sludge

[bsusdy]

i had a tank that i setup like a year ago, and during that year this brown, dirt, sludgy kind of substance has been building up in the filter and it made the entire tank dirty. i have a new tank and i dont want that to happen there, how do i prevent this?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Um...clean the filter more often?

 

[Byron]

Brown sludge is organic matter, what you want out of the aquarium as soon as it appears. This is usually in the filter. It can be a source of nitrates usually, another bad for the fish.

 

[sharkweek178]

Rinse out your filter media in the old tank water when you do water changes. Use a pipe brush to clean out the intake tubing every once in a while. Whatever kind of filter you have, there's probably a video on Youtube for how to clean it.

 

[Naughts]

Also...Don't over feed the fish. They really don't need a lot as they are exothermic so do not use food to keep warm. Shrimp and snails rarely need supplementing with food as they will find all sorts of micro-organisms in the tank. Too much food will add to the mulm and increase fish waste.
Do large weekly water changes and clean the substrate to prevent organics building up.