I had that started off as a house plant turned ugly, I just chopped in parts and stuck the ends in the aquarium gravel. I asked about the idea and was told they would start dying at some point being fully submerged.. What point that is I don't know yet because four months in they are still going and even shooting out new leaves.

 

[Aqua67]

Perhaps the jaguar cichlid is chewing up the roots on these pothos.

 

[jaylach]

The one I had that started off as a house plant turned ugly, I just chopped in parts and stuck the ends in the aquarium gravel. I asked about the idea and was told they would start dying at some point being fully submerged.. What point that is I don't know yet because four months in they are still going and even shooting out new leaves.

FIrst I know absolutely nothing about this plant so this thought may be totally off the wall...

If this plant in fact cannot live for a very long time submerged but it were still wanted to have say three in a tank... Could one not get six and rotate them out every once in a while?